The St. Peters Lutheran College in Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia-based club St. Peters Western has formally responded to media reports that bullying and ‘fat-shaming’ of its swimmers take place with the organization.
As we reported yesterday,The Sunday Telegraph ($) reported that it had received anonymous letters alleging bullying and fat-shaming within the SPW coaching ranks.
The claims within the anonymous letters sent to Swimming Australia and The Sunday Telegraph have reportedly been supported by other parents, with one parent stating, “In the time I have been here, I am aware of at least 3 girl swimmers who left due to aspects of bullying and demands for results.”
The report also pointed to a parent of an un-named former Australian champion who quit the club who stated, “The girls, some just 14 and 15 years of age, had to weigh in on scales in front of everybody and if you had put weight on you were called fat.”
You can read more details of the allegations within the article appearing here ($).
When SwimSwam reached out for comment, St. Peters Western sent us the same response that was published within the Telegraph article above, verbatim.
However, the club has since posted on Facebook, saying that ‘the welfare of our athlete is the #1 priority of the club.’
The official statement also reads, ‘At SPW we do not tolerate the bullying of anyone. Speaking with other committee members, there has not been a single reported incident of bullying within the swimming program.’
It continues, ‘At SPLC (St. Peters Lutheran College) and SPW we do not tolerate fat-shaming of anyone by anyone. Being a high performance club, our Coaches will, at times, discuss fitness and body mass to our high-performance swimmers during training as part of their overall preparation major meets throughout the year, but this is always undertaken with sensitivity to ensure athletes understand this is part of the necessary development to achieve the best result for the swimmer.’
The tatement further says, ‘our club does not conduct public weighings ever.’
Based out of St. Peters Lutheran College in Indooroopilly, Queensland, Australia, St. Peters Western had been led by storied coach Michael Bohl before the 14-year Head Coach moved on to take over Griffith University’s new high-performance center.
Dean Boxall moved into the Head Coach role after Bohl’s departure in 2017, and the man who led Ariarne Titmus to a 400m free World Championships title is assisted by John Gatfield, Maxine Seearand Head Junior Coach Stewart Melton.
In addition to Titmus, Mitch Larkin, Clyde Lewis and Jack Cartwright are among the elites who call the club home, as does Shayna Jack, the swimmer who is currently fighting a positive anti-doping test.
Both Laurie Lawrence and Bill Sweetenham give endorsement of Dean Boxall’s program:
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/olympics/coach-dean-boxall-backed-for-making-swimmers-do-hard-yards/news-story/c912aec556821e7f0fb1e0fa07db0819
Sounds like this is the kind of thing that a good lawsuit against the school and coaches would solve pretty quickly.
Australia isn’t the US.
There are so many steps between now and where that would be a legitimate option.
Everyone is free to leave . Therr are at least 10 clubs within driving distance & some are run by schools so parents should be able to buy the whole package but getting into the elite swim stream is difficult just like the elite academic stream . Your kid will have challenges ( oh no )
What is this smear about being military? Yes Australia has a military which is fully volunteer .if a nation does not have one they will cease to exist ..Maybe some of these girls could later join the infantry which currently has a woeful pass rate for females . Why ? Most likely because only weaklings are joining , not girls who can do… Read more »
Btw they don’t use axes but they still learn to bayonet & also str*ng*e enemies quietly . .
Curious to hear what the SPW officials have to say about supplement use by team members, “purging” instruction given to younger swimmers by older swimmers, the “Hell Month” run by Dean Boxall, and about Boxall’s continuous use of military metaphors (much captured on his own videos), telling his swimmers to pick up their weapons and swing their axes. And the fact that Ariarne Titmus has stated that Boxall says things that aren’t appropriate to repeat publicly. And the allegation that Boxall compared a swimmer to a “cow.” The weighing of the athletes seems to be just the tip of the iceberg.
don’t you just love “anonymous” allegations to ruin reputations…
Pretty sure that’s how the takedown of US Gymnastics began, so there’s that.
As the car went further into the Texan woods , past the prison , sucking the last of their forbidden candy bars , each elite hopeful awaited their fate . At the end of a long road , there it was , Camp Gymnastikken As they passed under the sign , Geldenmedallen Macht Frei , they steeled their sphincters.
It’s pretty understandable why parents would not want to risk further humiliation to their children by initially identifying themselves. Eventually there will be safety in numbers. Plus they are dealing with a swim coach in Boxall who seems to like to discuss “weapons” and “axes.” Probably best to be careful with him, given his apparent militaristic leanings.
Doping, bullying and a coach leaving…. quite a place
Bohly was always leaving. That’s unrelated to the other things.