Swimming for Cal was a lifelong dream of mine. I vividly remember the excitement of getting my first recruiting call from its legendary swim coach, Teri McKeever. In my mind, she was offering me the opportunity of a lifetime: to study at a world-class academic institution while swimming for one of the nation’s most successful collegiate programs. The prospect of my becoming part of the Cal swimming legacy filled my imagination and motivated me.
When I arrived as an 18-year-old freshman, I encountered a shocking reality. Almost immediately, I began witnessing Teri’s verbally abusive behavior on the pool deck. 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.
