Add The California Post on Google The son of a Hollywood director, who was once a promising Olympic water polo player, has been banned from U.S. Olympic-sanctioned competitions for three years after admitting to sexual assault with a foreign object — specifically digital penetration against a minor.
Lucca Van der Woude also admitted under oath he used the N-word to racially berate a teammate at school and water polo practices. Van der Woude is the son of director Thomas ‘Basti’ van der Woude, who is credited with working on Battleship, Star Trek: Nemesis and HNO’s Westworld.
Meanwhile, the prestigious private school he attended — Harvard-Westlake School, which charges $54,900 a year in tuition — continues to dispute allegations that it failed to protect students.
Van der Woude, a former standout on the U.S. national youth water polo team, was suspended by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for “sexual misconduct, emotional and physical misconduct; criminal disposition,” according to SafeSport documents reported by the Orange County Register.
An arbitrator confirmed the suspension on Aug. 26 following an appeal by Van der Woude, who was permanently suspended by SafeSport in March 2025.
The ruling came more than two years after complaints were filed with SafeSport alleging Van der Woude sexually assaulted two Harvard-Westlake School and LA Premier club teammates on multiple occasions.
Van der Woude admitted in Los Angeles County Juvenile Division Court on Nov. 7, 2024, to sexual penetration with a foreign object against a minor, according to court, probation and SafeSport records.
Orange County attorney John Manly, who has represented many survivors of former U.S. Olympic gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, said that while children can make mistakes, some situations need more transparency.
“There are some individuals who present a clear and present danger,” Manly said while discussing SafeSport’s policy surrounding violations committed by minors, rather than van der Woude’s case specifically.
Van der Woude does not appear in SafeSport’s public disciplinary database because his violations occurred while he was a minor, the Register reported.
That means prospective teammates, athletes he could potentially coach and their families can’t access his suspension by searching the database, which was created in part to alert athletes and parents to people disciplined for abuse and misconduct.
SafeSport told SCNG that its confidentiality policies surrounding minors largely mirror those used in the juvenile justice system and other youth-serving organizations.
The controversy has also renewed scrutiny of Harvard-Westlake — the ritzy Los Angeles private school Van der Woude attended before he was banned from campus following his Feb. 2024 arrest.
Attorneys for former teammate Aidan Romain allege in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in March that Harvard-Westlake officials failed to contact law enforcement or child protective services after Romain and another student reported that Van der Woude had digitally penetrated them.
The lawsuit, which also names Van der Woude, water polo coach Jack Grover and school president Richard B. Commons, alleges a pattern of repeated sexual assault and accuses the school of failing to act when confronted with reports that a student was being sexually assaulted on campus.
It also alleges Van der Woude directed racial slurs at Romain.
Harvard-Westlake has rejected the characterization of its conduct, saying it “unequivocally disputes many of these allegations that mischaracterize facts and the school’s actions.”
Daniel Watkins, an attorney for Romain, said the SafeSport decision should make the school address the allegations.
“First, the LAPD believed Aidan. Then Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Brian Hettinger. Then a judge. Now SafeSport, after its own independent process, has found Lucca van der Woude responsible for sexually assaulting a minor and banned him for three years,” Watkins told SCNG.
Van der Woude recently admitted under oath that he transferred from Harvard-Westlake only after the school barred him from its campus and water polo program following his arrest, according to a deposition transcript.
“At some point, denial is not skepticism,” Watkins said. “It is a choice.
“Harvard-Westlake knew enough after Lucca’s arrest to ban him from campus and from its water polo program. Yet years later, the school still denies what happened to Aidan—and somehow denies what its own actions already made plain.”
Van der Woude transferred to Newport Harbor High School in Orange County before the 2024-25 academic year and helped its water polo team win a CIF Southern Section title.
He later played for Golden West College after UCLA rescinded his provisional offer following a March 2025 Orange County Register report detailing his arrest and the allegations against him.
Despite his SafeSport suspension, Van der Woude remains eligible to compete in California junior college athletics because the 3C2A, which governs those sports, has no policy automatically barring athletes suspended by SafeSport.
“The fact that Golden West let him play,” Manly said, “just shows that it’s still all about wins, money and medals and it doesn’t seem that these (schools) have learned anything from the Larry Nassar case.”
Van der Woude was temporarily suspended by SafeSport in January 2025 while the center investigated the complaints and was initially permanently suspended on March 27, 2025.
After his appeal, an arbitrator instead upheld a three-year suspension this month. SafeSport also placed him on probation for three years and issued a no-contact directive.
With credit for time already served, van der Woude will be eligible to participate in events sanctioned by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its national governing bodies again in March 2028.
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