Lawsuit claims former LCC soccer coach tracked players’ phones, menstrual cycles

A lawsuit alleges that a coach’s tracking of players and their menstrual cycles contributed to a “sex-based environment of hostility” for the women’s soccer team at Lane Community College.

Former player Addison Bellm claims former women’s soccer coach Joshua Martin’s “mercurial style” had an “overt sex-based element to it.”  Also known as Joshwa Martin, the former coach is also alleged to have put players “at serious risk” by “often” driving more than 90 mph when taking the team to games.

The lawsuit filed Thursday, Aug. 27, in U.S. District Court in Eugene alleges retaliation by Martin and the college in response to a complaint. Bellm was removed from the team last September.

“I am bringing this case to seek accountability from the LCC Athletic Department and former Coach Martin because of their years of mistreatment of me and 22 other girls,” Bellm said in a statement provided by her attorney, Portland-based Matthew C. Ellis.

In a statement, LCC college spokesperson Jenna McCulley said “complaints received by the college were evaluated and investigated by both Human Resources and our Title IX office. 

“While none of the allegations met the criteria to move to formal grievance procedures, the college provided informal supportive measures to all involved.”

Attempts by Lookout Eugene-Springfield to contact Martin were unsuccessful.

Bellm alleges a violation of Title IX, the law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding, along with other violations of law.

Bellm played for LCC beginning in 2024-25 after attending high school in Beaverton. She now attends Westcliff University in California and is a member of the women’s soccer team.

McCulley said Lane Community College was not aware of the lawsuit but disputed “several of the claims articulated” in a previous tort notice filing.

In January, the college announced the hiring of Alec Ingraham as head women’s soccer coach, and Martin is no longer employed by the college. According to Martin’s LinkedIn profile, he became head coach in February 2022.

Martin is alleged to have “required players to let him track them using the ‘Find My’ function on his iPhone,” the lawsuit states, describing the coach as “inappropriately invading their personal lives” by following players and their boyfriends and girlfriends on Instagram.

The lawsuit also alleges Martin “required the team to report information about their menstrual cycle on [a] google document and would make coaching decisions based on the information, including who would play and how he would coach the games.”

After at least one complaint, Martin is alleged to have “cornered the team about the discrimination complaint and questioned them about who had filed it, openly deriding those he thought were behind it.”

The coach allegedly “told players that he could take away scholarships both present and retroactively from the past, if he so desired.”

‘Different treatment’

The lawsuit also describes Martin as treating Bellm differently than other players.

After her first season at LCC, Bellm joined the University of Oregon’s women’s soccer team as a walk-on, and “Martin started attending her UO practices, watching from behind the fence,” the lawsuit states.

“Then, after practice, he would text Bellm and provide additional coaching and feedback; conduct Bellm found creepy and odd,” according to the lawsuit.

Bellm, released from the UO team, returned to LCC for the 2025 fall season and Martin became “much more aggressive in his interactions” with her while continuing to “text and call Bellm at all hours.”

“He informed Bellm that she was required to attend specific mandatory practices, only to find afterward that the practices were not mandatory for everyone, only her,” the lawsuit claims. “Others on the team noticed the new focus on Bellm and asked why Martin was so focused on Bellm. He denied any different treatment.”

In July 2025, Bellm is described as speaking up after a mandatory film session to tell the coach freshmen players “might have a hard time” retaining the information presented.

“Martin proceeded to belittle Bellm in front of the team for ten minutes. He screamed at her and belittled her while tears streamed down her face,” according to the lawsuit. Then, “[i]nstead of his constant texts and calls, he ignored her and ostracized her.” 

In August 2025, Martin allegedly prepared a “contract” for Bellm. 

It “required her to ‘show humility by recognizing you may not know as much as you think you do,’ ‘Place team success above personal interest,’ ‘Don’t be selfish,’ and stated that ‘Negative body language, excuses, gossip, or public dissent will not be tolerated.’” 

The lawsuit describes the “contract” as “consistent with sex stereotypes for women, essentially requiring that she be humble, docile, unselfish.”

Bellm declined to sign the document. 

She was dismissed from the team Sept. 10, the same day as a scheduled meeting with the college’s athletic director, Greg Sheley.

In the meeting, Belm’s mother “stated that she had concerns that implicated Title IX” and said “her concerns should be brought to the [Northwest Athletic Conference] board” as well as SafeSport, a nonprofit organization created to protect athletes from abuse and misconduct.

Sheley abruptly ended the meeting, according to the lawsuit. 

Bellm, in court documents, also describes a later parking lot confrontation after a women’s soccer game in which Martin’s wife “aggressively approached Bellm … yelling, ‘Is there anything you’d like to say to my face?’”

After Bellm walked away, Martin’s wife allegedly “got in Bellm’s face, yelling ‘We are still happily married by the way!’ and stormed off,” the lawsuit states.

Bellm reported the confrontation to Sheley.

“While she found Martin misogynistic, sexist and creepy in his whiplash style of coaching and communicating, there was never any indication to her that his interest in her was romantic, nor her in him,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress and punitive damages against Martin.