Glendale High grad sues district over ‘extremely intense’ water polo practices
Glendale High girls’ water polo goalie Shushanik Gabrielyan prepares to block a shot in a game against Hoover High. Gabrielyan, who graduated in 2015, has filed a lawsuit against the Glendale Unified School District, claiming that water polo practices were “extremely intense and egregiously inappropriate.”
A woman who played on Glendale High School’s water polo team claimed she was “pushed to the point of exhaustion” during practice drills in a lawsuit filed this week against the Glendale Unified School District, records show.
Shushanik Gabrielyan alleged that during practice, her coach Casey Sripramong conducted drills that were “extremely intense and egregiously inappropriate,” and when she experienced difficulty, she was “pushed to the point of exhaustion,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Glendale High water polo coach Casey Sripramong talks to her team during the title match of the Pacific League Tournament on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2015.
A representative of the Glendale Unified school district could not immediately be reached for comment.
Gabrielyan, who graduated from the school in 2015, served as ASB president and homecoming queen her senior year in addition to being on the water polo team. She also gave an address at her graduation’s commencement.
Gabrielyan, along with other team members, complained about the extreme conditions of the drills and the pain they caused, according to the lawsuit, which alleges negligence as well as negligent supervision, hiring and retention.
The district breached its duty to “develop, plan and execute conditioning drills that were reasonably safe and that would not endanger the health and safety of its players” by failing to give players sufficient rest periods during drills, requiring players in physical distress to continue doing the drills, failing to properly supervise drills and inadequately training its coaches, Gabrielyan alleged in the lawsuit. Supervisors, the lawsuit stated, should recognize when a player is in physical distress.
The conditioning drills left Gabrielyan “sick, sore, lame and disabled,” as well as emotionally distressed, the lawsuit stated. Specific details about when she sustained her injuries were not indicated.
Gabrielyan’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.
Sripramong, who graduated from Glendale High School in 2008 and served as an assistant coach for two years after graduating college in 2012, was named the head girls’ aquatic coach last year.
--
Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
