By David Rieder.
Last week, the Orange County Register released a story accusing USA Swimming of failing to properly investigate “hundreds” of claims of sexual abuse. What followed were the results of the newspaper’s investigation, which included both new information and other facts previously disseminated when USA Swimming last came under fire for its sexual abuse procedures in 2010.
Those revelations brought about USA Swimming’s Safe Sport division, launched as a proactive measure to ensure athlete safety and put in place procedures for coach education and handling misconduct violations. Every two years, all USA Swimming-certified coaches must take and pass a Safe Sport online course.
The Register blasts both Safe Sport and its director, Susan Woessner, as inadequate, but is that really the case? Since 2010, more than 100 individuals have been added to USA Swimming’s banned-for-life list for code of conduct violations, which includes sexual misconduct. But on a club level, is Safe Sport making a difference with coaches, swimmers and families?
“Yes,” said Tom Ugast, CEO of the Nation’s Capital Swim Club, one of the country’s largest clubs. “Certainly, in years’ past, there have been some issues that have come up that weren’t dealt with in a timely manner, but I think in the past six or seven years, we are doing what we need to do to protect the athletes and make sure that our coaches and officials make sure that we’re not putting our athletes in harm’s way.”
The coaches Swimming World spoke with discussed their own efforts to be more aware of what behaviors are appropriate—which means that coach education is working. One explained that USA Swimming has provided resources for helping staff members and families understand limits for athlete-coach interactions and even athlete-athlete interactions.
Previously, it was considered perfectly normal or appropriate for coaches to meet with athletes one-on-one, for a coach to give an athlete a rubdown or for coaches and athletes to share a hug after a race. Now, the expectations for conduct have changed, and coaches know they have to be aware.
Pam Swander, head coach of the South Carolina Swim Club, explained the importance of coaches having “candid discussions” about how they run their clubs in order to ensure athlete safety. “Rethinking how we promote our sport” has even been a part of those discussions, stretching down to whether it’s appropriate for clubs to self-promote with photos of children in swimsuits.
“I think what we’re doing is more (to prevent inappropriate behavior). I think it takes real conversations among peer coaches,” she said. “The awareness, at least at the club level, is heightened.”
The latest issue Swander has encountered is parents asking for coaches to drive their swimmers to or from practice or a meet. She won’t let that happen, because what if?
“I’d rather put things in place to ensure that they don’t have the opportunity (for misconduct),” she said, even if “99 percent of the time it’s fine.”
But is USA Swimming doing enough to ensure athlete protection?
“I think they need to be diligent,” Swander said.
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Steve Morsilli, who leads the Pleasanton Seahawks program in Northern California, explained why so many instances of sexual assault in swimming went unreported for so long: “Nobody filed a police report.”
Morsilli remembered when one of his former female swimmers was concerned about a new coach’s behavior, and she sent a letter to the LSC reporting the issue but specifically stating that she did not want to press charges.
“In our legal system, it is very, very intrusive,” Morsilli explained of why his former swimmer did not seek punishment for the behavior. “If you’re a girl, and you file a report in this, you almost become the victim. That’s the scary part of the system, and that’s really where the breakdown is. It’s not with USA Swimming.”
The offending coach eventually was fired and bounced around to different programs before he was charged and eventually banned from USA Swimming for life.
“They fired him, they hushed it up, and they hired someone else,” Morsilli said. “They just got rid of the problem. Very few clubs in USA Swimming were calling previous clubs for background references. He just kept moving around, and that’s how he got away with it.”
It’s worth pointing out an independent background check is now required for any coach to become USA Swimming-certified so that coaches fired for misconduct cannot resurface elsewhere.
What reflects the worst on USA Swimming in the Register story is that when complaints did come in, they were not properly adjudicated. But Ugast pointed out, that under the current Amateur Sports Act, USA Swimming does not always have the authority to sanction a coach or a former coach. As a bottom-up organization, it can be only as effective as the information it receives and follows up on.
“We have to give due process to every official and coach,” Ugast said. “If they have not been brought before USA Swimming, we can’t do anything about it. There are things that need to change in the way Congress wrote the Amateur Sports Act. I think USA Swimming as a national governing body is doing the best it can under the law to protect all our athletes.”
In recent weeks, USA Swimming has come under fire specifically for the 2011 investigation into whether Ariana Kukors and Sean Hutchison were in a romantic relationship. According to Kukors, her role in the investigation consisted of one phone call, where she denied that her relationship with Hutchison was anything but professional. She has now admitted that she lied on that call.
“Did we do all of our due diligence to make sure nothing was going on? In reading the accounts, probably not. The investigator never went out there, talked to them on the phone. Did we do enough?” Ugast said.
But on the other hand: “Is it our responsibility to call her a liar? I don’t think so. It’s just like if you have a criminal act. If someone doesn’t say that a felony has occurred, the police can’t do anything.”
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In this world of heightened awareness of sexual abuse issues, coaches worry. They have to consider their own well-being, and what if they do nothing wrong and are falsely accused of misconduct?
“No longer are you innocent until proven guilty. Once someone is accused of an act like this, they are going to be deemed as guilty, whether they are or not. Under our current laws, that’s a problem,” Ugast said.
Morsilli admitted that he has wondered what would happen if an angry parent accused him of misconduct and reported it via social media and to authorities.
“It’s a flat-out lie, but if they do that, my career is over,” he said. “Basically, it doesn’t matter if I proved that that never happened. My career is over based on the allegations.”
But more importantly, from the perspective of swimmers’ safety, what if a coach doesn’t do enough to prevent abuse? What if something inappropriate is happening right under their nose, hidden in plain sight?
Most of all, coaches have to realize the positions of influence they hold over young swimmers and use it for only the best of purposes.
“The thing about power, it’s very real, and we have to be careful about how our coaches use it,” Ugast said.
“It’s about us as leaders and really understanding the impact we have and the dream that we’re selling and how potent that it. There’s a responsibility with it. A huge responsibility,” Swander said. “It’s not win at all costs. It’s not go-for-the-gold at all costs.”
Is it ironic who was quoted first in the article?
The “Safe Sport Act” is a violation of due process, free speech, and self-incrimination rights.