Women's Hoops Blog

Inane commentary on a game that deserves far better


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

You know what drives me crazy? When institutions that should know better are just drop dead stupid.

LSU pissed me off because, after all the articles on sexual misconduct by coaches, they somehow did not have a conduct policy in place. Heck, even the WBCA took action -- doesn't your institution pay attention to the association its coaches belong to? You'd think the simple fear of being sued would have gotten some action...

And the whole issue pisses me off because institutions are STILL being stupid and young people are still being abused.

Case in point: From Karen Crouse at the New York Times - USA Swimming Outlines a Plan to Help Prevent Misconduct
USA Swimming’s beleaguered board of directors, contending with the fallout from two high-profile cases that sent veteran coaches to prison for sexual misconduct, convened an emergency teleconference Sunday night. They devised a seven-point plan to address the issue of coaches’ taking advantage of their young athletes.

The next morning, a 21-year-old former competitive swimmer filed a civil suit in Missouri that named USA Swimming as a defendant, claiming she had been sexually abused by a member coach who later moved to another team in a different state.

Since the success of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, swimming’s national governing body has faced at least three lawsuits involving male coaches’ behavior toward female swimmers.
Makes me want to do a survey of all NCAA, NAIA and JC institutions to find out if they have a policy in place and how they educate both their coaches and students about what's okay and what's a non-starter.

'cause people, the "online predator" thang may be "real" but it's a huge sensationalist distraction: the abusers are almost always family members and trusted friends.