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The former grappler, who joined the Blair Academy’s wrestling team in his 2016 freshman year, says in the suit that two older members assaulted him during a trip to a competition, NJHerald reports citing court records.
During the alleged assault, the student was held down on a bed, pulled into a shower and stripped naked, according to the suit, filed in Sussex County Superior Court last month.
The student, identified only as “John Doe,” says team coach Brian Antonelli minimized the allegations and referred to them as “rites of passage.”
The alleged abuse and hazing incidents continued through his senior year, where he claims someone created a “fake web account” in his name and posted threats and images of pornography.
After pleas for help to Antonelli and head of school Christopher Fortunato were continually neglected, the former student says he told the administrators he would not finish the season, which included the National Championship typically held in February.
As a result, the student says he was retaliated against when the coaches — including Antonelli — attempted to prevent him from getting into a nationally ranked wrestling program in college.
Once he had been accepted to the program, Antonelli allegedly called the college and told them the student needed to “toughen up,” calling him a “baby.”
Antonelli serves as the school’s assistant director of athletics and is still involved with its wrestling program — though he stepped down from his coaching position last month.
The student went on to become a nationally ranked college wrestler, but his attorney, Michael Garcia, says he is “fragile” after what he endured, the report says.
The wrestler also distrusts others, is afraid of intimacy and suffers from depression and "severe mental anguish” following his experience, the Herald reports.
The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the Blair Academy, four administrators, four wrestling coaches, two unnamed former wrestlers and miscellaneous team members.
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