Dan Corcoran and Ari Mason, NBC Connecticut, September 10, 2015
EXCERPTS FROM THE ARTICLE:
A high school football coach in Connecticut is apologizing after an on-field punishment that left some of his players with blisters and burns earlier this week.
Parents cried foul after Stratford High School coach T.J. Cavaliere told his team to crawl on the artificial turf with their bear hands at the school's football field Monday. The drill, on a day where temperatures raced past the 90 degrees amid baking sun, caused some of the players to burn their hands on the heated turf.
“It wasn’t just a hot field. These kids, their skin melted off their hands,” said Stratford Town Council candidate Sean Haubert.
Cavaliere wrote a letter to parents explaining that the exercise was in response to players’ behavioral issues at Friday’s scrimmage.
“Hindsight is 20/20 and I was not aware that the turf could cause blisters on the boys’ hands,” the coach wrote. “I apologize for what happened and have learned a valuable lesson.”