COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, June 28. OVER the weekend, the San Jose Mercury News disclosed documentation showing that USA Swimming elected to ignore a sexual abuse complaint against Andy King as early as 2003. King is a former coach of San Jose Aquatics who has been convicted and sentenced to prison for 40 years after molesting at least four girls during the course of 30 years.
The San Jose Mercury News reported this weekend that one of King's former swimmers, Katie Kelly, informed USA Swimming on Jan. 20, 2003, of her issues with King while at Chabot College in Hayward, Calif., in the early 1990s. In her complaint to USA Swimming, Kelly explained:
King [was] "a terribly abusive coach" who had made female swimmers kiss the males in front of the team before practice. If they didn't, the whole team had to swim extra laps. "Andy timed it with a stop watch, because the rule was I had to kiss this person for 30 seconds," she wrote.
She later stated in the same e-mail that she was "writing not to lodge a formal complaint, because perhaps too much time has gone by," according to USA Swimming.
Just a week later, on Jan. 27, 2003, USA Swimming's executive director Chuck Wielgus wrote a return e-mail, as shown in the image on the right, with the following information:
Here is our counsel:
"1. No formal complaint is being filed, so there is no formal action for you or us to take.
"2. You should monitor the situation and alert us if any new information comes forward.
"3. USA Swimming will open a file on this matter and while we will take no action at this time, we will remain alert for any new information.
"4. This matter should be kept confidential by both you and us.
"5. When and if any new information comes forward, we will assess the situation at that time and determine if any action is required."
This evidence directly contradicts Wielgus' claim during an interview with ESPN's Outside the Lines in April 2010 that USA Swimming did not hear anything about King until April of 2009.
"It's hard to point a finger at a victim, but victims have got to report these crimes," Wielgus said on ESPN's Outside the Lines in April 2010. "And, we didn't hear about Andy King until April of 2009."
Swimming World has requested comment from USA Swimming, but has not yet received a response.
For complete coverage of the e-mail, read the San Jose Mercury News article.
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June 28, 2010 Oh God whats next!!!! Submitted by: swimfan3
June 28, 2010 You cannot prosecute rumors!!!!!!!! Someone has to say "HE DID THIS!" There are coaches in my area that have had rumors following them for physical and sexual misconduct but no one will file a charge or even a Board of Review! What can USA Swimming or a local LSC do? Jump on it and get sued? Ignore it and get sued? Stop with the accusatory articles and come up with a solution. There are a lot of people out here looking for direction. Submitted by: kccoachmike
June 28, 2010 K-Coach-Mike: You can't be serious? Turns out the person our victim was accusing was a coach that has summarily been put away for life. All she asked was to have it investigated.
Per your definition, any accusation is a rumor, but this accusation wasn't.
In fact, how can it be a rumor when she put her name on the allegation rather than filing it anonymously. All Wielgus had to do was to ask her to stand by the accusation as they investigated.
There, you have your rule! Submitted by: groovydoo
June 28, 2010 The outrage continues from swimming's sleazy and dishonest leadership.
The USA Swimming Foundation board in crisis!
http://scaq.blogspot.com/2010/06/usa-swimming-board-of-directors-in.html
If the board can't handle the likes of Wielgus, Hogan and Schubert, then how can we expect them to handle "foundation" money??? Submitted by: joeyraider
June 28, 2010 I agree with groovydoo. KC Mike, get a grip. Chuck's cover-up and lack of action cause girls to later get molested and abused by King and others. I don't see how he can look at himself in the mirror in the morning! Submitted by: joeyraider
June 28, 2010 kccoachmike: your comment has no merit...The complain was NOT a rumor. The swimmer stated she witnessed abuse first hand and signed the email with her name. This should be at least investigated. All swimmers involved should have been contacted and interviewed. This is a clear example of cover up. Submitted by: tgo63
June 29, 2010 For comparison, the commissioner of the NFL Roger Goodell (A lawyer by trade, no less) does not wait to punish a member of his organization (Ben Roethlisberger) for sexual misconduct. He does not care that charges were dropped. Submitted by: Chris DeSantis
June 29, 2010 Chuck Wielgus is not Roger Goodell nor does he have Commissioner Goodell's powers which are secured through a collective bargaining agreement with the players' union.
Chris, are you willing to lead your fellow coaches in bargaining away their right to due process.
I agree all of this could probably been handled better but I would imagine Pacific Swimming and USA Swimming were following advice of legal counsel. Still doesn't make it right though.
I am still at a loss of why complaints of sexual abuse involving minors were not reported to the club and local police more stridently. If the club board or owners stood by while this happened then shame on them as well.
the local police or child protective services are the ones equipped to investigate and prosecute these matters.
It seems apparent that there is a need for an investigative arm of USA Swimming or the USOC or some Youth Sports umbrella organization. That expertise is certainly not currently present Submitted by: thetruth
June 29, 2010 The-Truth: "The investigative arm" of USA Swimming should be the police or Child Services when it comes to accusations this severe.
If a child or young adult tells their school board president they are being, or were once being molested or sexually harassed, is that elected official going to worry about reputations? No, they are going to investigate because a crime or potential crime has been committed, they have a victim attached to the allegation, and now is when due process begins.
It is USA Swimming's job to be a certifying body for clubs and athletes. They are also tasked with making swimming more popular. Consequently, it is there job to ensure that the teams ad coaches they certify do not support pedophiles o allow them to coach. Submitted by: Groovydoo
June 29, 2010 kccoachmike:
You are incorrect. USA Swimming has an obligation to look into the allegation when it is made--not merely wait until a BOR complaint is registered. Under a Title VII scenario, a victim of sexual harassment cannot report an issue and then tell the employer not to do anything about it. The same principle applies to Title XII and Section 1981 of the federal code. National governing bodies are not immune from suit where discrimination occurs and is known. See, Sternberg v. U.S.A. National Karate-Do Federation, Inc., 123 F.Supp.2d 659 (E.D.N.Y.2000). USA Swimming swept this under the rug and got some pretty poor legal advice on how to approach Mr. King. Submitted by: blastoff
June 29, 2010 The majority of us agree that USA Swimming pretty remiss in their duties. Will it be the courts that mold USA Swimming or the parents and clubs? I am thinking it will probably be the courts. Submitted by: Groovydoo
June 29, 2010 I told USA Swimming more than fifteen years ago (when I was on the BOD) that where would be lawsuits if nothing was done. I suggested background checks in 1992 but this was rejected as unfeasible. I suggested strict rules on no relationships between coaches and swimmers and this was met with reluctance.
They have sewn the seeds on this issue and they are going to reap the harvest. Submitted by: blastoff
June 29, 2010 David,
Would you be willing to run for the BOD again? I think they need your voice more than ever. Submitted by: Chris DeSantis
June 29, 2010 They (those whose hands are in the fire) probably don't want to hear what I have to say. That said, they need some real help because no one really seems to know how to take on this issue. Some of the comments I have heard, while assuredly well-intentioned, do not take care of the problem. For instance, one national level coach suggested that we have swimmers call coaches by their last names. Having formality didn't help the Catholic Church, and being called Mr. or Mrs. isn't going to stop a pedophile or help train young coaches as to what is and is not appropriate, and is not going to empower swimmers to report abuse.
USA Swimming needs a totally new approach. My fear is that they will simply put lipstick on this pig and pat themselves on the back for ajob well done. Submitted by: blastoff
June 29, 2010 On the SCAQ Blog I recommended that they adopt the Boy Scout policy - one person who commented on my suggestions called the BSA policy the gold standard. Funny how USA Swimming stole the phrase "gold standard" but not the policy:
http://scaq.blogspot.com/2010/01/pedophile-swim-caoch-stories-surge-in.html Submitted by: groovydoo
June 29, 2010 I have a couple of problems with this story and the responses to it.
1. The headline is basically incorrect and/or misleading and/or inflamatory. Someone emailed comments in 2003 to authorities after an event was alleged to have occurred in 1990, specifically not making it a formal complaint. It was responded to via email in a way that may not have been optimal, but does not seem out of line from my perspective. Issues with later events are separate, but this snippet of interaction seems reasonable. This was not "ignored", it was responded to. If the response was inadequate in 2003, it could have been pressed further.
2. The real problem seems to be that the victim should have had a way to identify this as abuse and have an opportunity to report this problem when it occurred. I don't think young swimmers are aware enough of what is appropriate behavior and what is abuse. Much more needs to be done in that area. I am sure young swimmers are not aware of who they can go to to have things like this dealt with when its more likely that something can be done (i.e. sooner than 13 years later.) Even then, it takes a lot of self confidence and bravery to deal with incidents like this.
3. I'm very uncomfortable with speculative, accusatory, and ANONYMOUS responses (I just looked for it, but it was wisely removed, but I recall reading it). The court of public opinion is unfair.
Steve Ruiter Submitted by: steveruiter
June 29, 2010 Steve,
I wonder if you could expand on some of your comments. First, you said the response was not "optimal" but also "not out of line". My morals tell me that when someone tells me that their swim coach is forcing them to kiss someone else with the threat of punishment, sitting on it is not an option. As blastoff has mentioned above, Wielgus had an obligation to look into the complaint whatever the victim stated.
Also you state that "it could have been pressed further". What do you mean by this. Do you mean that the victim should have pressed it further? As you mention later, it takes a lot of bravery to report these claims. The victim in this case has stated now that if she could do it over again, she would lawyer up to push greater action, but instead was terrified and emotional at the time and simply never expected that the powers that be would do nothing unless she wanted to press a "formal complaint" Submitted by: Chris DeSantis
June 29, 2010 Steve, you are not looking at this the right way.
In workplace sexual harassment claims, an employer's legal obligation to investigate and take disciplinary action against a harasser is not subordinated when the complaining employee asks that the matter be dropped or is unwilling to make a formal complaint. As the Second Circuit Court of Appeals stated in Malik v. Carrier Corp., 202 F.3d 97 (2nd Cir. 2000), "Nor is the company's duty to investigate subordinated to the victim's desire to let the matter drop. Prudent employers will compel harassing employees to cease all such conduct and will not, even at a victim's request, tolerate inappropriate conduct that may, if not halted immediately, create a hostile environment."
This is the legal standard for investigations between adults in the workplace. The rule is that the employer who has knowledge of harassment MUST investigate--even when the employee-victim does not want an investigation.
Yet there seems to be a philosophy by some in this thread that USA Swimming should be blameless where a teenaged (or younger) victim brings a disturbing complaint about a coach (albeit late) and the victim does not seem to know how to pursue the matter. Reluctance by a victim to proceed should not be an excuse for a cover-up or inaction. And the person who gave USA Swimming the legal advice not to do anything about Andy King should have know the advice was very poor.
The fact that the legal standard for harassment claims is far lower than the bar Chuck Weiglus has been told to set for investigating abuse claims involving our kids is very disturbing to me.
In the next sentence of the Malik case I cited above, the Court went on to say that the employer who gets wind of a sexual harassment claim cannot end the investigation when the alleged harasser simply says "It's not true." ("Finally, it goes without saying that an employer's obligations in this regard do not cease because the alleged harasser denies inappropriate conduct.") What must occur is a real investigation including interviews and reports. I believe that the standard in this sport--where we have young, vulnerable kids and adults in authority positions, the satandard should be HIGHER and not LOWER than what we have in the workplace.
While some on this thread might believe that investigating each and every complaint is overkill or will lead to false accusations, my experience with USA Swimming and in the legal profession tells me otherwise. One, USA Swimming has proven itself pretty inept at investigating abuse claims until they are mid-waist in the problem. An ounce of overkill for a few years might help. Two, false accusations, while unfair and potentially damaging, do see the truth in the long run. Moreover, they are extremely rare. A coach that is falsely accused has civil remedies against the wrongful accuser and USA Swimming is well within its power to take disciplinary action where that arises.
USA Swimming has a big problem. It needs to be fixed. The first fix is to change the underlying standard as to how we approach and investigate complaints. Submitted by: blastoff
June 29, 2010 Where is the official statement from USS. Where is Mr Weiglus, and Mark Schubert. I have heard alot from some winded people, but when do they speak?
Don't we deserve to here from them? Please come out and make a statement!!! Submitted by: swimfan3
June 29, 2010 Along with Chris I'd urge David to consider being active on the BOD once again. I'm hoping and praying that now, at this point, this does not blow over by USA Swimming leadership marking time. Submitted by: outside smoke
June 29, 2010 Chris and Blastoff: I dont disagree with your comments if the complaint is made within a reasonable timeframe. I am really not sure the reasoning and legal implications hold for a complaint delayed 13 years. Certainly they are weakened. Maybe they hold, I don't know, but the arguments and cites above seem to ignore that piece of the fact pattern.
My primary point is that it might feel good to inflict hindsight mob justice, but wouldn't it be better to ask how we can avoid the situation where a victim is not aware enough on the spot that this behavior is abusive, and that there is a safe place/person to go to make a report? If it could be dealt with after 13 days or weeks instead of 13 years, I think the outcome would be much better.
Again, I repeat that the report was not made until 13 years after the event. It was not possible at that point to change any hostile environment.
At my work we go through ual harrassment awareness training. It is required. Maybe this is needed for swimmers, coaches and parents? Perhaps USA Swimming and NCAA can and should require this for participation?
Lets try to actually solve the root problem, not just close the barn door after the horse are out.
Submitted by: steveruiter
June 30, 2010 I hope that that U.S.A clan is not at nationals this year! They may not feel the love!!! Submitted by: swimfan3
June 30, 2010 Swimfan3 - Wow! what an observation. I never realized that they will probably be booed! Submitted by: groovydoo
June 30, 2010 There does need to be a complete reorganization and overhaul of Swimming's from the Board and Administration (Wielgus, Schubert & Hogan). The only way for this to happen is to have USA Swimming members (parents, coaches and athletes) flood the USOC with complaints and for coaches to boycott ASCA.
Right now, this is definitely an old boys network that has become too powerful and doesn't listen or care about their members wishes.
The likes of Wielgus, Hogan, Schubert and even ASCA's, John Leonard don't care about kids welfare or what concerns most of the coaches and programs in this country. They care about money they make and how many medals the USA wins. The more medals for USA, the more money for them.
Right now we're paying Wielgus $700,000.00, Schubert $350,000.00 and Hogan $175,000.00 and they've done nothing but soil the sport and dismiss the USA Swimming membership as idiots. Submitted by: bluemoon
June 30, 2010 bluemoon: $2-million for three people or 8% of the entire USA Swimming budget. That really upsets me. Do you have a link so I can post that to the SCAQ blog and my other swim site?
In my opinion a new board should be voted in - that will invoke change Submitted by: groovydoo
June 30, 2010 I don't know how Schubert and Leonard got caught in this discussion. I do see Hogan and Wieglus to be the people at fault--at least in the recent past. Hogan gave Uchiyama the rave review after being banned for life by USA Swimming. Wieglus was the one who appears to have swept a complaint about a serial pedophile coach under the rug.
I agree with steve that training is a big issue. Our club is sitting down with local BSA folsk to discuss what they do as far as training, rules, and reporting. If kids are empowered to report sexual abuse and know that it can be done without fear of reprisal or fault, the problem of sexual predatory coaches will be largely diminished.
The response 13-year delay reported above is largely due to the underlying lack of education of swimmers and an absence of reaction when a report does occur. To blame the girl who reported late is not the point. The point is that USA Swimming did NOTHING and it proves why a young swimmer would report the issue 13 years later. Submitted by: blastoff
June 30, 2010 Blastoff - I am impressed with your decision to seeks the BSA for training and bypass USA Swimming since they are moving to slow.
As for Schubert... never mind. Submitted by: groovydoo
June 30, 2010 The swimming whole board is meeting tonight about the foundation all resigning. Do you think they will even read the letter sent from this Satzstin or will they keep ignoring swimmingworld?
http://www.theathletevillage.com/blogs/crdesantis/2010/06/30/letter-usa-swimming-board
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CudGbXbfHUM/TCksl67d0sI/AAAAAAAABrw/SgWGZepX8IE/s1600/Saltzstein-Letter.gif
Submitted by: 1996swim2000
June 30, 2010 Here's the memo I sent to MT Swimming's BOD and a proposed abuse policy. This took me about 2 hours to put together.
To: Montana Swimming Board of Directors
From: David Berkoff
Date: 4/12/10
Re: Sexual Abuse
Dear Montana Swimming Board of Directors:
As many of you are aware, ABC News-20/20 recently aired a story on sexual abuse within USA Swimming. The story was not flattering to USA Swimming and certainly overstated the issue of abuse as pervasive for purposes of ratings. And while the story focused on Andy King, a 63-year old Jan Jose Aquatics Club coach with a 30-year history of sexually abusing kids, this story is much deeper. In my opinion, one of the worst aspects of USA Swimming has been to turn somewhat of a blind eye to abuse.
When I was competing, there were two very prominent coaches who were well known to have abused or had sexual relationships with their athletes. Both still are active in swimming and one of these men runs one of the largest clubs on the east coast. That coach settled a lawsuit out of court with his victim, a national team member that I swam with. I also personally knew two coaches who were later convicted of sexual abuse in Pennsylvania. One of these men, John Trites, is now on America's Most Wanted's Top 10 fugitive's list. John was convicted in absentia of secretly videotaping female swimmers on his 100-plus member team in the team's locker room.
I was disgusted enough by the over behavior of one coach (he was "smart enough" to only have sexual relationships with his 18&up swimmers) that I asked USA Swimming to form an abuse committee in 1991. That year and the following year, the subcommittee discussed abuse in USA Swimming and designed the first Code of Conduct as to physical and sexual abuse. I proposed background checks of all coaches, but this idea was rebuffed as technologically impossible at the time. As you know, background checks are required now but this mechanism still cannot discover unreported abuse, civil claims, or ongoing abuse by coaches.
I believe that USA Swimming's culture of quiet on the issue is many-fold. On the swimmers' side, discussion is limited because of our culture's somewhat neurotic approach to sex. We are inundated with images of sexuality on TV yet we have a culture of discomfort when talking about sex in a more candid manner, especially when it comes to abuse or violence. There is also the stigma of being a victim and that lack of knowing what to do when abuse occurs. That was patently clear in the 20/20 story, where one of the victims of Andy King stated that she was told that if she reported the abuse she would no longer be allowed to swim. I feel that the first step to preventing abuse is t to be educated swimmers properly about their rights as athletes when it comes to sexual abuse. When swimmers know that abuse is not right and that they can report it without fear, abuse will be less likely to occur.
On the coach side, there is little in the way of mentoring, training, and remedy. I was lucky enough to have a great coach in Dick Shoulberg as my coaching mentor. He sat me down one day and said several things that stuck with me over the years. He said, at meets, never have a swimmer of the opposite sex in your room alone; always have the door propped wide open; and never, never, never touch a swimmer inappropriately. Pretty obvious advice, I know, but there are few coaches out there saying it.
Dick understood that fact that a coach is in a position of trust and authority that sometimes is even more influential that a parent. Despite Dick mentoring his coaches, he has had two incidents of coach abuse associated with his team. It was discovered that one of his assistant coaches was having a sexual relationship with a 14-year old swimmer. That coach went to prison for three years and it led to a lawsuit. The other coach was John Trites, who was a summertime assistant for Dick. John was actually the assistant men's coach at Harvard when I swam. I was pretty stunned to learn that he had done what he had done.
The long and short of it is--if this kind of incident can happen where the head coach is paying attention and being a mentor, imagine what can happen where there is no one watching! I would recommend that step two is developing a system of specific coaches training sponsored by Montana Swimming, and intra-club mentoring. The MAC coaches plan to sit down at our next coaches meeting and have a discussion about the 20/20 story, abuse in the sport, and come up with our own guidelines.
The third way to prevent abuse is to make sure we, Montana Swimming, follow-up and follow-through on accusations of abuse. For a pedophile, swimming is the Wild West. We are fairly trusting of our coaches and our kids are running around almost naked. Unless we follow-through on a claim, there is little likelihood of an abuser being stopped.
As the 20/20 report discussed, many abusers run from club to club escaping investigation and/or prosecution. I believe that most clubs who suspect abuse by a coach are simply happy to have to that coach leave town after being confronted, never to darken their doorway again. But this does not solve the problem. A club that allows an abuser to go elsewhere is guilty of allowing the next act of abuse to happen. I think we have a moral obligation to make sure that coaches who abuse kids in our LSC are investigated properly, and if there is merit to the claim, that those coaches are prosecuted.
We are in a position of incredible trust and authority. We owe it to our swimmers to make this great sport as safe as practicable. Based upon the foregoing, I propose the following legislation.
David Berkoff
MAC Sr. Coach
MONTANA SWIMMING SEXUAL ABUSE POLICY
1. Sexual Abuse Policy.
Sexual abuse of children is a serious and unacceptable problem occurring across the United States. Montana Swimming recognizes that swim coaches, officials, and volunteers are in a position of trust and authority over minor children, and that this disparity in power leaves children in a position of being vulnerable to acts of abuse.
As the governing body of swimming in Montana, Montana Swimming desires to use its best effort to prevent future abuse of children in our sport through implementation of the following rules and reporting mechanisms. Reporting of abuse shall be mandatory.
Montana Swimming also encourages all accredited clubs within this LSC to implement its own training and mentoring programs for its volunteers, coaches, and swimmers to supplement this Policy.
2. Montana Swimming Sexual Abuse Reporting and Investigation Rule.
A. Definitions.
(i) "Coach" shall mean any person who is an USA Swimming accredited swimming coach, or any person who is in the process of seeking USA Swimming accreditation to be a swimming coach conducting any act within this LSC.
(ii) For purposes of this rule "Consent" cannot be given by a person under the age of 18.
(iii) "Member" shall mean any registered or accredited member of United States Swimming.
(iv) "Official" means any person serving, in any way, as an official or official-in training at any Montana Swimming sanctioned event.
(v) "Sexual Abuse" shall mean intentional physical contact or touching of a sexual nature without consent of the recipient; surreptitious videotaping, recording, or photographing of swimmers, parents, or volunteers inside of locker rooms, bathrooms, or any other place of privacy where nudity could occur; texting, instant messaging, and oral or written sexually explicit material or comments to a swimmer without consent; or any other act of sexual misconduct that constitutes a state or federal felony.
(vi) "Swimmer" shall mean any athlete member or potential athlete member of United States Swimming found within the Montana Swimming LSC.
(vii) "Volunteer" means any person who has provided services free of charge at any Montana Swimming sanctioned event for the purposes of furthering that event.
3. Sexual Abuse Prohibited; Reporting Requirement.
A. Prohibition. Sexual abuse by any coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer against or by another coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer, at any swimming-related function, meet, practice, or event is prohibited.
B. Reporting.
(i) Any coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer who becomes aware of any alleged act of sexual abuse in violation of this Policy must immediately report the alleged act of abuse to the Montana Swimming Board of Review ("Board of Review") in writing.
(ii) The written sexual abuse complaint to the Board of Review must provide sufficient detailed information about the alleged act of sexual abuse and persons involved, and must include the name of the person making the report.
(iii) Any coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer who makes a report of alleged sexual abuse in violation of this Policy in good faith shall not be subject to any adverse disciplinary action by the Board of Review.
(iv) Any coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer who submits a purposefully false report of sexual abuse shall be subject to disciplinary action by the Board of Review, up to and including expulsion from Montana Swimming.
(v) Any coach, official, volunteer, member, or swimmer who fails to report a known act of sexual abuse may be subject to disciplinary action by the Board of Review.
4. Investigation; Discipline; Reporting to USA Swimming and Police.
A. Initial Discussion.
(i) Upon being provided notice of a written complaint of sexual abuse, the Board of Review shall promptly convene by teleconference or in person to conduct an initial discussion and review of the complaint. The Board of Review may elect to keep the complaint confidential at this stage of the investigation.
(ii) After the Board of Review conducts its initial discussion, the Chairperson of the Board of Review shall immediately contact the person(s) against whom the complaint has been made, inform that person of the investigation, and notify the person that he or she shall have no contact with the alleged victim(s) of the abuse. Notice shall be given by verbal message and/or written correspondence.
(iii) The Chairperson of the Board of Review may elect to communicate with, or provide notice to, any other person who may be involved in, or necessary to, the investigation of the sexual abuse complaint.
(iv) After the initial discussion, Chairperson of the Board of Review may implement any interim order or decree to: (a) protect evidence or information necessary to the investigation; (b) prevent contact between the victim(s) and alleged perpetrator(s); (c) secure testimony or statements from witnesses; or (d) assure proper investigation of the complaint.
(v) If, after the initial discussion, the Chairperson of the Board of Review believes that the complaint is of the nature that there is an imminent risk of harm to the abuse victim, the Board of Review may elect not to notify the person being accused of the act of abuse, or any other persons involved, and immediately contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Involvement of law enforcement authorities by the Chairperson of the Board of Review shall not eliminate, or prevent, the requirement of any investigation of a complaint of sexual abuse by Montana Swimming.
B. Board of Review Investigation and Hearing.
(i) The Board of Review shall follow the standard Board of Review rules and procedures as adopted by Montana Swimming and is responsible for determining the appropriate disciplinary action. The Board of Review may elect to keep the names of the alleged victim(s) confidential.
(ii) The Board of Review shall produce a final report into any complaint of sexual abuse, which shall include: (a) the initials of the victim(s); (b) the name of the alleged perpetrator; (c) the names or any witnesses who provided testimony; (d) a list of documents reviewed; (e) the Board of Review's findings of fact; and (f) any disciplinary action.
(iii) If the Board of Review determines that there is either: (a) insufficient evidence to determine that an act of sexual abuse occurred; (b) the complaint has no merit, or (c) the complaint was made in bad faith by the complainant, the Board of Review's findings of fact shall state so.
(iv) All complaints of abuse shall be forwarded to USA Swimming for concurrent review. Those complaints forwarded to USA Swimming and are found by the Board of Review to be inconclusive, having no merit, or made in bad faith, shall attach a copy of report from the Board of Review to USA Swimming.
(v) All complaints of abuse which are deemed to have merit and which warrant expulsion from Montana Swimming shall be forwarded to the appropriate local law enforcement authorities.
(vi) Any person deemed to have committed an act of sexual abuse as defined by this policy shall be banned for life from Montana Swimming and such action shall be reported to USA Swimming.
C. Training and Review.
(i) All coaches, officials, volunteers, members, and swimmers shall submit to any sexual abuse training and certification adopted by USA Swimming. In the event that USA Swimming does not adopt a sexual abuse training and certification program by the end of 2011, Montana Swimming will adopt such a program.
(ii) Accredited clubs within Montana Swimming are strongly encouraged to adopt internal training, rules, and reporting mechanisms related to sexual abuse.
D. Supplementation of Rules.
(vii) Montana Swimming shall immediately adopt, and use as a replacement to the policies stated herein, any and all rules and procedures related to sexual abuse claims hereinafter enacted by USA Swimming which are inconsistent with the rules enacted by USA Swimming.
Submitted by: blastoff
June 30, 2010 Blast-off: May I post it to the SCAQ Blog and my other swim news site?
Tony Submitted by: groovydoo
June 30, 2010 Yes. Submitted by: Blastoff
June 30, 2010 I posted it... You're wonderful. I want you running USA Swimming.
Besides posting your post, I posted what USA Swimming execs make and it is outrageous. Submitted by: Groovydoo
July 1, 2010 The rule about never being alone in a closed room or office with a member of the opposite sex is a good one for anyone. Since a professor friend mentioned it to me a number of years ago, I have avoided closed door meetings alone with female subordinates or even equals in the office.
It's also a really good parenting rule not to leave your kids alone with a coach ever. No matter how much you might respect or trust a coach, your kids are your responsibility.
Submitted by: CTL
July 1, 2010 Blast-off,
Great policy recommendation, did Montana Swimming adopt it?
One question why is abuse only prohibited at "swimming-related function, meet, practice, or event"? Should the policy not include these interactions at any time.
It is unfortunate that many cases of abuse have been settled out of court with accompanying gag orders. Greater publicity might have prevented our current issues. I find it hard to believe any amount of money can take away the pain.
Thanks for you time and effort in creating these recommendations.
Submitted by: thetruth
July 1, 2010 Confidentiality is a pretty standard part of a settlement in a tort action. I've never seen a malpractice action settled without a confidentiality clause. If you are the plaintiff in a case, it usually makes a lot of sense to agree to confidentiality. Submitted by: CTL
July 1, 2010 Everyone concerned about this subject should read:
Deep Deception: Ireland's Swimming Scandals, by Justine McCarthy.
You think we've got problems? See the extent of cover ups of sexual abuse by swimming coaches in Ireland and the result Submitted by: swimfast
July 1, 2010 swimfast,Please assure us that you do not mean to minimize like Chuck what happens to American athletes by comparison to what happened in Ireland. That is so wrong on so many levels.
Your warning of what can happen if this abuse and culture is not stopped in the USA should be read by everybody. Submitted by: 1996swim2000
July 2, 2010 Geez, I don't see anyone trying to minimize what has happened. Everywhere I look I see folks who are deeply concerned making good faith efforts to do what is best for the athletes and our sport. In this day and age of lawyers trying to get as much money as possible I don't expect USA Swimming to give us daily updates or statements accepting responsibility for the horrible actions of some really bad folks.
It is obvious that things were not always handled in the right way but what we really need now is a sane, safe way to move forward on this. We need to make sure that the bad guys get put away for a long long time and that we do everything we can to protect current and future athletes from these type of folks. AND we need to make sure the leadership at all levels (including those outside the sport - i.e. law enforcement)understands that we expect better of them when it come to protecting innocent kids.
This issue is not as easy to correct as it appears and the sensationalized headlines the lawyers keep putting out are not helping to solve the problem. Submitted by: thetruth
July 2, 2010 1996swim2000 - Have you read the book? No minimizing. If you had read it or are intimately aware of the extent of abuse, denials and coverups in Ireland, as everyone in swimming should have been made aware, you would realize that something should have been done here in the 1990's - as everyone seems to have recognized a long time ago that we had a problem here. Maybe not as bad as in Ireland, but the problem has existed. Submitted by: swimfast
July 2, 2010 The policy I proposed I drafted in 2 hours. Rather than tweak it alot, I proposed it to MT Swimming with the hope that we would take it up at our May meeting. There certainly is room to change some of the language to incorporate out-of-pratice issues as well. Unfortunately, I was on a week-long family vacation during that meeting and so we will have to wait until October to decide how to adopt and implement--assuming the MT BOD agrees.
I believe that a very big part of changing the culture is education of kids and coaches. It needs to be frank, deep, and unnerving. It needs to discuss the ramifications of abuse both to the victim (years of PTSD and counseling) and to the perp (ie: jail/ sex offender registration for life). Training needs to discuss how coaches are in a position of incredible trust and any improper interaction with a swimmer can be devastating. Submitted by: Blastoff
July 3, 2010 I will be posting an updated and edits USA swimming proposed abuse policy on Monday. I would like anyone interested to make their comments known. My hope is that the proposed policy will be presented to USAS PRIOR to the convention in Dallas. I will need some backers. If you are interested, please let me know.
I am working on a training and education program too. This will probably take a bit more effort and I would love to have some input.
The only way we are going to get USA swimming to change the way it approaches this issue is to force them to accept the will of our members.
I will not sit back and let apathy and the old school mentality kill our sport.
Dave Submitted by: Blastoff
July 6, 2010 Great work Dave.
did you submit anything to USA Swimming rules and regulations? If not you may want to send something now to get it up for debate. Submitted by: thetruth
July 9, 2010 I believe it should be required that every USA associated Swim Team hire a therapist at least once a year to address the members about 1, How to identify abusive behavior by any adult, how to report it affectively (in writing and with a witness), and how to emotionally deal with the aftermath of having been abused or witnessing abuse. or at least who to go to to get help. Schools and organizations are so afraid of being sued that they won't speak the words "abuse" even when they have been warned about an abusive coach. If you don't believe me ask the president of the Lake Oswego Swim Club and the Superintendent of Schools of Lake Oswego. They were both warned about a swim coach who was later exposed for abusing swim team members for 30 years. Neither entity took the warning seriously. Submitted by: loshame
July 9, 2010 Where can I find the list of the 46 coaches who have been banned for life by USA Swimming? Submitted by: loshame
July 9, 2010 Banned List:
http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/6f5365b9-a004-4e6d-b0c1-9babc741373a/Final Pulbished List of Suspended for Life Individuals.pdf Submitted by: Jason Marsteller
July 10, 2010 Thank you Blastoff
We need to put an end to the "old schooled" touchy-feely swim coaches. COACHES KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF THE SWIMMERS. NO SITTING ON LAPS, HITTING BUTTS, KISSING FOREHEADS…. NO EXCUSES. I'd like to see concrete rules that all swim club must follow regarding inappropriate coaches.
Submitted by: Mom
July 11, 2010 The protect of the swimmer needs to come from a source outside the local clubs. Many clubs are not run well enough to deal with such problems or run by the coach who is the problem. Submitted by: Mom
July 11, 2010 Mom,
Your'e right mom. But when the parents of the club have a meeting, bring up the possibility of getting a professional therapist to come talk to the kids. And make a point of asking school authorities to talk about sexual abuse more often with the students.
Submitted by: loshame
July 17, 2010 I am very disappointed in USA Swimming's list of coaches who have been banned from the organization and swimming events. Don King of Lake Oswego, Oregon was on the list of lesser offenders. However, the three women who were willing to provide very detailed and specific testimony against him at USA Swimming's hearing where molested outside the statue of limitations for both Oregon and California. Prior to the hearing one victim spoke with Don on the phone about the abuse and he did not deny any of it. This conversation was recorded by the Santa Clara police department. Don has been molesting children for 30 years and he is free to do it again. Submitted by: loshame
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