Hoffman Estates High School basketball team suspended following hazing investigation

December 3, 2012 (HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.) (WLS) -- Details have emerged in the Hoffman Estates High School hazing investigation that prompted the suspension of the boys' varsity basketball team.

District 211 officials released a statement confirming that the hazing ritual was an off-campus initiation that involved "several players piling onto a targeted player and then grabbing, horseplay, slapping and hitting the targeted player in areas that included the buttocks and sometimes in the groin."

The statement said the players were clothed during each initiation, which they say was not sexual in nature.

Fourteen players and the coach were interviewed as a part of the investigation.

The team was forced to forfeit three games, and police are continuing the investigation to see if any crime was committed during the hazing.

"Everybody is talking about, but the kids who are actually on the team aren't talking about it," said Janice Ward, a senior at Hoffman Estates High School.

A school official told ABC7 that the team will receive training in hazing awareness and prevention as part of its disciplinary action.

Another suburban high school, Maine West, is also facing allegations of hazing and a lawsuit.

Four Maine West students claim they were assaulted as a part of hazing initiations that took place in 2007, 2009 and 2012. So far, six students have been charged in connection with the 2012 case, and the alleged victims have filed a lawsuit.

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