ORONO – Coaches who swear and implore their players to “put the hurt on” the opposition, spectators who yell from the stands, athletes and students who commit violent acts in school – we know those things happen.

Why they persist was the topic of a panel discussion Tuesday at the Annual Athletic Directors’ Institute at the University of Maine.

Nineteen ADs from Maine and Vermont schools participated in the discussion about curbing violence and abusive language. The panel was the second event on the first day of the institute, which is sponsored by the Maine Interscholastic Athletic Administrators’ Association and the Maine Center for Coaching Education at UMaine.

“We don’t do a good enough job, in my opinion, of telling [athletes] what social expectations we have for them on a daily basis,” said Arthur “Skip” Hanson, a former Waterville High principal who is now the superintendent of schools in Exeter, N.H.

MCCE Dean Robert Cobb said students at the center who shadowed coaches collected incidents of abusive language towards the opposition and the coach’s own team. Cobb presented several examples.

One coach told a team, “Get back out on field and kill them.” Another said, “If he does that again, spit in his face.” Players were called “wimps.” One player was asked, “What are you, a girl?”

“It’s going to take you to hold the coaches fully accountable,” Cobb said to the administrators. “Coaches, as visible as they are and as prominent as they are in the community, can do wonders if [eliminating violence] becomes a concious goal of theirs.”

The panel and audience also discussed the factors that cause a child to become violent. There were 2,186 incidents of violence in Maine schools last year, 314 of which were weapons related, according to Roger Richards, the State Education Agency contact for the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program.

“I think the abusive language is related to the pressure that these kids are under,” said professor Russell Quaglia, the director of the National Center for Student Aspirations at UMaine. “There’s so much pressure on the kids to be successful and be good, that they’re just snapping.”

Quaglia discussed four programs that have been successful at curbing violent behavior, including peer mentoring, coaches mentoring other coaches and seminars to help parents understand their role.

Hanson said schools have a “golden opportunity” right now to establish such programs.

“With what’s happening with violence in the country, it’s giving us a good opportunity to go the school boards and ask for money for a safer environment.”