http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/
Over the past ten years, the USA Swimming organization has been drowning in the public eye due to numerous sexual misconduct acts that have been brought to the surface. In total, there have been 36 coaches banned for life from the organization, but single abuse cases number more than ten times that amount. “The coaches have molested, fondled and abused dozens of swimmers, according to court records and interviews conducted by ABC news.” These discrepancies highlight an extremely disturbing reality for families of young children who participate in the sport; whose hands do we trust our children in? With emotions of sorrow, fear and betrayal coming to light, we can begin to examine the problem in more detail. Through three individual cases I will explore the recurring themes of why the victims resisted coming forward, how their perpetrators were eventually caught, and the problems with the USA Swimming organization’s system.
Before I analyze the first case, I would like to point out the lack of titles surrounding the convicted coaches. As we mentioned in class, a problem our society perpetuates in the media coverage of attack related stories is a lack of identifiers given to those who fall in the societal “norm”. That is, when we talk about white males, we very often leave out those specific qualifiers as is the case with the USA Swimming scandals. In both articles I found, written by Megan Chuchmach, the titles reflected the perpetrators as merely “Coaches”, disregarding their race or gender with the idea that those were assumed characteristics. For comparison, the gender and age of these coaches’ victims were clearly stated. In all cases they were referred to teenage girls, leaving no room for speculation on whether these coaches were molesting both sexes; note, however, disregarding race. Gloria Steinem would argue that the absence of these adjectives given to white males in relation to crimes perpetuates this category of “social norm” persons to continue committing such acts because as a group they are regularly ignored as a threat to society. I think she is correct in her claims which note that how we identify an assailant affects how we feel about a case and future cases; had we thought about typical stereotypes of those who don’t fall in the “norm”, readers would have analyzed these cases from a very different angle.
The first case I want to discuss is about Brian Hindson who was a swim coach in Indiana. “[Hindson] secretly taped teenage girls he coached in two high school pool locker rooms, one in which he directed girls to a ‘special’ shower room where he had a hidden camera inside a locker.” ABC News interviewed Brooke Taflinger, one of the girls who the coach had taped, who said she was completely mortified by the experience. She also noted that since the tapes were made unbeknownst to her, she and her other teammates never had any reason to not trust, let alone report, their coach for his crime. “FBI agents [only] became aware of the pictures after a North Carolina woman bought the coach’s computer on E-Bay and discovered a video clip of a young girl in a locker room appearing to be taped without her knowledge. A subsequent search of Hindson’s home turned up more locker room footage and a large selection of child pornography.” Ken Stopkotte, another swim coach in Indiana who was selected as coach of the year in 2009, mentioned that although unfortunate, this incidences are not uncommon and that in fact this problem has been going on since he began coaching 27 years ago. The problem, a San Jose lawyer points out, is that this particular “system does not encourage reporting.” This is a similar dilemma to other sexual abuse cases we’ve discussed in class. A victim may not want to come forward for many reasons, but the main ones that we have pinpointed are fear of confronting a coach who is an established authority figure to these young teenage girls, fear of no one believing you and fear of what friends and family might think. Due to these and other reasons the problem of sexual abuse is persistent.
Sexual misconduct within the USA Swim organization proves it has no geographical boundaries with our next case. Andy King, 62, who was a swimming coach at many clubs along the West Coast was recently convicted of sexual abuse that spanned a period of thirty years. King was charged in cases that involved over twelve teenage girls which ultimately led to his 40 year sentence. He was only caught when one of his 14-year-old victims spoke with her pastor about the abuse, despite numerous previous complaints made by suspicious parents. Incomplete background screenings are thus highlighted as a key flaw in the swimming organization system. “According to USA Swimming, the organization only checks for criminal convictions and does not include background interviews or investigations with local police.” The same source mentioned that the screenings are “willfully incomplete [and] a simple phone call” would help avoid employing coaches with sexually abusive behaviors or pasts. Another huge problem with the organization is its overall lack of responsibility. The executive director of USA Swimming, Chuck Wielgus, said it is each local club’s job to do a complete background check on the individuals they hire, not the national organization’s. What was more disturbing was his rationalization that 36 coaches banned is not a lot when compared to the 12,000 total they have had in the past ten years. Finally, his most shocking outburst was when, “asked if he had apologized to any of the young teen victims, Wielgus responded, ‘You feel I need to apologize to them?’” Here we see the clear shift of responsibility moving away from the organization. In addition, there seems to be no advocacy for change made by USA Swimming in the future. Without change, the problem simply persists.
In a subsequent related article, Chuchmach reveals yet another sexual abuse lawsuit against USA Swimming. I became very personally disturbed when reading this article when I learned the coach that was accused, Norm Havercroft, worked for West Valley swim club in San Jose, CA. I swam for this club for five years, from first to sixth grade. Although I confirmed with my mom that Havercroft never worked for the club while I was there, it is still unsettling to know that I could have easily been a victim as well. It makes me feel powerless yet lucky that I escaped what would have been eternal abuse. Jancy Thompson is the victim who made allegations against the coach who she claimed began molesting her four years after she joined the team at age 15 until she left for college in 2000. “Thompson said the alleged abuse included physical touching that occurred mostly in hotel rooms while away at swim meets and lewd online messaging.” Although Thompson was questioned about Havercroft’s behavior at the time she was being abused, he was being accused of similar charges by a fellow teammate, she denied any misconduct out of fear. She also said it was difficult to come forward with allegations because she didn’t want to disrupt her coach-athlete relationship. Because her coach was an obvious authority figure, she was scared to upset him and possibly jeopardize her chances of becoming an Olympic swimmer. Furthermore, Thompson argued that no one would believe her since he was older and well-respected within the West Valley Swim Club. It wasn’t until 2003 that she told her friend who encouraged her to go to the police. Like the previous two cases, a major setback of the swimming system hindered the ability to catch this coach sooner. There have been claims that the “organization had knowledge of sexual misconduct by [Havercroft] and continued to allow him to coach children.” Evidently, if his inappropriate behavior had been accounted for in a rational manner, Thompson would have never been a victim of such a traumatic experience.
Through these three unfortunate examples, we see major flaws within the USA Swimming organization and the loose leash they have on their hired coaches. With a startling number of sexual misconduct cases arising every year, it remains clear that change must happen in order to limit their increase in the future. After the most recent incident was revealed, the organization did “promise to reform its child protection measures.” But an adjustment will take more than a promise. USA Swimming must take responsibility for their actions and have greater concern for America’s youth. In addition, if we make it more socially acceptable to come forward about sexual abuse crimes, it will result in the apprehension of perpetrators before they attack other teenage victims. Thus, like most problems feminists face, a solution for change must come from the center and appropriate itself outwards in order to be effective.
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