A former star water polo participant at an elite LA non-public college was allowed to proceed teaching youngsters within the sport — regardless of being an admitted intercourse offender, in accordance with a report.
Lucca van der Woude, 18, was capable of take part in USA Water Polo coaching camps and worldwide tournaments after he was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting teammates at Harvard-Westlake College, information present.
In February 2024, the Orange County teen was busted on the $52,000-a-year non-public college he attended.
The US Middle for Protected Sport, established in 2017 to guard scholar athletes from sexual, bodily, and emotional abuse, was knowledgeable of the sickening accusations in opposition to van der Woude on April 11, 2024, the Orange County Register reported on Monday.
The stunning allegations turned public final week, when one teammate, Aidan Romain, filed a lawsuit in search of damages over the sexual and racial abuse he claimed he obtained at van der Woude’s arms.
Van der Woude “admitted in Los Angeles County Juvenile Division Courtroom … to sexual penetration with a overseas object (digital penetration) in opposition to a minor,” on Nov. 7, 2024, as a part of a plea settlement with prosecutors, the Orange County Register reported.
Nonetheless, in December 2024, van der Woude was reportedly invited to mentor the nation’s high eighth-grade gamers at a USA Water Polo (USAWP)-sponsored vacation camp for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in Colorado Springs, in accordance with the OC Every day Register.
“They invite some seniors to return and, like, mentor and assist out,” van der Woude informed the Southern California Information Group in December 2024 after working on the camp.
“And, yeah, I went. It was enjoyable. I like teaching quite a bit. So it was type of enjoyable, like, assist coach, like, youthful youngsters,” he stated.
In the identical interview, Newport Harbor Excessive College (NHHS) head coach Ross Sinclair revealed that van der Woude had additionally “inquired” about teaching on the native Newport Seashore Water Polo Membership, and stated that he could be teaching youthful gamers throughout the membership program.
“The 10s, 12s, 14s,” Sinclair stated, when requested in regards to the age ranges he envisioned van der Woude teaching at Newport Seashore, which is a separate entity from NHHS, however serves as a developmental pipeline for the highschool’s water polo program.
It’s unknown whether or not van der Woude adopted by on his want to educate the youthful college students at Newport Seashore Water Polo Membership.
Neither the membership nor Sinclair instantly responded to requests for remark.
Van der Woude’s participation within the camp occurred 5 months after his legal professional knowledgeable USA Water Polo officers that he was banned from being within the pool or locker room similtaneously a Harvard-Westlake and Group USA teammate below a court-ordered no-contact restriction.
That court docket order — which ran from April 26, 2024, by March 7, 2025 — associated to van der Woude’s alleged sexual misconduct, in accordance with US Middle for SafeSport complaints, and affidavits seen by the OC Every day Register.
Regardless of the court docket order, van der Woude allegedly had contact with one sufferer a minimum of 23 occasions earlier than March 2025 at USAWP-sanctioned nationwide staff choice and coaching camps, tournaments, and worldwide competitions with Group USA, in accordance with allegations made to Protected Sport on the time.
He additionally allegedly had contact with one sufferer after his arrest however earlier than his court docket order at two USAWP occasions.
“There was important bodily contact within the pool” between van der Woude and the teammate in the course of the March 10, 2024 incident, a criticism to Protected Sport seen by the OC Every day Register alleged on the time.
Harvard-Westlake — which has no connection to the well-known college — additionally allegedly coated up van der Woude’s disciplinary document, permitting him to switch to Newport Harbor Excessive College within the Fall of 2024, in accordance with the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom.
Below CIF Southern Part guidelines, “College students who’ve disciplinary motion taken or pending on the earlier college usually are not eligible to switch,” and “College students who left a faculty for disciplinary causes usually are not eligible to take part in athletics on the new college.”
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“Harvard-Westlake is not going to supply particular remark apart from to say that it unequivocally disputes many of those allegations that mischaracterize details and the college’s actions,” a spokesperson for the college informed The California Publish.
“The college handled studies of inappropriate habits in its water polo program with urgency and seriousness, promptly initiating an investigation and complying with its obligatory reporting obligations. The college additionally cooperated utterly with regulation enforcement,” the spokesperson added.
Van der Woude led Newport Harbor to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title in November 2024 after which represented Group USA internationally.
Neither USAWP, the CIF, nor the US Middle for Protected Sport responded instantly to requests for remark.
As we speak, van der Woude remains to be listed as a student-athlete on the boys’s water polo staff at Golden West School (GWC), a Huntington Seashore-based group faculty, after dropping his UCLA dedication attributable to his authorized troubles.
It isn’t recognized if he’s concerned in any GWC teaching packages.
GWC spokespeople didn’t reply instantly to requests for remark.
Van der Woude, who was named the Orange County participant of the yr by the Orange County Register in December 2024, was unable to be reached for remark, and no attorneys for him are listed within the lawsuit.
The California Publish approached van der Woude’s household however didn’t hear again.
