A former star water polo player at an elite LA private school was allowed to continue coaching kids in the sport — despite being an admitted sex offender, according to a report.
Lucca van der Woude, 18, was able to participate in USA Water Polo training camps and international tournaments after he was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting teammates at Harvard-Westlake School, records show.
In February 2024, the Orange County teen was busted at the $52,000-a-year private school he attended.
The US Center for Safe Sport, established in 2017 to protect student athletes from sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, was informed of the sickening accusations against van der Woude on April 11, 2024, the Orange County Register reported on Monday.
The shocking allegations became public last week, when one teammate, Aidan Romain, filed a lawsuit seeking damages over the sexual and racial abuse he claimed he received at van der Woude’s hands.
Van der Woude “admitted in Los Angeles County Juvenile Division Court … to sexual penetration with a foreign object (digital penetration) against a minor,” on Nov. 7, 2024, as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, the Orange County Register reported.
Still, in December 2024, van der Woude was reportedly invited to mentor the nation’s top eighth-grade players at a USA Water Polo (USAWP)-sponsored holiday camp for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in Colorado Springs, according to the OC Daily Register.
“They invite some seniors to come and, like, mentor and help out,” van der Woude told the Southern California News Group in December 2024 after working at the camp.
“And, yeah, I went. It was fun. I like coaching a lot. So it was kind of fun, like, help coach, like, younger kids,” he said.
In the same interview, Newport Harbor High School (NHHS) head coach Ross Sinclair revealed that van der Woude had also “inquired” about coaching at the local Newport Beach Water Polo Club, and said that he would be coaching younger players within the club program.
“The 10s, 12s, 14s,” Sinclair said, when asked about the age ranges he envisioned van der Woude coaching at Newport Beach, which is a separate entity from NHHS, but serves as a developmental pipeline for the high school’s water polo program.
It is unknown whether van der Woude followed through on his desire to coach the younger students at Newport Beach Water Polo Club.
Neither the club nor Sinclair immediately responded to requests for comment.
Van der Woude’s participation in the camp occurred five months after his attorney informed USA Water Polo officials that he was banned from being in the pool or locker room at the same time as a Harvard-Westlake and Team USA teammate under a court-ordered no-contact restriction.
That court order — which ran from April 26, 2024, through March 7, 2025 — related to van der Woude’s alleged sexual misconduct, according to US Center for SafeSport complaints, and affidavits seen by the OC Daily Register.
Despite the court order, van der Woude allegedly had contact with one victim at least 23 times before March 2025 at USAWP-sanctioned national team selection and training camps, tournaments, and international competitions with Team USA, according to allegations made to Safe Sport at the time.
He also allegedly had contact with one victim after his arrest but before his court order at two USAWP events.
“There was significant physical contact in the pool” between van der Woude and the teammate during the March 10, 2024 incident, a complaint to Safe Sport seen by the OC Daily Register alleged at the time.
Harvard-Westlake — which has no connection to the famous university — also allegedly covered up van der Woude’s disciplinary record, allowing him to transfer to Newport Harbor High School in the Fall of 2024, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Under CIF Southern Section rules, “Students who have disciplinary action taken or pending at the previous school are not eligible to transfer,” and “Students who left a school for disciplinary reasons are not eligible to participate in athletics at the new school.”
“Harvard-Westlake will not offer specific comment other than to say that it unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that mischaracterize facts and the school’s actions,” a spokesperson for the school told The California Post.
“The school treated reports of inappropriate behavior in its water polo program with urgency and seriousness, promptly initiating an investigation and complying with its mandatory reporting obligations. The school also cooperated completely with law enforcement,” the spokesperson added.
Van der Woude led Newport Harbor to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title in November 2024 and then represented Team USA internationally.
Neither USAWP, the CIF, nor the US Center for Safe Sport responded immediately to requests for comment.
Today, van der Woude is still listed as a student-athlete on the men’s water polo team at Golden West College (GWC), a Huntington Beach-based community college, after losing his UCLA commitment due to his legal troubles.
It isn’t known if he is involved in any GWC coaching programs.
GWC spokespeople did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Van der Woude, who was named the Orange County player of the year by the Orange County Register in December 2024, was unable to be reached for comment, and no attorneys for him are listed in the lawsuit.
The California Post approached van der Woude’s family but did not hear back.