Thursday, April 08, 2010

Here is a list of 32 swim coaches either accused or convicted of sex crimes mentioned in the Jane Doe vs. USA Swimming et al. lawsuit!


In the Jane Doe versus USA Swimming, Pacific Swimming and San Jose Aquatics brief, there is a statement that references 32 coaches that have been accused and/or convicted of a sex crimes against a USA Swimming affiliated swimmer.

I am posting these names to inspire action. This all could stop now and it could take place before media outlets such as the New York Times, 60-Minutes, and the BBC start asking politicians some really embarrassing questions.

This scandal is huge! it ranks up there with the East German doping stories in the 1970's and it could get worse but it can be fixed with just a few process changes and I encourage those who know any of the executives at the USA Swimming "ivory tower" to scale the walls and tell them to add such simple policy changes such as no one-on-ones, no touching, no punishing, no secret clubs etc.

Here is the link to the 32-names: [Link]

The file was sent after I requested it from the law office of: Corsiglia McMahon & Allard LLP

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Tony:

Not sure about that link. Lots of pop-ups, advertising..etc.

Unknown said...

Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't more than half of these offenders High School only coaches? Shouldn't you widen your scope to include some sort of guidelines for High School coaches as well, or at least guidance for HS administrators to follow?

How does the record of swim coach abuse reflect when measured against other sports?

What are the number of incidents reported per year?

I guess I'm just wondering if these incidents look more alarming since there is no data which reflects the number of abuses in other sports.

I'm not suggesting any of this is justified, but I do wonder if there should be a legal standard for any adult working in any coaching capacity with a child.

Tony Austin said...

Is the link working?

Glenn said...

Yeah... the link works... just a file sharing service so it's not a direct download. Seems OK though.

Tony Austin said...

I don't know who keep statistics on this but I have a good idea as to how to approach this in an anecdotal way: We figure out search string for Google news such as "Coach molestation"; which I just tried and swim coaches and basketball coaches were tied for first, soccer and gymnastics were the lowest. Do that for a period of time and see which athletic endeavors score the highest.

However, even if the instance of child abuse may be proportional from sport to sport, why tolerate that as an acceptable casualty? Why not implement simple policies that prevent and protect and then encourage other sports to do the same thing?

Perception is reality, a psychologist told me that at Children Services, ergo, the perception lately is that swimming is risky and need policy changes.

No

flipdip said...

You have it right about the Boy Scouts. I would imagine that to be a goldmine for abusers yet I can't recall reports of abuse happening there. They are doing something right.

Link works fine for me, by the way.

TedBaker said...

You might want to read up on this case:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University_1997_harassment_controversy

Not to excuse abuse 'cos it is horrific but I do know of two cases - the one referenced above and another in Canadian school board - where claims of abuse were falsified to maliciously persecute the individuals accused.

Doesn't happen all the time - in fact, it's pretty rare - but, a tenant of common law is innocent 'till proven guilty.

Tony Austin said...

Thank you. :-)

Ted, that is why the policy on no one-on-ones would protect coaches too.

Anonymous said...

http://rawstory.com/2010/03/report-boy-scouts-covered-sex-abuse-decades/

the boy scouts are going through this too. cover ups seem to be the way things had been handled in a lot of organizations. the shame of it is that many times people think that was the right way to handle it until it happens again. any profession where adults work with kids needs policies of protection.

Tony Austin said...

The BSA had a severe "pedo" incident about a decade ago. They created policies to prevent this sort of evil from happening.

The article you linked us to is informative but the incidents noted were from the 1980's.

This article is even better covering data up to 1991.

I did a search on recent molestation issues with the BSA in present time and could not find one.

http://www.youthtoday.org/publication/article.cfm?article_id=3874

Anonymous said...

would you please publish the list and not the link? you'll probably want to keep the source secure and make part of the document. opening an unknown link is a bit scary if one is concerned for their computer virus safety.

Thank you for staying on top of this issue. It's important, and I for one am VERY disappointed with the 20/20 sensationalized version of an important topic.

Tony Austin said...

The list is more than just names. It has what their duties were, where they coached, what they are accused of or convicted of doing.

Each name has about two or three paragraphs connected to it. I can't just post the names because of the possibility of mistaken identities.
For instance, if you are on Facebook and type in "Tony Austin" to search me up, you ill get 500 "Tony Austins'"

If you like, email me and I will send it to you directly.