A high school wrestling coach at Norwich Free Academy in Connecticut has been suspended and charged with assault. He allegedly hit one of his athletes in the head for making a six-seven joke.
Steven E. Nelson remains on paid leave as the legal process continues.
The high school wrestling coach claims this incident was not as serious as it has been made out to be and an eyewitness seems to have his back. However, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
What is the meaning of 6-7?
If you do not already know, “six-seven” is the new 69. Kind of. It does not have the same explicit meaning but it has the same pull amongst the younger generations. The joke stems only from the internet.
It started with the song ‘Doot Doot’ by Skrilla, which became popular in basketball video edits on TikTok. For example:
The “six-seven” lyric went stupid viral to the point that it expanded way beyond sports. Users on social media employed the meme in unrelated contexts, like a 67% score on an exam. It snowballed into a full-blown cultural phenomenon. The youth was all over it.
Anyone over the age of ~25 did not get it, which only made the trend even more popular.
To understand “six-seven,” you must first stop trying to understand “six-seven.” You have to embrace it.
A Connecticut high school wrestling coach allegedly slapped a student.
Norwich Free Academy received an email from the state Department of Children and Families regarding “substantiated allegations of physical abuse and physical neglect against the accused” on February 17. The incident took place a few months prior on December 30.
Steven Nelson, the high school wrestling coach, told one of his athletes that he was behind the other wrestlers on the team during a cardio workout on stationary bikes. He got on him for cycling at only 30 revolutions per minute as opposed to 60 or 70 RPMs.
The student replied back, “Coach, six-seven” and threw up the hand gesture. Nelson allegedly responded to the 6-7 quip with an open-hand slap to the head. He was later charged with third-degree assault and risk of injury to a child. Norwich put him on administrative leave.
According to the arrest warrant, the wrestler’s left ear was ringing after the slap. A police officer saw a mark on the student’s left cheek that was about 1.5×1.5 inches and he was diagnosed with a concussion.
To make matters worse, police obtained surveillance video of the wrestlers during practice before they went on the stationary bikes. It shows the coach wrestle twice with the aforementioned student, and the coach supposedly “used his elbow to make repeated contact across the victim’s head.”
Nelson claims the athlete did not complain about being injured during practice. He also says he just “tapped” the athlete to get him to refocus and meant to hit him on the shoulder but accidentally him in the head. One wrestler who witnessed the incident said it seemed like a light tap. Another wrestler said Nelson is a “good coach” but can be “rough.”
Norwich Free Academy will continue to pay the high school wrestling coach and math teacher while he is on leave. His lawyer is confident that the “jury system will do its job.”