Malibu Aquatics Foundation remains the sole swimming vendor for the city’s Parks and Recreation program
It wasn’t the best of summers for the Malibu swimming community this year. The termination of a well-liked coach for the Malibu Seawolves created a deep rift in the swimming community that may take some time to heal.
The falling-out started in June when the board of the Malibu Aquatics Foundation, which operates the youth swim program for the city, terminated coach Erik Ran. Ran’s supporters called the decision abrupt, cruel, and undemocratic as they were not consulted on the coaching change. Unhappy parents formed a new swim team, the Malibu Marlins, and have been trying to get lane time in the Malibu community pool without much success despite a roster of about 50 swimmers.
After charges of non-transparency, non-engagement, and an unwillingness to share pool space, the MAF says it wants to “set the record straight.”
There’s been a war of words between supporters of the Marlins and the MAF over the dismissal of Ran. The ensuing fallout has been painful on both sides with what a spokesperson for the Seawolves called defamatory and hurtful vitriol.
Joe Sichta, an MAF board member and communications director, argues the board is not anonymous. He shared with The Malibu Times quarterly newsletters beginning September 2022 that identify the five-person board of directors, along with earlier emails to parents that identified the co-presidents and other officers. As of Oct. 2, the Malibu Seawolves website identifies five individuals as either officers or directors.
When TMT initially contacted an MAF board member in June, he asked for anonymity and would only answer questions by email. Sichta says at that time, fresh after a contentious four-hour poolside meeting with parents, board members felt personally “unsafe” and requested their names be unmentioned.
“I think it’s reasonable that we withhold the right to protect ourselves when we don’t feel safe,” he said. “Operationally we were never anonymous.”
As for claims of non-engagement, Sichta called them “untrue.”
“The day after Coach Ran’s dismissal, that four-hour in-person meeting was held at the pool deck between board members and parents,” he said. “The board engaged with parents and swimmers and by showing up in person disclosed their identity to anyone who didn’t already know them.”
Sichta said that for the three board members who attended, “It was an ugly face to face, but they endured it. Ultimately, they came away feeling unsafe. It was a bad scene.
“We had a face-to-face meeting where we were not comfortable holding another face-to-face meeting and the board was actually very concerned because it was such a venomous situation.”
When approached about holding a second in person meeting between the board and angry parents the MAF board refused.
“They didn’t feel safe or that it was possible to have a constructive dialogue,” Sichta said. “The level of engagement that we’ve been accused of operating under is not true. It’s demonstrable in emails and the in-person conversation we had.”
The Marlins have asked to share swimming lanes with the Seawolves. Sichta said that would not be possible.
“We are not able,” he said. “With limited resources there isn’t enough space. Our groups are almost at capacity.”
As for charges that the Seawolves roster is padded with non-swimmers, Sichta responded the claims, “are patently false. Our job is to provide a world-class vendorship[sic] to the city. Falsely padding the roster is not on our menu.”
While the Marlins have questioned the legitimacy of the Seawolves legal rights and use of the nonprofit’s name, Sichta stated “the facts are unassailable. The MAF is the rightful legal entity in full standing with the State of California and holds the trademark rights to the name Seawolves.”
To the children who were disappointed in Ran’s dismissal Sichta commented, “My heart goes out to them. I love the kids. It’s a difficult thing for everybody. It’s a small community. I respect them and honor them for making their protest. It takes guts to do that.”
To the high schoolers who relied on the Seawolves for independent PE, he said, “I think it’s unconscionable that the Marlins leadership took these kids down a path and made them think they would be able to achieve pool time which is such a limited resource and endanger their ISPE.”
Sichta also defended the dismissal of Ran as coach.
“There’s no such thing as a … coach for life. Coaches get switched out all the time. It’s a reality of life,” he said. “We made a tough coach switch-out. The kids are receiving, unfortunately, the brunt of that. For those who enjoyed Coach Ran’s style, for them to need to get their ISPE, I admit it puts them into a situation, but it’s not a situation the board created. It’s a situation the Marlins and Coach Ran created and we don’t bear responsibility for that. We do offer the program though.”
Marlins Treasurer Robert Brinkmann has charged the Seawolves with not giving parents and swimmers a voice in how the nonprofit makes important decisions such as coaching changes.
To that, Sichta responded, “We’re not running a democracy. We’re running a swim team.” He called a team vote on everything a “recipe for disaster. As a nonprofit board we’re trying to provide an entire aquatics program that serves everyone from age 1 to 100.”
In the meantime, the Marlins have rented the pool from the school district but could only secure an inconvenient 6 a.m. swim time.