Peace through sport.
We Are One is a documentary about the Unified Korean Team came to be and its legacy.
Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.
Category: ethics
if USAG declares bankruptcy …
Dvora Meyers did some research:
… Since September 2016, when the Indianapolis Star reported that former team doctor Larry Nassar had sexually abused gymnasts under the guise of care, USA Gymnastics has been defending itself against hundreds of civil claims. The organization recently sued its seven insurers for failing to pay their defense costs in the ongoing litigation.
In short, members of USA Gymnastics have every reason to be worried about the future. ….
The grassroots of gymnastics are worried, too—not just about the future of the nation’s most powerful gymnastics organization but about how that organization’s rocky future might complicate and imperil the smaller organizations that will produce the next generation of gymnasts. …
If USA Gymnastics Goes Down, Who Goes Down With It?
USAG told Dvora:
“USA Gymnastics has taken no steps toward filing for bankruptcy and has no intention to do so. Any rumors to the contrary are false.”
“single point of failure” FIG equipment
Why does the International Gymnastics Federation approve apparatus with a single point of failure?
If one part fails, the entire apparatus falls.
For SAFETY and reliability redundancy should be required. For example, two chains instead of one.
Click PLAY or watch Paul Rugeri on Instagram.
Marta’s letter to the Senate subcommittee
… My second recommendation is the implementation of USA Gymnastics-assigned chaperones.
Each gymnast should have a chaperone present with them at the national training camps and competitions.
While each gymnast was required to travel with their personal coach to the national training camps, a neutral chaperone, responsible solely for the safety and wellbeing of each gymnast, would help create a safe space for gymnasts to voice concerns outside of their athletic training.
This chaperone should also be required to accompany each gymnast on any medical treatments or sessions, whether formal or informal. A gymnast should never be alone with another adult who is not her parent without her chaperone …
read more – Karolyi letter to Senate
1. This letter was obviously written by lawyers
2. Marta was the last person at Camp who would have wanted chaperones attending
Secrecy and lack of transparency were a big part of the old Romanian system. It’s something Marta continued at her remote Camp.
(via BBS)
Kristle Lowell’s accusations of drug & sexual abuse
Kristle Lowell has been one of the top Trampoline & Tumbling competitors for team USA. She was the 2016 U.S. double mini champion. A 2013 World Champion.
Her accusations against Dr. George Drew, the former coach of the United States Double Mini Trampoline team, are horrifying. Kristle was an adult at the time, not a minor.
Drew retired June 2017. But the investigation into his conduct with Kristle and other athletes is ongoing.
Lauren Rosenberg worked with Kristle in writing up her story.
Former Team USA Trampoline Doctor Accused of Allegedly Drugging and Sexually Abusing Athletes
When asked about Lowell’s status, USA Gymnastics released the following statement:
Personnel and member matters are confidential, as well as any actions taken unless they involve a public result, such as suspension or being placed on the list of individuals who are permanently ineligible for membership. We decline to answer your specific questions due to ongoing investigatory matters and related allegations.
Happily Kristle is still training and competing.
https://twitter.com/Kristle__Lowell/status/1003047044620144640
new charity – sponsor an athlete
For example, Zandri from South Africa.
To see athletes looking for help click over to the Gymnastics, Cheerleading and Dance Foundation page:
Click the SPONSOR A CHILD link at the top right of the page.
That site is still in development.
At launch kids from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Kosovo, India, Egypt, and South Africa are looking for help. There are many in the database already. In exchange for your sponsorship, the child will write to you (or send videos online) and form a pen-pal relationship. There is only one sponsor per child. It costs $39 $20 / month.
Alan Owen has been working for years putting together this charity.
If you have questions — as you should with any charity — email them.
Under Armour for LGBT Pride
Josh Dixon flying the colours.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
For the second year in a row President Donald J. Trump has chosen to let gay ‘Pride Month’ slide by with no official recognition.
sports gender gap USA age 15-19
Older teenage boys are still far more likely to be participating in sports daily. ☹️
Softball, Dance, Volleyball are a few of the activities more popular with girls. Gymnastics would rank with those, as well.
Those statistics come from a U.S. report – The Potential for Youth Sports to Improve Childhood Outcomes (PDF)
coach Richard Carlson permanently banned
A gymnastics coach accused of sexually abusing one of his athletes has been permanently banned, ending a case that had raised further questions about USA Gymnastics’ handling of misconduct complaints.
Richard Carlson was added to USA Gymnastics’ list of permanently ineligible members Friday. While no violation is specified, Marcia Frederick said he had abused her sexually in 1979 and 1980, beginning when she was 16. …
USA Gymnastics bans coach in case it elected to keep rather than turning over to SafeSport
Carlson continued to coach young female gymnasts in the Long Island area until at least 2015 and instruct at USA Gymnastics-sanctioned clinics for promising young female athletes until at least 2012, according to USA Gymnastics reports and interviews.
Carlson has denied any wrong doing in the Frederick case. …
Still, there are more questions than answers on this case.
Aly’s in the new Maroon 5 video
Maroon 5’s ‘Girls Like You’ video is a tribute to inspiring women
How many do you recognize?
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
At the end you see Adam Levine’s wife Behati Prinsloo and his daughter Dusty Rose.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 