Category: ethics

mental health in sports

The best way for the coach to deal with psychological problems is to treat them like physical injuries.

One day your athlete might have a sore ankle. Anther day lack of motivation. Or unexpected fear of a skill. Even depression.

You’d have experts as part of the coaching team. Trainers. Psychologists. Etc.

Athletes can recover from a sore ankle. Athletes can get over fear issues.

In recent years, mental issues among athletes have gained visibility thanks to role models like Simone Biles and Ricky Rubio; now, the focus is on prevention and tangible action …

There’s no longer a taboo. There’s no more secrecy or stigma. Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz talks openly about his psychologist. So does Spanish badminton player Carolina Marín. 

Ricky Rubio recently announced that he is taking a break from basketball for his mental wellbeing. 

Simone Biles took a step back from gymnastics for two years to take three steps forward now. She left the Tokyo Olympics and today, she is thinking about the games in Paris. …

Mental health in sports: How the new generations broke a taboo and learned to take a break

Simone for ‘Friends of the Children’

Friends of the Children is a national nonprofit organization that selects and invites youth – all of whom have unique talents, interests and dreams, and face multiple systemic obstacles – to be paired with a paid, professional mentor called a Friend.

We hire and train Friends to support our youth from as early as age 4 through high school graduation – 12+ years, no matter what. …

Friends of the Children

FIG eLearning platform – a review

As one of the authors of the Canadian WAG & MAG coach education online platform materials, I am impressed with what FIG has done with theirs.

It’s inevitable that eventually all our resources will be digital. Only a few of those printed.

Every organization is struggling with how BEST to move online.

FIG has challenges:  8 disciplines x 3 languages.

NEW is a requirement that all coaches in an FIG competition must get their Safeguarding Certificate by December 1, 2023.

The FIG is happy to announce that the Safeguarding Online Course is now available on the eLearning Platform. As approved by the Executive Committee in March 2023, the purpose of this course is to provide all coaches with a Safeguarding Certificate and therefore give them the tools they need to ensure a safe environment in Gymnastics.

This course is mandatory for all coaches registered in the FIG Coach – Sport Database, and the deadline to comply with this requirement is 1 December 2023. After this date, coaches who did not comply will see their registration pending until they obtain a Safeguarding Certificate.

via email

The guidelines are available here:

Step #1 is to register for the FIG E-learning platform. Anyone can do this.

There is a LOT of free content in all disciplines for anyone who registers:

  • Age Group Development Program VIDEOS and ROUTINES
    • Safeguarding
    • Ethics
    • Anti-doping
    • Webinars
    • More …

Create NEW Account

Enter your email address and choose a password.

Step #2 is to have your national Federation create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database for you.

Only those coaches who are planning to compete in an FIG sanctioned meet need their Federation to create a “Coach – Sport” profile in the FIG database, however.

Nike Leggings ad

Nike is now sponsoring USA Gymnastics.

Good timing as Simone just returned, one of the biggest names for the Paris Olympics.

Click PLAY or watch a new ad on YouTube.

I’m reminded of the time USAG disastrously hired a  former Republican Congresswoman … for 5 days before she was dumped as CEO. 😀

She felt Nike was too woke.

USA Gymnastics signs Nike

Finally.

Corporate sponsors are beginning to return following the disastrous way USAG handled the criminal doctor.

… Nike will serve as the Official Apparel and Footwear Partner of USA Gymnastics and the USA Gymnastics National Team, supporting athletes on their journeys to Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 …

“As the largest partnership in USA Gymnastics history, Nike’s support is critical,” USA Gymnastics President and CEO Li Li Leung said. …

Nike Partners with USA Gymnastics to Expand Sport for the Next Generation

Deal-breaker Behaviours in Coach Education

In Canada, coaches and clinicians will be removed from official Sports Canada course for these behaviours:

  • Uses language that is racist, sexist, or demeaning
  • Allows learners to use language that is racist, sexist, or demeaning

Via the GymCan National Coaching Certification Program requirements.

MOST IOC nations don’t want RUS in Paris

Ukraine’s Ambassador in Azerbaijan Vladyslav Kanevskyi also spoke out at the MINEPS VII, insisting that Russia had “no right to be part of the Olympic family and remain a UNESCO member state”.

During his speech, Kanevskyi held up a picture of talented 11-year-old gymnast Kateryna Diachenko who was killed following a missile attack in Mariupol. …

Saudi Arabia ‘Sportwashing’

Human rights abuses. A leader who murders American journalists.

Saudi Arabia is throwing money at athletes in order to distract the world from their many, many faults.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Juneteenth USA

At least 28 states and Washington, D.C. are legally recognizing Juneteenth as a holiday.

A step forward – equal opportunity for ALL citizens.