Wellesley — Wellesley High School’s boys and girls volleyball coach resigned after reportedly showing adult pornography to students during a practice last week.
Wayne Lem, who coached both volleyball teams, was allegedly trying to show students video of a volleyball game when a pornographic video appeared on the screen.
“[Lem] is gone,” said Superintendent of Schools Bella Wong, who wouldn’t elaborate on why the coaching shift occurred. “I can’t comment on a personnel issues.”
A female member of the girl’s junior varsity volleyball team said she was in the room at the time. She said there were only a few students there and described the incident as an awkward and unfortunate accident.
“It’s upsetting because he’s a really good coach and I hate to see him leave,” said the sophomore. “Everyone was just kind of shocked, I mean I want him back, I think it would be great if he came back.”
That student said the video played for about 30 seconds as Lem attempted to turn it off. Once the incident was over, she said, the students tried to make light of the situation.
“It was mostly like joking, like we thought it was a joke,” she said. “It wasn’t serious or anything and we kind of laughed it off.”
Another member of the girls JV team who wasn’t in the room at the time said Lem took it worse than the team did.
“I think he was more embarrassed than the kids were,” she said. “His personality isn’t the type to make humor out of the situation.”
Both students said it was unclear how the tape ended up in the VCR.
“Personally I’m confused, I don’t know how the video got there,” said the first student. “I think it was a mistake and I hate to see him leave because of it.”
The students said there’s a meeting for the girls’ team scheduled for next week, where they expect more information on the situation.
While he wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the situation Lem confirmed that he’d resigned.
“I had some things I had to address,” he said.
Before coming to Wellesley High School, Lem had a long career coaching at Harvard University, Regis College, Boston College and Brookline High School. He was integral in restarting the Wellesley High School boy’s volleyball team in 2010.
WHS principal Andrew Keough and School Committee chairman KC Kato both declined to confirm or deny the alleged incident. They both referred the Townsman’s request for comment to Wong.
Wong said a new coach was already in place for the boys’ team though she didn’t know who it is off hand.
“Obviously people know that there’s a different coach,” Wong said.
The students told the Wellesley Townsman they’d miss Lem’s leadership.
“He really cares about his team — he feels like they’re all a really big family,” said the second student. “We’re pretty confused on what’s going on still.”
Read more: Wellesley High School coach resigns after alleged porn-video incident - Wellesley, Massachusetts - The Wellesley Townsman http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellesley/archive/x75574160/Wellesley-High-School-coach-resigns-after-porn-video-incident#ixzz1IBrssdAS
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