To be in the same (usually unpleasant) situation as someone else or other people
I would say that a hoax deal in deception, whereas a prank deals in a practical joke sort of manner.
This is due to the given perspectives that the story is read from. Also, another person may personally relate to the events in the story in different ways than others, and therefore interpret it differently.
Since nothing is underlined i presume that the underlined pronoun is them. It is in the dative case because them is an object and answers the question to whom was something done. Them refers to the trainer's team.
