Category: ethics

Athlete A – now on Netflix

June 24th.

Netflix now has the documentary on the USA Gymnastics criminal doctor. 

Athlete A is Maggie Nichols.

First, we all need thank Maggie, Sarah Jantzi and Maggie’s parents.

And we all need thank Rachael Denhollander and Jamie Dantzscher.

Now that the criminal doctor is in prison for up to 175 years, it’s easy to forget how difficult were those early accusations.

It’s easy to forget how many very smart people were fooled by the conman. Jamie — at the time — felt he was the only nice adult associated with USA Gymnastics.

The documentary is well done.  Recommend it to your non-Gymnastics friends. We can reduce medical malpractice and abuse in future. Protect athletes.

Revisit, too, the selection process for the Rio Olympic team. Certainly Maggie should have been one of the alternates.

An August 2016 article in the Indianapolis Star about USA Gymnastics protecting coaches accused of abuse leads to the explosive revelation that the USAG women’s team doctor, Larry Nassar, had been abusing athletes for over two decades.

This film follows the IndyStar reporters as they reveal the extensive cover-up that allowed abuse to thrive within elite-level gymnastics for more than two decades, the attorney who is fighting the institutions that failed these athletes, and most importantly, the brave whistle-blowers who refuse to be silenced.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

In addition to watching the documentary, be sure to listen to an excellent interview with Jennifer Sey on Gymnastic.

Sey is the producer.

Jennifer’s 2008 book Chalked Up is available in digital format with a new forward.

speaking out for Black Lives Matter

Inside Gymnastics magazine linked to NCAA Gymnasts, coaches and programs who spoke to improving the SAFETY of Black Americans.

Check who actually uses the words Black Lives Matter #BlackLivesMatter and/or link to @Blklivesmatter.  Nastia did, for example.

Click through to see the entire post.

Florida is trying …

… but can’t quite say #BlackLivesMatter.

Savannah Shoenherr from Florida was interviewed about her coming out experiences, being an openly LGBTQ+ gymnast in college, and Florida’s statement  against police brutality in a podcast called Half in, Half out.

Savannah’s had nothing but support from the Gators.

Savannah also talks about the team working together to respond to criticism  online regarding Black Lives Matter.

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

NCAA athletes taking power

Jessica O’Beirne has — for years — been pointing out that everyone in the NCAA has power, except the athletes. 

The talent.

But times they are a-Changin’.

Last year Kylin Hill won the Conerly Trophy, awarded to the top player in the state of Mississippi.

He’s not coming back for his Senior year unless the state flag is changed to remove the the banner of the Confederacy. 

Last week, the NCAA expanded its Confederate flag policy to prohibit all its championship events from being played in states that fly the flag, including regional sites in sports such as baseball, softball, lacrosse and women’s basketball. …

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also threatened to not hold future championship events in the state …

Several state universities, including Mississippi State and Ole Miss, stopped flying the flag in 2016 …

ESPN

Let’s see if Mississippi State loves football more than their flag.

UNINTENDED consequences of Title IX

Temple alumnus Law student Jeff Shearer published a paper on Title IX and Men’s Gymnastics in the Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum.

Jeff:

I wrote this paper because of my passion for gymnastics and the fact that the sport has seen a numerical decline in varsity programs over the years.

I demonstrate how Title IX and the commercialization of college sports are—in my opinion—the cause of this problem.

I close with an argument that the binary application of Title IX will only cause more challenges for transgender athletes and sports programs. …

Title IX is pretty complicated and I attempt to break it down for a non-legal audience with my writing.

Please share this paper throughout the gymnastics community so that people can be educated about why the sport has lost so many programs over the years. I am hoping it can help any program that is currently struggling to survive.

You can read or download that paper here:

Good Initiative, Bad Judgement: The Unintended Consequences of Title IX’s Proportionality Standard on NCAA Men’s Gymnastics and the Transgender Athlete

Thanks Jesse.

1995 Gymnastics documentary – For The Love of the Game

The late 1990s were the bad old days in my opinion.

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes was published 1995.

A Canadian documentary includes 3 National Team members:

Lisa Simes, 1994 Commonwealth Games medalist and All-American captain for Michigan.

Jackie Bender, the best Artistic gymnast all time at 1-arm handstand work on Beam.

And Sarah Rainey who is very eloquent and outspoken about why she left the sport. Today Sarah is Head Coach of East York Gymnastics in Toronto.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (24min)

NCAA programs on #BlackLivesMatter

As usual, UCLA sets the Bar for supporting minority rights. Unapologetic.

Willing to support Black Lives Matter #BlackLivesMatter  loudly.  And proudly.

UCLA gymnasts use social media to speak out, support Black Lives Matter movement

BUT … how did other prominent College teams handle the worldwide protests?

Dvora Meyers posted a good overview:

Florida was much criticized by former athletes

As was Alabama.

Duckworth, in a statement posted to social media, said things about growing and learning and inclusivity without mentioning Kiaku by name or saying the word “race” or any of its variants.

As was Auburn.

Jeff Graba posted this note to Twitter in response to the statements from three former Tigers. On the whole, Graba’s note is disappointing in the way that many of these statements are: vagueness about what was alleged, failure to mention the words “black” or “racism” or any of its variants. …

University of Georgia head coach Courtney Kupets Carter put out a statement that managed to avoid using the words “black,” “African American,” “racism,” “police,” “brutality,” or “injustice.” Also, for a statement that is ostensibly about what the Black community is enduring, it makes heavy use of “I.” …

LSU head coach DD Breaux’s statement did mention “people of color” and nodded to protest as a means of enacting change, but that’s as far as it went. ..

And this from the University of North Carolina gymnastics team is perhaps the strongest and most unequivocal of all the statements put out by any of the women’s programs.

Carolina Gymnastics @uncgymnastics

Enough.

June 6th 2020

Some of the coaches are, no doubt, restricted by contract in what they can say publicly.  But — moving forward — programs should be called out if there’s no real change.

I’ll be cheering for UNC and UCLA.

Click through to read Dvora’s entire important post.  And subscribe if you can.  This is real journalism. 

We Need to Address Racism In Gymnastics

 

 

USAG: Black Lives Matter

On June 1, we unequivocally affirmed that Black lives do matter, and that we stand in solidarity with the Black community and with all of those who fight for racial and social justice. …

  • We will require implicit bias training for USA Gymnastics staff and leadership positions, and will endeavor to make similar training available to all members.

  • We will work with a credible researcher to analyze the role of implicit bias in judging.

  • We will use our platforms to amplify the voices of our community members from traditionally underrepresented groups, in order to share their experiences more broadly and facilitate continued conversation across the gymnastics community.

  • We will strengthen our internal hiring practices for both employees and contractors, to ensure that we are more intentional and proactive in seeking out staff, contractors, and business leaders from underrepresented groups.

  • Juneteenth (June 19th) will be a day of reflection for USA Gymnastics staff going forward. We are encouraging our staff to spend this day listening and learning, and finding ways to commit to concrete action steps to become better allies and advocates. We invite member gyms and clubs to recognize this important day in the history of our nation in their own way. …

A Letter to the Gymnastics Community on Racial and Social Justice

 

Celebrating Juneteenth

Juneteenth (a portmanteau of June and nineteenth; also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day, and Emancipation Day) celebrates the liberation of those who had been held as slaves in the United States.

SAVE Seattle Pacific Gymnastics

Terrible news. 

SPU announced publicly on Monday afternoon what Marshall learned on Monday morning: that its women’s gymnastics program had been discontinued, effective immediately. The Falcons Gymnastics Center will also cease operations and will no longer host youth camps, and the accompanying club team will no longer be sponsored by SPU.

A university release stated that “the decision to discontinue gymnastics came following an extensive review of the state of that sport in the NCAA Division II structure. Although the assessment and decision began prior to the COVID-19 outbreak and rests on its own merit, the adverse effects (of) the pandemic on the program’s funding model expedited this decision.” …

The university release stated that scholarships for Marshall’s student-athletes — including grants awarded to incoming students beginning in fall 2020 — will be honored. SPU gymnasts seeking to continue their careers at another institution will be released without penalty and are free to transfer immediately. …

‘Shocked and devastated’: Seattle Pacific gymnastics coach Sarah Jean Marshall says her program was cut without warning

Sign a petition on Change.org:

Reinstate Seattle Pacific Women’s Gymnastics