CHURCH SCANDAL ROCKS SWIMMING

I have been reading for months about the clerical abuse of children by Catholic priests. I am sickened by what I read, as I was an altar boy and know how vulnerable you can be to the influence of one who is supposed to be an envoy of God. I was further sickened by the abuse of power among the bishops and cardinals who knew about this behavior and just passed the sickness along from one parish to another. It all makes me sick inside, and lose trust for those in power who abuse their position of public trust to protect the illusions that give them power.

So I read the sports page to get away from the sickness, only to find yet again that sports imitates real life. Here on the sports page is a story about the governing body of swimming, USA Swimming, who is dealing with swimming coaches who are suspected of sexually abusing young swimmers. Worse yet, one of the top coaches in the organization was involved, former national team director Everett Uchuyama. He quit in 2006 after a girl came forward to reveal a sexual relationship lasting over 10 years that began when she was 14. He never faced criminal charges and turns up less than a year later being the head swimming coach at the Country Club of Colorado, just down the street from the headquarters of USA Swimming in Colorado Springs.

Just like the church, they just passed the abuser onto the next club.Turns out he was recommended for the job by Pat Hogan, who leads US Swimming's club development program. The good ole boys network succeeded in covering up the sins of one of their top coaches. Poor kids who had to be coached by him, knowing that he had the inside track to be picked for the US squad. Wonder how he used that leverage on some of the young swimmers that he coached at that private club.

Better than the Catholic Church, at least USA Swimming is doing something about it.They first published a banned list of coaches, 46 in all who were charged with sexual misconduct. Mr. Uchiyama hastily resigned. They then published a second list of coaches who are under suspicion. Lastly, they published a new policy to protect the swimmers. Imagine that they had to have a policy that prohibits coaches from giving rubdowns to swimmers. You mean that they didn't know that touching could create sexual tensions and confusion for a young child! Or that they needed parental permission before they can visit a swimmer's home or share a room when traveling to meets. Wonder why they needed a policy for what seems like common sense decisions that reasonable adults would make. Where do these coaches come from?