California produces

“more than 75% of all the sport’s high school players”

live in the state, according to the article. 

A Vanity Fair investigation reports on a civil lawsuit alleging that a Harvard-Westlake water polo player repeatedly sexually assaulted teammates during practices between 2022 and 2024. 

Timeline (reported sequence)
• Aug 2022–Jan 2024 — Lawsuit alleges repeated assaults during practices 
• Dec 2023 — Second player reports similar alleged assault 
• Feb 2024 — Police arrest teammate Lucca van der Woude
• Nov 2024 — Article reports he

“admitted…to sexual penetration with a foreign object (digital penetration) against a minor”

as part of a plea agreement. 

Allegations described in the lawsuit

The complaint alleges that Lucca van der Woude

“approached [him] from behind to ambush and digitally penetrate him”

in the pool and elsewhere. 

The lawsuit also claims teammates

“whipp[ed]” him in a re-enactment of slavery” while saying “Get back to work!”

A second student’s email quoted in the article states:

“I was waiting for the ball, and then suddenly someone under the water had fingered me”

and identifies the alleged perpetrator. 

The article notes that under California’s Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, mandated reporters must notify authorities when they reasonably suspect abuse.