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Coach sentenced for spanking players

NEW YORK, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- A New York basketball coach was sentenced to six years probation on charges he spanked players' bare buttocks for missing shots, a report said Tuesday.

Drew Sanders, 49, was sentenced Monday on the misdemeanor charges, was barred from entering schools with students younger than 18 and must register as a Level 3 sex offender, The New York Post reported.

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Sanders "deceived everyone involved in the entire community," the Post reported of an impassioned plea by one victim's mother for the sex-offender designation.

While Sanders initially pleaded not guilty to charges brought in July, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanors to avoid jail time when fresh allegations surfaced in September.

Sanders would order teen basketball players to pull down their pants and the coach would then beat the players with a wooden paddle when they missed shots, prosecutors said.

Boys at each of the three places Sanders coached -- Tottenville and Susan Wagner high schools and Staten Island Jewish Community Center -- were abused, prosecutors said.

The Post said neither Sanders nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

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