Vashon Island High School is part of a growing group of high schools that offer a national evidence-based violence prevention program for sports teams called Coaching Boys Into Men.

The initial goal of the coach-to-athlete program was to inspire men to teach boys the importance of respecting women and that violence does not equate to strength, according to the website Futures Without Violence. Last year, The Dove Project, an island nonprofit that promotes education and prevention of domestic violence and sexual assault, presented the curriculum at Vashon Island High School. And now, this year, for the first time, McMurray Middle School piloted the program for the boys’ basketball team.

Robin Magonegil, coach of the boys’ basketball team at McMurray, felt the curriculum would be valuable to her team and worked with Tim Hulley and Tracy McClaren, two advocates at Dove, to tailor the content to a younger aged audience.

“[We want to] develop kids’ skills in the specific sport you are coaching, but an even bigger thing is teaching them to be young men and leaders,” Magonegil said. “I focus a lot on sportsmanship and teamwork and accountability and those types of things just as much as I focus on dribbling and passing and basketball skills.”

Magonegil knows first hand that coaches have a unique role in the lives of young people. She has been coaching some of her athletes since first grade and has built strong relationships with the boys. This positive influence provides the foundation for discussion and conversation with the athletes. By opening the door to talk about what respectful behavior is, the goal of this program is to reduce relationship abuse, harassment and sexual assault, according to the Futures Without Violence.

“The boys had great questions and great answers,” said Magonegil, who described the segments as more of a facilitated discussion between peers. The content was delivered in 20-minute segments throughout the practice season.

Finn Magonegil, a basketball player at McMurray who is also the coach’s son, was part of the pilot program. He told The Beachcomber that his biggest takeaway was how to respect women, adding that he thinks some people do not get this kind of education at home or talk about it with their peers.

“I think that everyone got a lot out of it,” Finn said. “I definitely would want to do it again, maybe in high school. I feel like everyone felt pretty safe in the environment to ask questions that they usually wouldn’t ask maybe in front of a class.”

Along with coaches, the Dove Project has been working together to facilitate curriculum at the high school for the past two years, Andy Sears, the athletics director for the school district, wrote to The Beachcomber. The high school boys basketball team has been using the CBIM program, and this year a second program — the female counterpart of CBIM called Athletes As Leaders — was offered to the girls’ basketball and volleyball teams.

Maya Battisti has been the youth advocate at the Dove Project for the past two years. Battisti facilitates the curriculum of AAL. The program consists of ten sessions with videos that focus on healthy relationships and sexual assault prevention.

“It works to prevent violence by educating and empowering females about what is and isn’t okay; what they observe out in their peer circles; what power they have over them; and what happens around them and to them,” Battisti said.

With the success of the CBIM pilot this year at the middle school, Battisti is looking to get the curriculum for girls started in upcoming years.

“It’s more about what they learn from each other,” said Battisti, adding that it would lend itself well to middle school girls as much as high schoolers.

Battisti shared a comment from a thank-you letter written by a young woman that went through the program: “This project is so important to let young women understand how important their role in this world is and you’re making it awesome!”

CBIM was developed in 2001 as a part of a national public service announcement, according to the Futures without Violence. CBIM has evolved into a comprehensive violence prevention curriculum for coaches and their athletes. A formal study that was conducted with 2,000 athletes and 150 coaches in California over three years noted that athletes who went through the program are more inclined to recognize disrespectful and harmful behaviors and stand up and say something about behavior that is not okay – whether to a coach or another adult or a peer. Behaviors can include language, pressure or control, according to Futures Without Violence.

Both the CBIM and AAL curriculum are free to the public. For more information about these programs, contact The Dove Project at VashonDoveProject.org or athletesasleaders.org or futureswithoutviolence.org.