With 5, D1 student athletes recently lost to suicide, this is an impt story to share abt how coaching can play in to MH.
A story was just published in the OC Register that spoke w 19 former swimmers & 6 parents from Cal Women’s Swimming, abt the almost daily bullying, emotional & verbal abuse by their head coach, Teri McKeever.
Given we’re friends w a # of female Olympians in swimming, this news hits home.
The story paints the pic of a coach who, while successful in the pool, did so abusively, driving many swimmers to transfer, quit the program & even contemplate or even attempt suicide.
McKeever has won 4 NCAA titles at Cal & coached 26 Olympians over 29 seasons. She was the first female head coach of an American swimming Olympic team, in 2012.
In the article, swimmers & parents alleged McKeevers verbally & emotionally abused, swore at & threatened her athletes on an almost daily basis, pressured them to compete or train while injured or dealing w chronic illnesses or eating disorders, even accusing some of them of lying abt their medical conditions.
This particular piece of the story stood out to me in a harrowing way: Danielle Carter, a former swimmer for McKeever was so effected by the constant abuse, she became suicidal. Some of her teammates told the coach, & this was the alleged response:
“Did you try & kill yourself last night?” McKeever asked her, Carter said.
“Yeah,” Carter responded. “I don’t want to live.”
Then Danielle said: “Teri literally laughed in my face & said, ‘Do you know how pathetic that is? How stupid that is? How selfish that is?’”
Having worked w fams like the Urso’s & ESPN on stories of how coaches & leagues are handling the MH of their athletes, we need to mandate that coaches of all levels – youth on thru pro, at a minimum go thru formal MH training, & potentially even go thru MH assessments of their players on a consistent basis, to make sure that the power dynamic is not being taken advantage of.
I’m an “old school” guy…loved playing for coaches who gave me some tough love. But there’s a THICK line btwn tough love & abuse that seems to be getting crossed way too often.