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posted 01/18/2012 Friends of New Canaan Lacrosse
Last week, New Canaan and the New Canaan Lacrosse Association were unfortunately forced into the limelight via a press conference staged by the public relations firm for Dr. Claudia Sickinger and her husband.
Dr. Sickinger and Roger Harris have filed another lawsuit against the NCLA, and while we are confident the court will dispose of this matter, we believe that it may be helpful for the NCLA to offer a brief comment.
The suit is tragic, not only because it is without a foundation in law, but because it is damaging to a program run by parents and other volunteers for the benefit of the children in our community. Diverting the time and efforts of people who give freely of themselves for the benefit of children is a disservice to our community and our kids.
The issues raised by Dr. Sickinger - gender discrimination and safety, both mental and physical - are important to all of us. The NCLA takes these issues extremely seriously. But that is not what this lawsuit is about. For Dr. Sickinger to use these issues as a platform for her personal gain is to trivialize them and all those who fight legitimately to address these problems in youth sports.
We think it is important for the NCLA to point out that our organization has gone to great lengths to provide equal access to boys and girls, and to foster the sport of lacrosse in a mentally and physically safe and secure environment. We invite you to our website,
www.nclax.org where we have posted facts about our program.
As board members and volunteers, we welcome and encourage dialogue on these very important issues. Note that each and every board member is a volunteer and a parent of current or past participant(s) in the program. Thirteen of the 16 board members have girls who have graduated the program, will go through the program or are in the program today. How could one credibly imply that equality and safety are not of paramount concern?
As an organization we constantly discuss and address the issues of inclusion and safety. We deal continually with the challenges of equally allocating resources such as coaches, training and equipment. We have invited both CONNY Lacrosse and US Lacrosse to assess our practices.
But let us emphasize again, this is not what this lawsuit is about.
This case is about a parent – and coach - who insisted on coaching a specific team despite escalating personal conflicts between her and her assistant coaches over playing time, a dispute which began to spill out onto the field and impact the children.
Because of the children, NCLA made the decision, without allocating blame, to change the coaching staff, replacing four of the five coaches, including Dr. Sickinger. The only coach allowed to stay with the team was the other female coach. The board never terminated Dr. Sickinger. To the contrary, we offered her the opportunity to coach any other team. The Board of Directors determined that it was not interested in contending with an on-going personality conflict and voted to remove her from the Board.
Subsequently Dr. Sickinger and her husband filed two lawsuits. The first under the name Claudia Sickinger, MD in January 2011, and then a second in December 2011 under the name Harris. In the second, she removed her initial claims of emotional distress and instead took the tack of emphasizing claims of gender discrimination and bullying. Both lawsuits are public documents and we invite you look at them, compare them side by side, and compare them with the facts that are posted on our website.
Last week, Dr. Sickinger began a campaign - orchestrated by the public relations firm she hired - to fight her battle in the public forum, and recast this as a public rather than a personal issue. We believe the New York Times correctly characterized this PR ploy as “theatrics.”
Click here to read article
We on the Board of the NCLA welcome and look forward to the opportunity to set the record straight and bring this matter to a conclusion. Because we believe that the kids’ best interest is served by speedy resolution rather than prolonged litigation, our offer to meet with Dr. Sickinger, Mr. Harris and a neutral mediator, to resolve issues and move forward, remains open.
In the meantime, New Canaan Lacrosse continues to grow to record numbers, serving more than 900 children in our community. The NCLA enthusiastically embraces its commitment to New Canaan and its young people, and is preparing for another outstanding season.
Finally, we ask your support in returning the New Canaan community’s collective attention to the important things. Let’s remember, we’re doing this for the kids, and nothing is more important than that.
Sincerely,
The Board of NCLA
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