A member of the Cal women’s swim team penned an anonymous first-person essay for Sports Illustrated that delves into the recent allegations that coach Teri McKeever has been verbally and emotionally abusive.
The swimmer calls swimming for Cal a “lifelong dream” in the essay published Tuesday. But once she joined the program, she became disillusioned.
“Almost immediately, I began witnessing Teri’s verbally abusive behavior on the pool deck,” she wrote. “She would target a small group of my teammates and systematically isolate these women from the rest of the team. She would yell at them throughout our daily practices and routinely attack their characters. She portrayed them to the rest of us as lazy, not working hard enough through injuries or other problems.”
In the initial article from the Orange County Register, more than 20 current and former Cal swimmers have accused McKeever of creating a toxic environment within the program.
The swimmer writes that the culture of the program surrounding McKeever – her success and Olympic resume – created an “aura of invincibility.” The swimmer says she began to rationalize the behavior as necessary in order to compete at a higher level and accomplish team goals.
“As time…
