San Mateo Football Players Take Stand Against Domestic Violence

SAN MATEO (KCBS) - Over 100 football players from the College of San Mateo signed a pledge Thursday to take a stand against domestic violence.

While some athletes make headlines for being involved in domestic abuse, football officials at CSM said their program is aiming to mold men both on and off the field.

Assistant football coach Tim Tullock gathered his team on the campus' Football Team House Thursday as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

"We have 115 guys and if they, at a party, can stop one situation from happening and educate someone else, then we think we're going to make a difference," said Coach Tullock.

Linebacker Jimmy Morris said despite some bad feedback on the NFL, that there are positive role models in the league. "We're learning life lessons. We're not just learning football, we're learning how to be men," he said.

Wide receiver Hersan Vonn learned his lesson at the early age of 11.

"My mom had an incident with domestic violence. One day we went to a park, we sat down and we had a long talk about it."

It was then he promised her to never hit a woman.

Statistics reveal the problem is widespread one out of four women in high schools and universities are assaulted.

Dr. Marla Lowenthal led the life skills player workshop on ways to intervene using the acronym 'PIMP', which stands for, "Pay attention, intervene, move, and be proud that you did something about it."

Former San Francisco 49er Darryl Pollard offered the players a professional athlete's perspective on how to avoid domestic violence situations.

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