Duke Lacrosse Players Charged With Rape
May 04, 2006
Last month (April) two Duke Lacrosse players were charged with rape. This story made headlines around the US and continues to do so.
I'm following this story with great interest for many reasons. I love the sport of lacrosse and have played, organized, coached and refereed the game. I also happen to live in North Carolina where Duke University is located and have seen the team play. My wife survived a brutal assault and rape by an escaped convict (you can read her story here).
Here are some of the facts of the Duke Lacrosse story: there was an off campus lacrosse party, there were strippers and one of them claimed she was raped.
This case has resulted in protests, accusations of racism and classism, and lots of unrest. The Duke lacrosse season was quickly cancelled and coach Mike Pressler resigned. Pressler had been at Duke 16 years and the team lost a national title by a goal last season.
Some things I want to know...
What were the top 3 values of the team / players / coach / staff? Interview each player and ask them to identify the top 3 values. Was "winning" number one? Or was character/integrity number one?
When recruiting, did the coaching staff place skill at the top of the list or character?
There are some who believe that you can't have a number one sports team if character is placed at the top of the values list. Many believe that character and winning are incompatible. I've seen this demonstrated time and again in my involvement with competitive sports.
I recognize I'm making a judgement here. I don't know what the values were for this team. All I see are the results of their values in the news (and then I extrapolate).
The Enron debacle is a glaring example of what happens when character and integrity are NOT the top values. Winning becomes a short lived experience. Like a house of cards, the tower will and must fall.
Looking at the Duke Lacrosse story through the eyes of David Hawkin's book "Power vs. Force", I suggest that consciousness of the lacross team - and certainly the party - was below 200 on the Map of Consciousness. Anything measuring below 200 is "life taking" (i.e. NOT life giving). Were the lacrosse players encouraged by the coach and others to be Prideful (measuring 175 on the map)? Was the party with the strippers filled with Guilt (measuring 30 on the map)? The police discovered an email written by one of the lacrosse players that reflected Fear (rating 100) and Anger (rating 150).
Are you building a team that will crash like a house of cards? Or are you building a team that will stand the test of time - a team based on the powerful and life giving forces/values of Acceptance (350), Reason (400), Love (500), Joy (540) and Peace (600).
Comments