This fall an incident happened within the Park City High School women’s tennis team that could have a profound impact on all student/athletes, parents and sport programs in Park City. The high-level summary of the event is as follows: a member of the PCHS women’s tennis team was unhappy with her placement in an upcoming match; after spending an hour in the locker room, she proceeded to come back to the court and argue with her coach Lani Wilcox before finally striking Ms. Wilcox in the face with her fist/hand. In the ensuing seconds, Ms. Wilcox tried to restrain the athlete (who also had her racket/weapon in her hand), and in the struggle the two ended up falling backwards with Ms. Wilcox’s head bouncing off the hard court (concussed) with the student/athlete landing on top of her. The student/athlete proceeded to jump up and then physically kick her other coach, who had come over to tell her to leave the courts.
From the incident described above the following have transpired: Lani Wilcox has been charged with a felony and been restricted from coaching minors!
We attended the preliminary hearing on Oct. 24 (attended by dozens of Lani supporters), and our non-attorney summary of the case against her is the following: The student/athlete admits that she was the first to strike Ms. Wilcox in the face. However, Ms. Wilcox is charged with a felony because the student/athlete claims that she was choked when she and Lani fell to the ground. Yes, that is the felony charge!
As stated earlier, the student/athlete jumped to her feet within seconds of falling with Ms. Wilcox, and proceeded to immediately have the ability to physically kick her other coach. This was all captured on a grainy video that was shown in the courtroom, so while you can’t see the strike clearly (there was a photo of Ms. Wilcox’s severely bruised face shown), the ensuing restraint, fall to the ground, and the jump up and kick are visible. There are also numerous witnesses (other team members) who can verify these accounts although they were apparently not interviewed by the police before the felony charge was filed.
While protection of kids is hands-down priority one, it should have been clear within days of the incident that the student was the aggressor. We can simply not understand how Park City School District has not done more to support and protect Ms. Wilcox, their own employee! The implications for her are immense, as you have a decorated tennis coach, adored and admired by her players and parents, having to go through the emotional and financial strain of fighting these charges alone with financial support coming from a GoFundMe page. This alone is a tragedy and anyone that has had the privilege of Ms. Wilcox coaching them or their kids should be appalled.
The implications for the whole community are extremely high. If Ms. Wilcox’s self-defense actions are deemed a felony by the DA, why would anyone want to risk taking a role as a teacher, coach or parent volunteer (we are aware of two high school coaches leaving in 2023). If a student physically assaults their coach or teacher, what is the policy, plan and ramification for the instigator? Parents need to hear from the superintendent and School Board on why they aren’t doing more to support Ms. Wilcox and communicate their plans to protect teachers and coaches going forward.
Lani’s next court date will be on Jan. 3 at 9:30 a.m. at the Summit County Courthouse.