amyrooker

@Jody_Seal thank you for clarifying! It’s still early for me and this place is a minefield - hard to know who is on your side sometimes. Thank you for agreeing

Someone who has been sanctioned for any reason should absolutely not be able to serve on the board. How can someone serve impartially on a board that has had to enforce sanctions against them? It’s extremely difficult for victims of sexual violence to report, and even more difficult for us to receive justice, because we know that stuff like this will happen even if your abuser isn’t an elite athlete. It’s not just Nate, their are more known abusive people in our sport, including at the upper echelons. I know, because one of them assaulted me. Even if you tell people or officaly report, your abuser will still just be allowed to hold a position of power over you. No matter the extent of his participation or influence on the board, the decision to appoint Nate is gross negligence. Also, anyone who is so quick to defend Nate needs to stop telling on themselves. If you’re so concerned with a reckoning in our sport to hold people accountable for their actions, maybe stop to consider why?

I’m sure he must have been selected for the intimate knowledge of Safe Sport compliance that he will bring to the board

While it’s true that a lot of people have already formed opinions on this and are stuck in their camps, we cannot just let it go and move on. When people stop talking about it, abuse becomes normalized and swept under the rug. When we stop talking about it, it becomes that much harder for anyone else in our sport who has survived abuse to ever come forward.

It’s a blatant disregard for the safety of the minors at the clinic, and extremely disrespectful to survivors of abuse in our sport. The Indiana Water Ski Association should never have allowed this. It’s disgusting. The association’s decision to change the privacy settings of their original post and refusal to comment on their actions is cowardly.

Image removed at the request of one of the parents. The Indiana Water Ski Association needs to answer for why they allowed their 2020 Junior Development Clinic to be coached by a man who was suspended from the sport after the accusations of physical abuse and sexual conduct with a minor against him were found credible by SafeSport.