Dominion Dive Club

[Anonymous]

I’m researching winter dive clubs and in looking at Dominion Dive Club it looks like the owner was suspended at one point around 2018. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Anonymous]

Dive parent here in a different region. Two coaches/owners were suspended but I don’t know the details of the woman coach’s suspension. Read the end of this article for details about the make coach’s suspension:

https://www.thelantern.com/2019/05/former-ohio-state-diving-club-coach-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-battery-against-minor/

If you dig a bit you’ll see that they’ve both made the rounds of several well-known, elite diving programs around the country even after the suspension. I say this to let you know that they are not unique to the sport and that diving hasn’t been as self-correcting as other sports. This behavior still seems to be acceptable in diving and coaches get away with it and rehired by even better clubs. It’s been going on for decades. Decades! I blame the lack of a bigger coaching pipeline. Coaches don’t face blackballing from the sport and I feel they should.

In short, I’m trying to say that their behavior doesn’t necessarily reflect on the club so much as the sport. Proceed with caution and keep a close eye on team dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dive parent here in a different region. Two coaches/owners were suspended but I don’t know the details of the woman coach’s suspension. Read the end of this article for details about the make coach’s suspension:

https://www.thelantern.com/2019/05/former-ohio-state-diving-club-coach-pleads-guilty-to-sexual-battery-against-minor/

If you dig a bit you’ll see that they’ve both made the rounds of several well-known, elite diving programs around the country even after the suspension. I say this to let you know that they are not unique to the sport and that diving hasn’t been as self-correcting as other sports. This behavior still seems to be acceptable in diving and coaches get away with it and rehired by even better clubs. It’s been going on for decades. Decades! I blame the lack of a bigger coaching pipeline. Coaches don’t face blackballing from the sport and I feel they should.

In short, I’m trying to say that their behavior doesn’t necessarily reflect on the club so much as the sport. Proceed with caution and keep a close eye on team dynamics.

Is this the Dominion coach? I am confused.

[Anonymous]

https://swimswam.com/university-of-arizonas-new-diving-coach-suspended-by-usa-diving/

[Anonymous]

I posted the Lantern article. The first coach in the article is not the Dominion coach. Keep going. Read all the way to the end of the article (below the ad) for information on how the male Dominion coach was involved and the reason for his suspension.

I’m not posting his name because you’re researching the club and not the coach and I want to be careful about unfairly associating the club with his bad behavior in future searches since I’m not familiar with the club itself.

[Anonymous]

2018 is a long time ago for an incident.

It also sounds like he got into an inappropriate relationship with an older swimmer. I think you need to worry if your kid is traveling or doing things alone with a kid. But if your kid is only interacting with a coach on deck, that is pretty safe.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know if Dominion allows parents in the stands during practice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know if Dominion allows parents in the stands during practice?

Both of the pool facilities the practice at, Audrey Moore and Oak Marr, have stands that are open to the public. You would need to ask about their Vienna gym facility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the responses. Does anyone know if Dominion allows parents in the stands during practice?

They do. We have friends whose kids dive there and love it. They post videos.

I here it is tough to get in.

[Anonymous]

They allow parents in the stands. Recommend you reach out to the club with questions. Most of the upper tier divers are in Texas at USA Diving Junior Nationals right now. Registration fills up very quickly once they open up

[Anonymous]

It’s a great program

[Anonymous]

#4 team in the country...must be doing something right!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/108455155876324

[Anonymous]

The issue stemmed from behavior that was occurring with the owner before Stephanie. She was unaware of it when she became the club owner. However because the issue began at that club when the incident was discovered, the investigators suspended the prior owner and the current owner to be on the safe side. As the investigation moved, she was quickly cleared as someone uninvolved. My kids joined the club in 2018 and received excellent instruction and coaching. My two sons who trained there went on to dive in college and enjoyed their friends at this club.

[Anonymous]

Both my my boys dive with Dominion dive club and it is an excellent program with great coaches. The have developed strong fundamentals and one of the best programs in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both my my boys dive with Dominion dive club and it is an excellent program with great coaches. The have developed strong fundamentals and one of the best programs in the country.

There has been a lot of turnover with the coaching staff with a lot of the good coaches having left, and especially at the lowest level, the coaching is substandard. Coach L (for instance) gives very little feedback, doesn't really tell kids how to fix what's wrong with their dives and improve, and never pulls belts (I think they doesn't know how). "Do it again" for an hour is not coaching.