This is truly one of those, life is crazier than fiction stories, but in reality, it is just plain scary because it is true and not fiction. This is from a Queerty article:

Preston Hill Put His Fingers Up The Butt Of A Teammate. Legitimate Move Or Assault?

If prosecutors educate themselves about wrestling moves and determine the “butt drag” (or “checking the oil”) is a standard maneuver, does that mean Hill will be cleared? Not necessarily. Just because a move is “legal” doesn’t mean it cannot qualify as sexual assault. Intent will be a critical factor, though how prosecutors could ever show Hill did anything more than attempt to gain the upper hand during a match sounds pretty impossible.

It’s difficult to identify who is the real victim here: The 14-year-old freshman, who had fingers put in his butt against his will, or Hill, who may have legitimately used a standard wrestling move during practice as he’d be taught to do, and now finds himself facing sex crime charges. (Wrestlers may agree to some pretty brutal stuff by hitting the mats, but sexual assault disguised as “just a wrestling move” is not one of them.) The outcome of this case, of course, shouldn’t deflect from the ongoing problem: the freshman felt threatened and bullied by Hill before the incident, and now fears for his safety after registering a complaint.

But I think the Queerty article leaves much to be desired in terms of reporting. The question is, what is a “Butt Drag” in wrestling, and how legal is it if done properly? This article from Fresnobee.com looks at those questions:

Hill’s father claims his son used a wrestling move called the butt drag that he learned from Buchanan coaches. The butt drag, when done legally and with proper technique, requires a wrestler to intensely grab his opponent’s butt cheek to obtain leverage and better positioning.

“It’s making wrestling look bad,” said Wheeler, who wrestled at Fresno State for two years before spending the past nine years coaching at the high-school level. “Some people already see wrestling as a dirty sport. Now people are talking about anal penetration and wrestling in the same sentence.”

Some coaches said that what Hill allegedly did is not a wrestling move — and certainly not one that’s legal or would be taught by coaches — and that claiming it is an endorsed move also hurts the sport’s reputation.

“To think I’d ever instruct my guys to get on the mat and practice sticking their fingers in their teammates’ rear end, it’s stupid and ridiculous,” longtime Fresno State wrestling coach Dennis DeLiddo said. “A butt drag isn’t sticking your finger up a guy’s [rectum]. That’d be illegal. That’d be counterproductive. That’s not the move.

Here is what I find so scary about this story. Both parents, Mother and Father seem to be supporting the boy with the probing fingers, as if he did nothing wrong. But can you imagine what they would be saying if a fellow boy student had winked at their son? Personally, I can can go either way- the coaches taught this move, and even insinuated that it is OK to finger your opponent as a way to intimidate him, or the coaches didn’t, and based on the name, the boy just figured out that is how it should be done.

The other scary part of this story, is how little has been written about the freshman who was sexually violated. It is as if what happened to him doesn’t really matter, because the dialogue is all about if the move is legal, and how will it affect the sport of wrestling. Scary or sick- you decide.

High School Wrestler Preston Hill Put His Fingers Up The Butt Of A Teammate. Legitimate Move Or Assault? / Queerty.

Photo: By unifiedphoto