A longtime Downriver soccer coach has been suspended by the nation's independent watchdog for youth and Olympic sports after investigators found he engaged in an intimate relationship with a girl he had coached for around eight years. Kyle Lesperance exchanged thousands of messages with the girl between June 2023 and December 2024, while she was 12 and 13 years old and he was 31. Police investigated but ultimately found insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges.
The suspension was issued Oct. 22 by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, according to The Detroit News, which first reported the findings. The Center is an independent nonprofit that Congress authorized to investigate and resolve allegations of misconduct and child abuse across the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement, according to the organization's own description of its role in its 2025 Annual Report. Lesperance coached Grosse Ile High School from 2012 until his resignation, leading the team to back-to-back state final appearances, and also served as director of coaching and youth development for Chaos, a Downriver-based youth travel soccer club.
The girl's mother, who spoke anonymously to protect her daughter's identity, said her daughter and Lesperance exchanged at least 3,843 text messages over the 1.5-year span, averaging about seven messages a day. Police were unable to recover the content of messages the girl deleted after Lesperance instructed her to do so, and the family has said it does not know what those deleted messages contained, though the mother said her daughter promised there was nothing sexual in them.
A Coach the Players 'Idolized'
The mother described Lesperance as a dominant figure in the local youth soccer world, telling the paper the players idolized him and that he was simply known as the soccer coach Downriver. She said the messages changed her daughter completely and took away her daughter's innocence. According to the report, Lesperance called the girl his bestie or bff, discussed her fears, favorite foods and personal interests, and at one point referred to her as his gf in January 2024 — a remark he later said was a typo, though he had also previously replied, “The gf? You'll never know,” when questioned about it.
An investigating officer described the relationship in a police report as unusual and consistent with grooming behavior. The exchanges reportedly grew increasingly personal and flirtatious, sometimes stretching late into the night, including one conversation that ran until 2 a.m. Lesperance also left a note in the girl's backpack during two summer events expressing a wish to be 15 or 16 years old for 24 hours; he later apologized for the note and said he did not want to creep the girl out, telling her he wanted to be a teenager again and that future conversations would be limited to soccer.
Parents Went to Police, Charges Never Came
The girl told Lesperance he was messed up on Dec. 18, 2024, and her parents learned about the messages on Dec. 26, 2024. They contacted Brownstown Township police in January 2025 and gave officers a trove of text messages between Lesperance and their daughter. Officers opened their investigation in early 2025 but ultimately found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges, a conclusion consistent with earlier reporting that the case closed with no charges, as The News-Herald reported at the time. Lesperance abruptly resigned from coaching the Grosse Ile High School team that same month.
Despite the criminal case closing, SafeSport's own misconduct policy bans intimate relationships where there is a power imbalance, defining such a relationship as a close personal bond that exists independently of the sport relationship, assessed by the totality of circumstances and including grooming behaviors. The organization's electronic communication rules also bar direct contact between a coach and a player unless another adult is copied on the exchange. As of Thursday, Lesperance was still listed as a coach for an under-14 girls soccer team at Chaos.
Suspension's Scope and an Uncertain Length
SafeSport's jurisdiction covers more than 50 national governing bodies for Olympic and Paralympic sports and their affiliated local organizations, meaning Lesperance's suspension bars him from coaching and similar participation at those events, though it does not bar his attendance at them. A SafeSport spokesperson said the agency does not publicize information about investigations or suspension lengths, but the girl's family said an email from a SafeSport official indicated the suspension will likely last three years unless it is overturned through arbitration. The organization's suspension listing notes that the findings against Lesperance are not final, and SafeSport allows individuals to challenge disciplinary decisions through an appeals process; Lesperance may appeal. He did not return messages seeking comment.
The case lands amid a broader surge in reports to the watchdog group. The Center for SafeSport received 9,683 reports of abuse and misconduct in 2025 alone, averaging 186 per week and marking a 19.6 percent increase from the year before, according to its annual report. Similar cases have surfaced elsewhere recently: a Kansas City swim coach, Mike Ballard, was also suspended by the Center for inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment pending an appeal, according to Fox 4 Kansas City, with his former club saying it cooperated with investigators and suspended him before he separated from the program.
