Coach under fire after kids made to ‘bear crawl’ across hot asphalt, TX reports say

A coach in Texas has been disciplined after students suffered minor injuries following an exercise in boys’ gym class on Friday, officials say.

It was 2:30 in the afternoon when students at McDowell Middle School in Hondo had to “bear crawl” outside across hot asphalt, KENS reported.

The drill requires students to “crawl” with only their hands and feet touching the ground, much like a bear would, according to MensHealth.com. In a letter to sent to parents, the school says many students suffered cuts and blisters on their hands, Texas Breaking News reported.

“Due to the hot temperature and the rough surface on which the exercise was executed, some students received scrapes, cuts, and blisters on their hands,” the letter said, according to the news outlet.

The school district says the exercise — favored in athletics for its core-strengthening capabilities — is usually done in the gymnasium, but it was out of commission for a school dance, WOAI reported. The bear crawl drill lasted less than five minutes.

Temperatures in Hondo on Friday reached 100 degrees, according to AccuWeather.

While some parents were outraged, others say it’s all just part of Texas athletics.

“Why is this a big deal now? Our kids have always come home with blisters on their hands from bear crawls in the heat,” one parent said, according to KENS.

In a letter provided to KENS, district officials informed parents that “measures have been taken to rectify the situation.”

But this isn’t the first time coaches and teachers have come under fire for running the bear crawl drill in hot weather.

Just a week before, a high school football coach in Alabama was criticized for making players do the exercise across asphalt “the length of a football field and back,” WHNT reported. Many students suffered blisters on their hands the size of quarters.

Two years ago, substitute teachers at a middle school in Florence, Texas, forced students to bear crawl for 30 minutes on a hot asphalt track as punishment, McClatchy news group reported. They suffered blisters on their hands, as well.

This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Coach under fire after kids made to ‘bear crawl’ across hot asphalt, TX reports say."