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#Post#: 137--------------------------------------------------
Why Tuoi Le Matters to You
By: Ladytkd Date: June 20, 2014, 7:54 pm
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The Tuoi Le episode is over and why should anyone care one way
or another? Well, it may be Tuoi this time, next time who will
it be?
In April the USAT suspended 4 coaches without a hearing,
immediately and without due process. In a matter of a couple
weeks, two of the four names were removed from the Suspension
List, also known out there as the Perv List, even though the
coaches listed are not all involved in sexual matters.. It took
almost two months to get Tuoi's name completely cleared although
his name was removed from the Suspension List about May 2nd,
2014.
From the moment his name appeared on the Suspension List, Tuoi
Le was immediately tarred as a perv, he had to have done
something horrible to end up on that list after doing his
background check. USAT has no reason to dislike Tuoi. He is a
nice guy, has two kids who have been on USAT teams and he has
supported USAT from Day One. Almost everyone likes Tuoi.
But with a couple of keystrokes, Tuoi became damaged goods. He
learned who is friends are and aren't. Other friends wrote USAT
about Tuoi's character and how this incident has hurt his
reputation and business. Tuoi makes his living by running a TKD
school. Parents were calling other instructors asking if they
should remove their children from Tuoi's school. He hadn't had a
hearing, in fact, even though reinstated, he has never once been
told what the USAT thought he did. The brief submitted to the
Hearing Panel on page 11 talks about how Tuoi sent email after
email, leaving messages asking exactly what he did to get red
lighted. He never received one answer - not from the attorney,
the hearing panel, the CEO or the BOD. NOT ONE. Imagine, you
stand accused and you have no idea why your whole life is
suddenly in jeopardy. It is not like the fourth person who was
suspended in April, one can expect if you have a conviction for
having sex with a 15 year old, that might be it. That coach
could have fought it, it was 25 years ago, but even then I doubt
it would have helped.
In the end, only having the USOC Ombudsman direct him to an
attorney saved Tuoi. Having that attorney agree to help Tuoi
saved the day. The brief spells out clearly that USAT was well
intentioned but in its rush to implement Safe Sport forgot a few
things. It points to a great policy by USA Swimming which is
supposedly guiding USAT so no one knows why they didn't follow
USA Swimming.
However, back to the point. Why should you care about what
happened to Tuoi Le and the aftermath? Because simply, if it
could happen to a non-political, unassuming coach, it can happen
to you. I have no doubt that in some minds, there are those
saying there must have been something or the USAT would not have
done this. All I can say is that the Hearing Panel voted
unanimously within less than an hour to reinstate him. I think
that says a lot. I think it says a lot there was not one witness
against Tuoi Le. There was not an attorney from the USAT nor the
person who supposedly filed the complaint against him. Maybe
they knew they had done wrong and just didn't want to face the
man they harmed. I don't know. I do know it was wrong. I know
how tortured Tuoi was for those two months just wanting to
register for Nationals and coach his kids.
What happened was wrong. It was illegal and it was just plain
wrong. I would say that anyone reading my blog knows I would not
have defended him as I have if I had any inkling that he might
be a danger to any USAT member. At least in this case. that
wrong has been mostly righted. However, there is no giving Tuoi
back that month, or the loss of his reputation.
Without people of honor willing to correct the wrongs in the
past, and without people of knowledge and foresight, it will
happen again and again and it could be any one of you next time.
Think I am exaggerating. Do you have any idea how many coaches
and athletes and referees tell me things but ask me to not put
their name to it because they are afraid USAT will retaliate
against them or their family or their students? Look what
happens when you speak out - at least against David Askinas and
that crew. Think about it. Make sure this can't happen again.
#Post#: 139--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why Tuoi Le Matters to You
By: Gorilla Date: June 20, 2014, 10:35 pm
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Glad it was corrected! You are right "ask not for who the bell
tolls it tolls for thee". 17th Century Author John Donne
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