I’ve been following a sad court case in northern Australia. The death of adult recreational gymnast, Michelle Maitland, who fell from a tumbling trampoline, hitting her head on the concrete floor.
The final appeal for Townsville Gymnastics Association Inc AND Dean Allan Coggins was turned down. They were found guilty of not providing a safe facility:
(1) Concrete flooring and/or
(2) The failure to provide adequate protective covering to the landing area for gymnastic apparatus, namely a tumble tramp/tumble track.
Read the details of the appeal – Townsville Gymnastics (PDF)
What does that mean for us?
There should be no exposed concrete in any gym, especially anywhere near trampoline devices and pits.
If you offer adult recreation gymnastics, you need an excellent, experienced, authoritative coach who can ensure safety.
Rest in peace, Michelle.
related post – Queensland gymnastics safety assessment
13 comments ↓
Good that appeal was dismissed. Concrete shouldn’t be anywhere near a tumbling trampoline! Pretty obvious that momentum was NOT arrested by short mat as this girl ended up on the concrete……can’t do that by rebound, only force of over-rotated somersault would do that and where was the coach?
R.I.P Michelle Maitland. Why does someone have to be killed before businesses fulfil their safety obligations? LOL, like to see anyone rebound off any energy-absorbing mat well enough to land upside down….she must have been superwoman but wait, no, just a recreational kid. Hope this gym has put the appropriate matting and coach in place now.
It is a bit unreasonable to say “no” exposed concrete in the gym. It should be that there is matting for an adequate distance from the apparatus. Obviously in this case there was not enough matting.
RIP Michelle. This was a very tragic accident that never should have happened. The club and coach have paid their price for this tragic event and will forever have to live with the consequences. It upsets me that they are being judged by their peers who are uninformed on the true circumstances. The coach was very experienced and could not have foreseen this tragic event. Michelle was a very experienced adult gymnast who sadly died doing something that she loved. My thoughts are with everybody involved, especially Michelle’s family & friends.
Michelle was NOT a very experienced adult gymnast. She trained as a child but then only returned to a recreational class as a teenager – - 7 years later. She had never been on a tumbling tramp prior to the two months that she survived the recreational class. Despite this, I do feel some compassion for the coach involved.
The coach and other members of this club lied at the trial and slandered Michelle. They accepted no responsibility whatsoever and blamed the victim. The coach should have known that a 3.6m crashmat landing area was not sufficient for over rotating a layout somersault performed at the end of a tumblng row performed on a tumble tramp.
she had traces of marijuana in her system.
She had residual traces of marijuana in her system? Is that what killed her? I think it was the missing mat and the concrete floor!
Jeez JB – traces in her system. That has nothing to do with anything and was just a dodgy defence strategy that went nowhere. You should hope no-one you know ever gets drunk one weekend and killed four days later JB because you will remember your silly comment then. RIP Michelle, we know what happened.
The concrete floor and no training was the problem JB, not some fantasy about traces of marijuana. It stays in your system for weeks even if there were residual traces. The club should have had the proper mats at the end of their tumbletrack.
JW, read the parliament reports. Michelle Maitland wasn’t experienced. She joined a recreational class as an adult (if 19 counts as adult) and hadn’t been to gym since she was a little kid. Sounds like that coach might have been experienced but he wasn’t qualified and probably rushed off his feet like a lot of coaches are.
Read the Gymnastic Queensland website everyone. They have set up a system to inspect gyms to make sure they are sticking to the rules now. There should have been long mats but there wasn’t and there should have been a coach with her.
All this rubbish stops now that the guilty verdict has been upheld. The club got a small fine, they will recover.
Rest in peace Michelle Maitland and hope her family finds some solace in the new inspections so this can’t happen to anyone else.
I’m also an adult recreational gymanstics instructor, and I agree it’s sometimes a hard stuff to manage, because adults often cannot wait the right time for trying new skills. Strong authority – with best manners – is compulsory
They had their days in court and were found Guilty of not having the concrete covered at the end of the tumble tramp. They tried again with an appeal on legal technicalities and the Guilty verdict remained. Move on people, this gym must improve its procedures and abide by the regulations. They tried character assassination but now they need to try better standards.
A member of this gym maintained in court, under oath, that extra matting was “not stricly necessary”. I hope this is not an indication that this gym is going to ignore recommendations to improve safety standards.
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