tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
A detailed discussion on a topic often brushed over by coaches.
Kids know what pain is, but they can’t always discern sore muscle pain from sharp injury pain or torn muscle pain. …
When you hear kids complain of pain, draw their attention to it. Ask them to describe it and maybe even call it a certain color or give it a pain rating. Differentiate kinds of pains early. The better you genuinely know your kids relationship to body pain, the better you’ll be at knowing when something’s not right. …
One of the biggest weaknesses I see in Gymnastics coaches is poor people skills with parents.
That’s especially true of young coaches who haven’t learned the hard way yet.
Many parents need to be convinced that a young coach knows what they are doing. (Those same parents assume an older coach does have the experience to do the job. Indeed, it’s not fair.)
Are you spending enough time keeping YOUR parents informed and onboard with shared goals?
That’s from Lisa Mitzel’s book FOCUSED and Inspired. Recommended.
Brubaker, who lost his standing as a national coach since his arrest in December 2017, was found not guilty in a Sarnia, Ontario, courtroom on Wednesday by a judge who questioned the conduct of the investigating police officer, who is reportedly a cousin of the complainant and was in her wedding party. …
Via email:
OTTAWA, ON (February 13, 2019) — Gymnastics Canada acknowledges the decision by Justice Deborah Austin today regarding Mr. Dave Brubaker. In light of this verdict, an internal investigation on this matter will now proceed. This investigation will be conducted by Gymnastics Canada in accordance with our Code of Ethics and Conduct and Discipline policies.
Advice for parents from Katherine Tamminen (PhD), University of Toronto:
Give time to think, and take time to think
Develop “rules of the road”
Ask questions in a supportive manner
Be positive
Most accusers are being truthful. Well over 90%, I’m thinking.
But there are a FEW cases of wrongful accusation.
Dina Bell-Laroche of the Canadian Sport Law & Strategy Group:
In any dispute, including sport disputes, once an individual is charged with an allegation, they are entitled to both natural justice and procedural fairness, regardless of the allegation.
We are unfortunately seeing sport organizations jump to conclusions and sometimes rush to sanction individuals before taking the necessary steps to ensure that the individuals are afforded natural justice and procedural fairness.
With this being said, there may be specific scenarios where it is socially and morally responsible to suspend an individual during the disciplinary process. …
Click through to see advice on how we should be handling accusations.
In this post a former British national squad gymnast reflects on her former coach.
The under-reported risk for competitive gymnasts is psychological abuse.
Anonymous:
Looking back over my time with Coach is something I find difficult. I know not all my memories are bad but those are the ones that most easily come to mind. …
But, at this point the good days for me far outweighed the not so good days and I enjoyed being there, I enjoyed working with Coach, in fact I would go as far as to say I loved her. …
… after a while no matter what I did it just wasn’t good enough, my name was now added to the blacklist. It became a matter of survival, be the one who least upset Coach during a session, praying Coach would take her wrath out on anyone but me. …
It was only Coach’s talent that would get me to the Olympics, not my own and if I moved to another coach my Olympic dream would be over. In retrospect, I can see how naïve I was to believe this, yet this haunted me throughout my career and I gave up on myself once I left coach, believing my dreams and goals were shattered.
Click through to read the whole story.
I’m surprised to hear that coach Elizabeth Brubaker has been suspended by Gymnastics Canada after receiving “a number of written formal complaints… that outlined alleged violations of Gymnastics Canada’s ethics and code of conduct policies over an extended period of time a number of years ago.”
Filmmaker and journalist Jill Yesko is fund-raising to complete a planned documentary. She represented the United States in the 1983 World University Games in cycling.
Broken Trust gives voice to the courageous women and men who have dared to speak up against abuse on all levels. Told through interviews with Olympic and national-class athletes, coaches and experts, Broken Trust looks at how and why abuse takes place and what needs to be done to stop it.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer on Vimeo.
