The following is solely the opinion of Chris DeSantis. While Chris DeSantis is a writer for Swimswam, his opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinion of all the Swimswam staff or founders.
In the past few weeks, I’ve read the news on this site of two high profile coaches being banned by their respective governing bodies over sexual misconduct. Below the posts, the comment section is rife with defenders of the respective coaches. The message to victims of sexual abuse is chilling. When they finally work up the courage to reveal what has happened, few if anyone will stand with them.
I’m reminded of the sentencing of Rick Curl in 2013. Curl, in case you can’t remember, was another high profile coach who was put in jail for seven years. The formal charge was “child abuse”, which lacks the detail that Curl sexually abused one of his swimmers, Kelley Currin, starting when she was 12 years old.
Despite the horrific crime he had been convicted of, there were 72 letters of support submitted on his behalf. Swimswam’s own Ceci Christy, in the courtroom, described a “a nearly-full courtroom of former Curl swimmers, coaches, and friends…When the defense asked for supporters to stand up, the entire courtroom stood except for the plaintiff and members of the media”.
My heart sank when I read those words. Every stakeholder in swimming- parents, coaches, swimmers and officials- should be embarrassed about our sport’s culture. Collectively, we need to pull our heads out of the sand, move past our discomfort with discussing sexual misconduct, and start affecting some change.
I was among the first to put heavy pressure on USA Swimming to do something on this issue, but I believe more and more the responsibility is falling to the rest of us. We need to realize that when an accuser comes forward, they are doing so knowing that they risk being revealed somehow or other, and that more than likely they will stand alone just like Kelley Currin did.
The reality of these cases is that the information used to enforce bans is kept confidential to protect victims. This can be frustrating for those on the sidelines- and they can jump to conclusions at light speed based on that lack of information.
No matter where you stand, let’s focus on what’s important. Everyone involved in these situations needs help and support from those closest to them. The athletes on your team need to know that if they are ever abused, that the group around them will help and support them.
Parents can understandably feel partly responsible if their kids are abused by a coach. They need someone else to reach out to them and let them know that they didn’t deserve this.
Coaches, even if they are guilty of the crimes they have been accused of, are people who will need relationships to guide them through the stormy waters that awaits. I think stakeholders often give blind support to coaches when the athletes are swimming fast- get to know your coach and support them as a person, not as someone that gets swimmers to swim fast.
As a coach, I am forced to confront every day that my profession has a problem, and it won’t go away overnight. I love swimming so much and I want to be proud of the culture we have made for our sport. In many other ways I am, but in this area, we still have a long way to go.
I understand that this is your opinion but I would like to express mine. I believe one of these coaches, you speak of is Matt Bell of Canada. I actually met Matt once and he is one of the best coaches in Canada. He worked wonders for many of these kids and I stand by him during this tough time. I was with Ajax since late 2011 to 2015 and Matt worked with the children to there fullest potential. I understand that he may have done wrong but he is innocent until proven guilty, in my opinion. There are always two sides to the story and in one article about Mr. Bell, people have accused him of something that he… Read more »
As long as you are willing to support that coach if found guilty too; visiting him in jail and going to the girl and apologize to her too?
Yes, all are innocent until proven guilty, however, one must remove one’s self and make things right.
If we were talking about school teachers, we would all demand that they be removed from the class room until the proceedings played out in court. Why, in the athletic world, do we not follow the same is beyond me. He’s such a nice guy and good coach is not a good enough reason if charge with “luring”.
I swam in the seventies, and sexual misconduct was very well known..the mindset was ” blame the victim” I knew of girls who never came forward for fear of being labelled a slut..and shunned..they were not raped, so therefore, in those days, it was always the girls fault for not saying no..the coaches knew, the swimmers knew..there was a code of silence..bravo for exposing this dark side of our sport..
Isn’t that the club’s job? To support the kids and move forward?
Can you imagine how confusing it is for kids to have their coach banned for sexual misconduct and have the club throw its full weight behind the coach rather than support the kids ‘reeling from the loss’? The coach created trauma for the kids, not USA Swimming.
FYI, USAS offers zero support for young swimmers left reeling from the sudden and shocking loss of a coach under these circumstances.
The support is that they got “that person” of the deck and away from young people period! Then its time for the parents to be parents and help their child find people to talk to…….yes, be parents.
It is sad that any adult does these horrendous acts to another person, let alone a child. And, no one should ever stand in support of a rapist/child abuser/molester.
Now, I what I’m about to say, may cause a bit of a stir. First, I’m going to start with stating that I am a coach, former athlete, and a rape survivor.
I do not like the fact that we have given authority to universities and sports organizations to try anyone on rape charges (a felony). And, they get away with it by using the term “sexual misconduct” (hello? any non-consensual sexual act = rape). I believe that we have a court of law, for a reason and organizations/universities should… Read more »
The people commenting need to be given victim sensitivity training and education because the majority of the comments showed a lack of understanding as to what the victim has gone through and also showed how clueless they are about the USA swimming hearing process used to determine the fate of the accused coach.
I really feel the clubs should publish guidance on their website as to what is considered appropriate and inappropriate behavior/contact between a coach and a swimmer and secondly there should be a process in place for swimmers/parents/other coaches to report when they see something that could possibly be inappropriate. Just get it all out in the open for everyone to see.
I swam for Rick Curl in the late 1980s. I would NEVER have stood in support of that scumbag. I was SHOCKED by several aspects of the whole story, though not by the revelations, since almost everyone in Potomac Valley Swimmjng in that era, coaches, administrators, and swimmers alike, knew. What shocked me was that several swimmers slightly younger than my generation publicly on social media stood up for him when the Washington Post first ran the story. But far worse was the public stance of the club after Curl went to prison and the team name changed to NCAP: team leadership, the CEO and the senior coaches, posted a statement asking club members to write to Curl in prison… Read more »
Thank you so much for writing this Chris.
“As a coach, I am forced to confront every day that my profession has a problem, and it won’t go away overnight” … those are big, bold words, which the swimming community, and in fact, every sports community needs to hear. No matter how uncomfortable these conversations can make people feel, we need to first recognize that this is indeed a real, visceral problem that swimmers can potentially be exposed to. We need to have humility (without just jumping to conclusions) to even begin addressing it.
Thank you, just, thank you.