Experience with Montgomery Dive Club in the past?

[Anonymous]

I think the club is now defunct. I live elsewhere and a past Coach from this club has some overlap with my child’s club and I don’t have a good feeling about them. (Currently my child has no direct contact with this person). Nothing is in Safesport but that doesn’t mean much. If anyone had experience with this club in the very early 2010s, did you feel ok about it?

I know this is vague and outdated but diving has a history of sketchy coaches shuffling around without consequences so I’m trying to do what I can to assess what situation we’re in.

[Anonymous]

The old MDC has been revived with new leadership post COVID under the guidance from elite coaches in other states. The head of Alexandria Dive Club now runs MDC and is also the new head coach for the USNA this upcoming academic year so not sure how it will work.
Some coaches may still exists from the pre COVID club but I’m sure there was a lot of scrutiny as they were working to reform the club with Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

There was an issue with one coach he also had some gymnastics experience. I would not want my child around him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was an issue with one coach he also had some gymnastics experience. I would not want my child around him.

this coach was under the old MDC not the new Coach and his team. This coach was gone before the new coaching team came in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an issue with one coach he also had some gymnastics experience. I would not want my child around him.

this coach was under the old MDC not the new Coach and his team. This coach was gone before the new coaching team came in.

Thank you. I really appreciate the replies. I’m not asking about the new coaching team and I appreciate the insight about former coaches. I think the gymnastics-y coach was associated with the coach I have concerns about but is not the same one.

[Anonymous]

This is an interesting thread, in that it seems to be purposely to stir up something from the past. Here is the summary:

There was MDC pre-COVID and there is a new MDC (i.e., new management) post-COVID. COVID wasn't the reason for the management change, but it did happen to coincide time-wise so people think of it in these terms.

During height of COVID, a problem was unearthed with a coach, and the old director didn't handle it well (wasn't forthright). Coach had done something unethical several years before, while coaching at another place/sport (yes, gymnastics). Because of mishandling, club shut down. As is often the case, it was the cover-up more than the crime that sunk it.

Some of the elite divers were able to continue diving at county facilities with one of the club's old coaches. Others dispersed to other area clubs. Unfortunately there were no programs for non-serious divers.

County resurrected full program in Fall 2022 with new director who is doing a great job and is well known and respected in diving community. It's a club, but it's inherently intertwined with county because of facilities usage. As I understand things, strong vetting/background checks are now in place. County is more involved, because it was also at fault given that it had not been doing due diligence regarding coaches coaching at its facilities.

So, all is better now. But, as with all sports and activities, it's important to always keep an eye on your child's experience though and not treat coaches with a reverence that may blind you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an interesting thread, in that it seems to be purposely to stir up something from the past. Here is the summary:

There was MDC pre-COVID and there is a new MDC (i.e., new management) post-COVID. COVID wasn't the reason for the management change, but it did happen to coincide time-wise so people think of it in these terms.

During height of COVID, a problem was unearthed with a coach, and the old director didn't handle it well (wasn't forthright). Coach had done something unethical several years before, while coaching at another place/sport (yes, gymnastics). Because of mishandling, club shut down. As is often the case, it was the cover-up more than the crime that sunk it.

Some of the elite divers were able to continue diving at county facilities with one of the club's old coaches. Others dispersed to other area clubs. Unfortunately there were no programs for non-serious divers.

County resurrected full program in Fall 2022 with new director who is doing a great job and is well known and respected in diving community. It's a club, but it's inherently intertwined with county because of facilities usage. As I understand things, strong vetting/background checks are now in place. County is more involved, because it was also at fault given that it had not been doing due diligence regarding coaches coaching at its facilities.

So, all is better now. But, as with all sports and activities, it's important to always keep an eye on your child's experience though and not treat coaches with a reverence that may blind you.

I’m not trying to stir anything up about the recent past of MDC, I’m sorry!

To reiterate: our program is formalizing an association with a coach who as I said was at MDC through the early 2010s. I think he came before the gymnastics-associated Coach. And this would have been way before any Covid-era stuff! I was hoping parents associated with the relatively distant past of the program had some insight, especially since it was a massive club and ours is tiny and in a tiny region.

It sounds like MDC is so much better run now, which is the problem in the diving world- when one club cleans up, it means other clubs are probably (and sadly, eagerly) absorbing some of their past messes.

[Anonymous]

Ahh I see. You have to understand that many of us from the DC area are inherently distrustful (perhaps it's living/working among so many politicians?) and the MDC turmoil, for those of us who went through it, was stressful if you have a kid who is super into diving and couldn't dive for a period of time due to failure on the part of adults. Things are better now as I understand things. I do not have any experience pre-2010 time. But best wishes for your child's diving experiences!

[Anonymous]

What was the coach doing? We had him for gymnastics and diving and saw nothing wrong. We did not stay with diving as it did not feel safe in terms of supervision and lots of the kids could barely swim.

[Anonymous]

Is Alexandria Dive Club now affiliated with Montgomery Dive Club? Does anyone have feedback on Alexandria Dive Club, particularly for younger kids (10-12ish)?

[Anonymous]

Re the original post, I know some of the coaches from former MDC and it just depends. One is head coach at UNC. They were a mixed bag.

Re ADC, my DD loves it there, both Rec and team coaches. I think Tommy is leading up the Rec classes and he is very encouraging. My DD has worked with many of the coaches over the years and she likes all of them. She has her favorites but there isn’t a single coach that she avoids and/or wouldn’t want coaching her (whether at ADC or the new MDC). The pool is a bit dumpy (if you care about that), but my child prefers it to MDC because it’s cozy and a bit calmer.

[Anonymous]

Oh PP again, forgot to mention. My DD has friends in the 10-12 at ADC classes and they love it there. It’s good for that age group. It is a separate club from MDC in terms of the registration process, but overall manager the same. If you compete, you pick a club for official US diving registration and I think you have to be MDC registered to compete JO vs AAU, but that’s irrelevant if you are doing classes. Two ADC divers age 10-12 just represented the US at the Jr Pan Am games in Peru.

[Anonymous]

Is there any contact info for the (new) MDC? I can’t find anything online that works. My child is doing Dive 1 classes through the county (but I believe with MDC coaches) and we had a question but can’t seem to get it answered by the instructor of her class.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
My kid is taking Dive 1 as well right now and I think it's a complete waste of money. 2/3 of the class is over and the kids are doing the same thing from day 1, jump in the water with little instruction.The instructor also didn't show up for a class and after 20 minutes someone eventually substituted.

My question is since there are several locations where classes are offered, which are the better locations which have good consistent instructors? Maybe I should have gone for the bigger locations like Germantown or KSAC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
My kid is taking Dive 1 as well right now and I think it's a complete waste of money. 2/3 of the class is over and the kids are doing the same thing from day 1, jump in the water with little instruction.The instructor also didn't show up for a class and after 20 minutes someone eventually substituted.

My question is since there are several locations where classes are offered, which are the better locations which have good consistent instructors? Maybe I should have gone for the bigger locations like Germantown or KSAC?

We are at KSAC and have had a similar experience. I wonder if Dive 2 is better?