The public outcry to the September workout session was swift, with one leading sports expert calling the training “an epic failure.” Tufts athletic officials quickly cracked down on communication regarding the incident, instructing all university athletes to neither speak with the media nor ask about the Navy SEAL workout, at least three students independently confirmed to the Globe at the time.
Several lacrosse players declined requests for comment on the newly released report, and two said their coaches told them not to speak to news outlets.
“I’m sorry, we’re not supposed to talk about that,” said one player who declined to give his name as he headed toward the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, lacrosse stick in tow.
Calls and emails to coaches were unanswered as of Sunday morning.
The five-page commissioned report released Friday found that the Navy SEAL’s workout was “inappropriate” for the student athletes “in terms of principles of transition, conditioning, and acclimatization.”
“To our knowledge, he was not familiar with … NCAA policies and regulations, or Tufts Sports Medicine Operational Policies and Guidelines,” the investigators wrote.
The Navy SEAL’s exercise incorporated 250 burpees or a squat routine along with other workouts over a 75-minute period. Only two in every five players completed the workout with “modification,” which the report described as less intense exercises such as leg flutters and push-ups.
“Students felt sore” immediately after the exercise, according to the report. In the following days, 24 of the 61 participants developed exertional rhabdomyolysis, or rhabdo. The condition, caused by muscle injury, can cause kidney damage, disability, or even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The independent report issued several recommendations for the university’s athletic division, including conducting thorough background checks on and providing education for any guests leading workouts, as well as ensuring each student has completed the proper paperwork to engage in any physical activity.
José Flores, an economics junior, said that the fact that the Navy SEAL was a former lacrosse player didn’t mean he was qualified to train the team without coaching supervision.
“There was just an underlying connection, there was not as much caution taken into account,” Flores said.
Flores added that he’s friends with some of the lacrosse team, but he hasn’t pressed them on what transpired during the workout. He could gauge that it was “sensitive information,” and that his peers still “are processing” the matter.
Sophomore Hoang Mai said the decision to lead the team in a high-intensity workout fell short of necessary safety precautions for players.
“It didn’t take into consideration that one, there was no oversight on who was actually training them, and two, what are the repercussions of not knowing who is actually training them,” Mai said.
Tufts sophomore Yuekai Kevin Lu read the report, and said its findings only spoke to a larger, systemic issue.
“A lot of things have recently been happening that seem like the university just either doesn’t really care or doesn’t put in too much effort into, whether that’s workers’ wages or unionizations,” Lu said.
Katherine Jones, a sophomore, said it would be good to have someone monitoring the workouts, “just make sure that, if things start to get out of hand, then there’s an end to it.”
Tufts sophomore Lloyd Walter, who plays defensive back for the university’s football team, said he has undergone several training sessions led by team alumni with similar military experience. Sure, the workouts were intense, Walter said, but they were “super helpful,” too.
“There have been many times Army and Navy SEALs who were ex-players came back to train us, but no one ever ended up going to the hospital,” Walter said.
To avoid similar situations in the future, the sophomore said that trainers could give players some “leeway” to tap out of parts of the exercise or offer a modified option, as more than half of the lacrosse team players had chosen during the 75-minute session.
A Tufts senior, who declined to give his name, worried that this recommendation might not be realistic. He had participated in team sports in the past, though not ones at the university, and knew how intense athletic culture could be.
“There’s nothing that’s really ever optional,” the senior said.
Tiana Woodard can be reached at tiana.woodard@globe.com. Follow her @tianarochon. Rachel Umansky-Castro can be reached at rachel.umanskycastro@globe.com.
This article was originally published by a www.bostonglobe.com . Read the Original article here. .