The Marietta Marlins, a USA club team based out of Atlanta, Georgia, may have allowed a temporarily-banned coach to be involved with their team.
David Weeks, one of the coaches listed on USA Swimming’s recently-released list of individuals who have been temporarily suspended from membership, was temporarily banned from coaching or participating in USA Swimming from June 2, 2015 to June 2, 2025. According to the list, he was banned for violating section 304.3.4 and 305.1 of the USA Swimming Code of Conduct. The violations are listed below:
- 305.3.4 Violation of any of the Athlete Protection Policies set forth in Article 305
- 305.1 Inappropriate touching between an athlete and an adult non-athlete member or Participating Non-Member (as defined in 401.1) is prohibited, including, but not limited to, excessive touching, hugging, kissing, sexually oriented behavior, sexually stimulating or otherwise inappropriate games, and having an athlete sit on a non-family member adult’s lap.
At the time of the incident, Weeks was a coach for the Carrollton Bluefins in Carrollton, Georgia. He was suspended and fired from the team, but two weeks after his suspension kicked in on June 2, 2015, he showed up on a list of coaches for the Marietta Marlins in Atlanta, Georgia. (Note that the date of the archived capture is June 23, 2015.) He also showed up listed as the meet entries point-person for the Marlins for their December 2015 invite.
According to Scott Leightman, director of communications and PR at USA Swimming, USA Swimming membership is not required for the position of entries chair, but “membership is required for anyone who has frequent or direct contact with athletes”. Leightman also said that if Weeks was in a coaching position, “the club [The Marietta Marlins] could be subject to a Code of Conduct violation of the USA Swimming rulebook.”
Marietta Marlins head coach Yit Aun Lim denied Weeks’s on-deck involvement with the team after Weeks’s suspension. Lim says that Weeks was never a “real coach” for the team, but he did help out on deck before he was banned. He added that during Weeks’s time as entries chair after his ban, he was “not at the pool, not close to the pool.”
Lim also expressed displeasure with USA Swimming’s decision to release the list of temporary bans, saying “This list is between him [Weeks] and USA Swimming.”
The list of USA Swimming’s temporarily-suspended individuals was only made available to the public on January 6, 2016. This summer, an incident occurred where Canada’s Kelowna AquaJets unknowingly hired suspended coach Lois Daigneault.
It must have been a slow news day in the swimming community for this to have been one of yesterday’s top stories. Coach Weeks has not been on deck since May before his June suspension began. The only thing that Coach Lim is guilty of is not being prompt about updating the team’s website.
This article is a clear attack against the Marlins and Lim. While there are other teams in ATL that have to focus on marketing and false propaganda about their success, Lim leads with honor and passion for the sport which leads to successful swimmers.
In regards to Weeks, he was good with the kids and we never saw any misconduct. Furthermore, Weeks was off the deck months ago…
Oh bother, here we go again. Parents rushing to the defense of a bad, bad man because “he was good for the kids.”
Apparently you all are missing the part where this club CONTINUED to employ a suspended member.
Rule #1 of working with kids: if you can’t follow child protection rules, regardless of your personal friendships, then YOU SHOULDN’T BE WORKING WITH KIDS.
I don’t know why you’re making Lim sound like the bad guy. He is the best coach a swimmer can have. He inspires me. He teaches us discipline and reminds us of the important things in life.
Yit Lim was well aware of the circumstances of Weeks’ suspension, knows that Weeks was warned several times by his carrolton employer for his creepy interactions with kids, and hired him anyway.