Harvard University has vowed to overhaul the culture of its women’s hockey team after a long-time coach retired amid accusations of abusive behavior that one player compared to a ‘mental health Hunger Games’ in early June.

Katey Stone, 57, stepped down as head coach June 7 after a 29-year tenure that included four national championship appearances, but was eventually dogged by accusations she’d emotionally damaged players.

Multiple outlets have reported on a toxic on and off-ice culture for the program, including allegations that players felt forced to drink and perform ‘sexually-charged role playing’ as part of hazing rituals, according to the Boston Globe.

At practice, players were allegedly forced to do a ‘Naked Skate’ where players were told to dive on the ice in a Superman-pose while completely nude, often leaving skaters with ice burns and bloody nipples, The Athletic reported. 

Athletic Director Erin McDermott announced Wednesday in a statement that the school plans to revamp the culture after Stone’s retirement. 

In a 2020 interview that was published on one of Harvard’s official YouTube channels, Stone paid tribute to promoting a highly competitive atmosphere among her players. ‘Coaching gives me the opportunity to stay competitive… [The players] have no idea what they’re really capable of and if we continue to challenge them on a daily basis, the accomplish so much more. 

‘We now have an opportunity to end team traditions that are harmful to team culture and inconsistent with our community norms,’ she said. 

McDermott did not address any specific allegations, though the school launched an independent inquiry by law firm Jenner & Block earlier this year after reports surfaced. 

No findings of the report have been published yet, despite the New York firm saying it planned to finish by the end of April, according to the Harvard Crimson. 

However, in her statement, McDermott said they found ‘procedures and communications with student-athletes have led to confusion and frustration among members of our community, and there are areas where we must improve.’

The full report may never be publicized, according to a school spokesperson.

‘Individuals who participated in the review were promised anonymity throughout the process,’ Harvard said in a statement. 

‘Releasing detailed information or documents that were received and reviewed during this work could jeopardize the privacy of those who participated.’ 

New initiatives McDermott promised include annual reminders of how to report improper conduct, instructions on access to mental health services and a new leadership program. 

‘This program will support our collective focus on updating team traditions to align with our values and will help us move forward positively as a community,’ McDermott said. 

Players anonymously told reporters of having to put condoms on bananas, simulate orgasms and perform skits mocking their sexual orientation. 

One former player said she reported the behavior to the administration but never heard back. 

Stone – who coached the silver medal-winning USA women’s hockey team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics – was never directly implicated but former players said she was aware of what was going on and didn’t stop it. 

In addition, the program’s retention rate is one of the worst at Harvard. Only 20 percent of the freshman class stayed at the school last season, well below the rest of the athletic department’s rate of 75 percent. 

McDermott claimed that the current team ‘has not fostered a culture of hazing’ but the school can do better. 

‘However, it is clear that some traditions in recent years were experienced differently by different people and not all were comfortable with those activities or with expressing concerns relating to the program.’

Stone, who is the fourth-winningest coach in NCAA women’s hockey history, has never addressed the allegations. The school is still searching for a replacement. 

A TikToker who left behind her life in Las Vegas to live in Scotland has revealed the biggest culture shocks that came with the move.

Lua Rodriguez Murphy met her now-husband, a Scot, while he was holidaying at the hotel she worked at in Las Vegas. After they got engaged, they decided to move in together in Glasgow where they now live with their three children.

Lua, originally from California, makes candid videos about adjusting to life in Scotland as an American, and she’s starting to build up a significant fanbase, with nearly 30,000 followers to date.

Speaking to MailOnline Travel, the 33-year-old lists out the things that surprised her the most about life in Scotland – with free healthcare from the NHS at the top of the list.

She says: ‘I remember going to the doctor for the first time here and I asked my doctor how much the cost would be. She looked at me like I had two heads and said it was free! I couldn’t wrap my head around that so when I walked out, I stopped by reception to reconfirm and she said I didn’t owe anything because my care was covered by the NHS.’

Now Lua even has a job working for the NHS, which she loves. The mum-of-one says: ‘I love working in the NHS because I like working in a country that truly believes that a nation owes its citizens the right to healthcare regardless of ability to pay and without having different levels of healthcare available based on someone’s status or economic standing.’

But free healthcare wasn’t the only aspect of Scottish life that took some adjusting to – Lua found some surprises in the way British homes are designed.

One thing she found strange was the ‘light switches outside the bathroom’. She explains: ‘I remember arriving at my husband’s flat for the first time and feeling around the wall in the bathroom in complete darkness trying to find the light switch. It wasn’t until after a solid five minutes he told me it was outside the door.’

Another, she reveals, is ‘windows not having window screens to protect the bugs from flying in’.

There’s a contrast between Scottish and American diets, too, she reveals.

Lua reflects: ‘Scottish food is, in general, a lot less processed and treated than American food. The portion sizes are also more suitable to a single person’s needs.

‘Also, the [UK-wide] sugar tax was surprising. I had never heard of it before! I think it’s beneficial though because it helps reduce obesity.’

She has well and truly warmed to Scottish cuisine, she reveals. Lua says she ‘can’t live without’ tea cakes now and Irn Bru is ‘forever stocked’ in her home now.

Shopping for food was another culture shock, she reveals.

In one video, she says: ‘I remember the first time I went to the grocery store by myself and the cashier [handed] me my receipt and went: “That’s you, pal”. I was like, “What? That’s me what?”‘ I didn’t know that that meant that was the end of the transaction.’

She continues: ‘Another thing that I’d never seen before I first moved here… the cashiers at probably every grocery store that I’ve been to, they sit down when they’re putting through your groceries. I’ve never seen that before. I remember the first time me and my husband went to Sainsbury’s I was like, “The cashier is sitting down”. And he’s like: “Yeah, do you expect them to stand for like nine hours, are you kidding me?”‘

The NHS worker adds: ‘On top of that, they don’t even bag your stuff. Americans would have a heart attack if nobody bagged their groceries. Here they toss your stuff at you and you literally have to bag it and that’s how it is. That was wild to me, I never had seen that before.’

The worst thing about life in Scotland, she notes, is driving around roundabouts. She says: ‘Not kidding, I had never experienced a roundabout in my life prior to moving here. Much of my fear of roundabouts is from my lack of familiarity and experience with them. They just seem so chaotic to me!’

On the other hand, the best about Scottish living, she says is ‘hands down, the people’. She explains: ‘Everyone is so chatty, and welcoming and easy to talk to. And so, so funny! Scottish humour truly is something else.’

She feels that when it comes to education, the Scots do it better. Lua says: ‘Education. Scotland is a nation where a first-class, world-leading education is accessible to all. I’m grateful that my children will be able to go to college for free! Student debt is so hard to pay off in the U.S and it really discourages people from pursuing a career because it’s so expensive and the interest in loans are so high.’

But she finds that Americans take the lead when it comes to customer service. She says: ‘I think Americans… go above and beyond when it comes to keeping a customer happy. I also feel Americans are so enthusiastic and great at entertaining. Basketball games, baseball games, pep rallies and entertainment are all so much better back home. They love getting the crowd involved, handing out prizes, doing dance cams, cheerleading and more! 

‘Even at the university level, college stadiums are filled to the brim with people watching young athletes play! Which I don’t think is very common here.’

What are the main differences between Scots and Americans? Lua says: ‘I think enthusiasm. Americans get so excited and giddy over the smallest of things! I feel Scottish people are sometimes a bit more reserved. Overall though, I think we’re all more alike than different.’

All in all, she’s thrilled with her life in Scotland, she reveals, saying: ‘I initially didn’t think I’d move to Scotland, but after a lot of thinking I decided to make the move and leave my budding career behind. It was definitely a sacrifice but I love my life here and I’m so happy!’

Sometimes we pride ourselves on how well we know a country. For me, that has been the case with Italy — yet the region of Le Marche, sandwiched between the spinal range of the Apennines and the glinting Adriatic, was never on my agenda. Somehow I doubted I had missed much. What a mistake.

Historically intact hill towns overlook landscapes little changed from those that inspired many Renaissance masters. 

There is a national park of lumpy highlands, the Sibillini National Park, a seemingly endless stock of historic palaces, galleries and churches laden with medieval artworks, classical gardens, a string of Blue Flag beaches, nights at the opera and feasts of locally grown produce and fine wine.

An even more surprising discovery is that, unlike neighbouring Tuscany and Umbria, which suck in the crowds like dust up a Dyson, Le Marche has far fewer visitors. ‘Le Marche is just as the Romans wrote on their maps,’ explains Princess Giulia Panichi- Pignatelli. ‘We are the hic sunt leones (here be lions) of Italy, somewhere in among the woods and the wild beasts.’

The Princess (despite Italy being a Republic, many aristocrats have retained their titles) was the prime mover behind Le Marche Segrete, an initiative that has been helping to put the region on the tourist map, but in the most refined, culturally authentic way.

My first port of call is Ascoli Piceno, a Renaissance jewel of sculpted, pale-grey travertine marble. Its main square, Piazza del Popolo, is one of the most architecturally sublime squares in the whole of Italy. It is best appreciated from an outdoor table at Caffe Meletti, one of the nation’s 50 officially designated historic Italian cafes.

Like the premier league San Gimignano in neighbouring Tuscany, Ascoli Piceno is a town of aristocratic towers. Even the stalls of the daily fruit and veg market are spread beneath 13th- century Franciscan cloisters. I also visit the cathedral, which houses Carlo Crivelli’s magnificent Demidoff altarpiece, and the town’s 18th-century theatre with its five tiers of wraparound boxes. Le Marche has 70 historic theatres, which is more per capita than anywhere else in the world.

No words, photographs or flights of imagination can quite prepare you for Urbino, birthplace of Raphael. Small but immense on aura, the town is the legacy of the Duke Federico da Montefeltro, whose twin-towered brick leviathan of a fortified palace is a designer icon of the Renaissance.

From Urbino I drive south to Fermo, a microcosm of what Le Marche is all about. It is tiny but its museum still has an early Rubens, the Adoration Of The Shepherds, while next door is a medieval library with 16,000 volumes and a massive 18th-century globe — amazingly accurate as long as you don’t look for Australia. Down a steep, ankle-wrenching alleyway is yet another prime site, the underground Roman cisterns, a cavernous space as big as a cathedral.

Two towns especially renowned for music are Pesaro, the birthplace of Rossini, which hosts an annual August festival, and Macerata, where opera is staged in the neoclassical Sferisterio, a 100 yard-long elliptical sweep of colonnaded balconies open to the stars.

Le Marche is also bordered by two not-to-be missed natural assets. To the west are the rolling, chestnut-wooded hills and steep summits of the Sibellini, while to the east lie 124 miles of sandy-beached coastline.

After a couple of frenetically paced weeks, I realised I had barely nibbled at the feast of attractions to be found in Le Marche. Last year I went back for two whole months — yet came home with many more ‘here be lions’ pockets still to explore.