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Tyler Roberge
Wayne Reed
ENC1101
12/08/14
[Bzzzzzz.bzzzzzz] Hey, hows it goi- wait what? I could barely
understand my friend as she fought with her emotions to stray from a hysterical
sob. The words that followed were the most unpredictable and emotional that I have
ever heard. My legs buckled, causing me to grab on to the dinning room chair in
front of me. I sat there at the dining room table, paralyzed within my pondering
emotions.
Trevor was Diving Canada Sr. Coach of the Year in 2005 (The only nonQuebec Coach to ever win it). He was also named Sport BC's Coach of the Year for all
sports, voted on by the sports press reporters of the Province. Two time Olympic
Coach, five World Championships, five World Cups, two Commonwealth Games, Pan
American Games, Goodwill Games, Countless Grand Prixs, and seven Jr. World
Championships. He coached a World Champion with a world record. His athletes
had two Commonwealth Games gold medals, with Commonwealth Games record.
Half of the Canadian team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was his divers.
When I first met Trevor, I was completely terrified of him. He was a high level
coach with quite the background, and I wasnt yet a high level diver at the time. Dive
Canada, the head of our sport, transferred him to our club to improve both our
program and our athletes. For the first few years he coached some of our older
athletes, and even some of our younger athletes, but never me. David, my coach at

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the time, would not let me be coached by Trevor. I believe he feared that I might be
stripped away from him.
Trevor was never quite able to do what he was specifically hired for, which
was to coach the high performance athletes and the prospects. I was one of the
prospects at the time when he first arrived at our club. So after about four years of
being held back form what he was supposed to do, he decided to leave the club and
create another one. I knew that my diving would excel exponentially if I left my
regular club to join him. Training with Trevor was the best decision I couldve made,
not only is he a phenomenal coach, he is an even better person. He cares for each of
his divers as if we were his family. If we were having a bad day, he would take the
time to talk with us to see what was wrong. He is the most personable coach I have
ever had, and I loved being in his club. He wanted to have a good athlete-coach
relationship within his club because he believed it would enhance our training if we
felt more comfortable at practice.
I never would have thought something like this would happen to someone so
well rounded and positive, unfortunately thats how much power the media has
when it comes to this stereotype. The word stereotype is defined as taking an
individual, or a group of individuals who fall under a certain category and assume
that they are, or will be similar. The stereotype that is linked with sexual assault is
that the predator is unconditionally guilty. The stereotype of sexual assault cases
result in the conclusion that the victim has been through a traumatic experience,
and the predator should be punished.

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The media is given the information about the incident, and then the
information goes through what I like to call a PRS, Positive Rating Sifter. All of the
information the media is given is filtered and then released the way they believe will
give them the most views or ratings.
For example, all of his divers, including myself support him one hundred
percent. His Olympic diver spoke to the media and said that this was all untrue, that
Trevor would never do that. The accuser admitted to being a heroin and cocaine
dealer. Lastly the cops on TV called for more victims to step forwards, but the
news never reported back saying that not a single person in any city came forwards,
despite the police saying they believed that there were more victims. The press will
put accusations on the front page but wont even report acquittals or information in
defense of an accused person. It isnt sensational enough to garner viewers or
readership.
Sexual assault is never a positive subject to speak about; I used to find it quite
uncomfortable to speak about. Whenever you hear, or even partake in a
conversation about sexual assault, your brain automatically goes towards sympathy
fro the victim. You read exactly what the press releases, and you believe it, because
what other information are they giving you to believe anything different. You also
listen to the news or watch TV and you become informed of all of these sexual
predators who have been proven guilty, and you know that what they did was
horrible and wrong. We put this image in our brains of who these people are, what
they look like, and how they act. Then we go the rest of our lives avoiding whoever
falls into that category.

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When it comes to people of higher authority, like teachers, instructors, or
coaches, the situation becomes worse. These people are in a position when they are
there to watch over you and teach you something, and its unfortunate, but some
kids do get assaulted sexually.
Its never a good time for a legally problematic issue to arise when you travel
over to another province, not to mention half way across the world to China where
we were planning arriving in two days.
It started when Trevors new dive team travelled to Victoria, British
Columbia for a diving competition. The team was in the water practicing before the
meet when all of a sudden Trevors old diver who lived in BC came up to talk to him.
I automatically thought something was up. Trevor and I had just had a conversation
about a week before this competition, and he told me how he hadnt spoken to his
ex-athlete in quite awhile. Trevors old athlete looked distraught, maybe even
hopped up on something, and told Trevor he had to step out for a minute or two to
chat.
A few hours later, he comes back into the pool and is acting very strange. He
apologized for missing some of the divers competitions, and then once again left the
pool. We could all tell that something was up, something bad had just happened. All
of us were left there pondering what could have happened; what could be so
important that he left and missed our competitions? That night he sat us all down in
one room and told us what exactly happened.
If you dont leave Victoria, Im going to tell everyone in the pool that you
molested me as a child. These words spewing out of anyones mouth would be

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alarming, so I cant even imagine how Trevor felt in the moment when he was
threatened.
Being both selfless and indefatigable, he didnt just decline his offer; he
refused to be bullied by his lies and blackmail. Unfortunately, this only made things
worse because the threats got shoddier and the intentions became more obvious.
After thinking about it for a day, Trevor decided it would be best for him and us, if
he stayed out of the pool.
Diving Canada also made the decision to suspend him from coaching until the
investigation was over, so he couldnt coach us anymore until this is over. This was
the decision breaker for our China trip, luckily we had an assistant coach who came
as a last resort to take us, and otherwise we probably wouldnt have gone.
We took our China trip to get our minds temporarily off of what had just gone
down, but honestly I still found it pretty tough. I listened to the song Angel by
Akon, probably about 100 times on the flight over seas. To this day listening to this
song brings me mixed emotions, both sadness and excitement. I cried a few times
listening to this song, but I also bounced around and danced to this song as well
because we were on our way to a foreign land.
Coming home from the trip brought the reality back of what happened in
Victoria. Fortunately things werent getting worse, they were almost at a stand still,
as everyone was still trying to wrap their heads around just exactly what happened.
Trevor, being unable to do what he loves; had to get a new job to pay his bills.
Stripped away from something he worked so hard for and so long for, just swiped
away under his feet.

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One afternoon after practice, I got home a little earlier than usual and no one
was home. Doing the usual, making a protein shake, and grabbing a snack. I could
hear my phone going off in the other room, [Bzzzzzz.bzzzzzz] Hey, hows it goiwait what? I could barely understand my friend as she fought with her emotions to
stray from a hysterical sob. The words that followed were the most unpredicted and
emotional that I have ever heard. My legs buckled, causing me to grab on to the
dinning room chair in front of me. I sat there at the dining room table, paralyzed
within my pondering emotions. Did I just hear that right? Was this a joke? The word
arrested just kept replaying in my head like a faint echo in the background. Trevor,
my coach and close friend, had just been arrested.
This was all so surreal; I never thought this would happen to someone this
close to me. What I didnt know at the time was just how much the media chooses to
inform the listeners. They are only giving the information that readers and listeners
want to hear. We as athletes close to the age of eighteen and in his club were under
the medias eye, and we were a point of interest at that time. Phone calls from
random numbers were the next new thing for us. We were informed not to speak to
anyone about the issue, or about anything for that matter.
I know first hand how the media twists words and makes an issue become
tragic. It personally sickens me to see them bend the information they are given.
Everyone who knows Trevor reads these articles and all have the same reaction,
anger. The press wont report anything that may question the guilt of an accused
person; thats the real tragedy. Coupled with the fact that accused people are

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counseled by their lawyers to NOT say anything or discuss anything so they cant
even defend themselves to the press.
As a result of this ill-fated incident, I have shifted my opinion on the media,
and what they release to the public. I now question both sides of every issue
because you really dont know exactly what is going on when youre only tuned into
one source. In Trevors case, I feel sad for him because he has lost many friends and
many people have turned against him because of what they are hearing from the
news and others whos only sources are the news as well. Unfortunately, this will
not change in the near future because power hungry media sources will always
want to feed off of the attention they get from blowing stories out of proportion.