Abuse Evidence Is Clear (Part 2, USA Swimming’s Cover-Up of Norm Havercroft’s Molestations of Jancy Thompson)

PREVIOUSLY IN THIS SERIES:

“Introducing Our Series on Miscarriage of Justice in Cover-Up of Coach Norm Havercroft’s Molestation of Swimmer Jancy Thompson — And Need to Change Sex Abuse Laws in California and Elsewhere,” April 12, https://concussioninc.net/?p=7343

by Tim Joyce

“I was robbed of my childhood and I want to ensure that no one has to endure what I went through and carry such a burden the rest of their lives” — Jancy Thompson

Jancy Thompson loved swimming since she was a small child, and by the time she was a teenager she dreamed of following in the steps of so many Californians before her and becoming an Olympian.

Coach Norm Havercroft — who along with his wife ran the West Valley Swim Club in Los Gatos (a club member of Pacific Swimming, a regional affiliate of USA Swimming’s “Pacific Swimming”) — supervised Thompson’s swimming career from 1992 to 2002.

In a textbook case of an abuser “grooming” his victim, Havercroft appears to have targeted Thompson when she was just 11 years old. He ingratiated himself and gained the trust of the Thompson family by attending barbecues at their home and by having Jancy babysit for his own family.

At the pool, Coach Havercroft used fear and intimidation to gain control. When Thompson first swam for West Valley in the early 1990s, his routine practices included kicking chairs on the deck and insulting his youthful athletes.

By no later than 1996, the indications became stark that a sexual predator was at work. Havercroft had always protested suggestions by parents that additional adult chaperones be added to out-of-town trips to meets. That year, on a trip to Canada, Havercroft invited several girl swimmers into his hotel room to watch the NC-17 movie Showgirls. Jancy and other girls watched the movie on the bed, beside Havercroft.

Also in 1996, Thompson began menstruating. Havercroft insisted that she use birth control to regulate her period — an invasion not only of privacy but of the psyche of a girl who was just entering womanhood.

The next year, Havercroft’s abuses of Thompson escalated with cybersex and his transmission to her of pornographic images and stories. They began to conduct long sexually-oriented phone conversations. Jancy also endured a humiliating incident in which she relayed to Havercroft a dream in which she was wearing a dog collar — whereupon Havercroft had her actually wear one during practice.

Beginning when Thompson was 15, Havercroft committed statutory rape at each of the half-dozen major traveling swim meets a year. This pattern continued for three years.

Additionally, Havercroft had Thompson visit him at other locations for purposes of sexual activities; besides the West Valley College swim offices and weight room, these included Redwood Middle School, where he taught. He sent Thompson nude photos of himself via web cameras, and demanded that she reciprocate.

In 2000, a month after Thompson turned 18, Havercroft had his first act of sexual intercourse with Thompson while at a swim meet in Tempe, Arizona. They continued to have sexual encounters throughout the rest of the year.

Thompson went on to swim for Arizona State University.

Next in this series: Reports of Havercroft’s problematic behavior across many years were ignored by USA Swimming. Pacific Swimming officials were even interviewed in 1996 by the San Jose police in relation to an abuse complaint by another female swimmer against Havercroft.

 
joyce.timothy@gmail.com