Category: parents

Gymnast sues Club for unsafe Pit

Level 10 gymnast Cody Bennett was injured when he landed on the edge of the foam pit training H Bar at Evolution Gymnastics Academy during an open gym, according to a $350M lawsuit.

Attorneys for the family of the Chesapeake teen are alleging a “loose foam pit” caused the boy to sustain a major spinal cord injury in 2024, resulting in his quadriplegia.

The lawsuit alleges that the gymnastics foam pit was too shallow and did not have enough foam cubes, which resulted in Cody Bennett, then 16 years old, sustaining a spinal cord injury.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Rebeca Andrade by her coach Xico Porath

Adidas posted a charming mini-documentary of the great Rebeca Andrade’s relationship with her life long coach, Xico Porath.

He’s been coach and father figure through her long career — including 3 major knee injuries.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

NEW Gymnastics book – Historic by Emma Webb

Emma trained at the Olga club in England, coached by Monica  & Brian Phelps.

Coach Brian Phelps was jailed in 2008, aged 64, after admitting a string of historical indecent assaults against three children aged between six and 15, in the 1970s and 1980s.

The rapist later escaped to France. Whereabouts unknown.

Emma’s e-book comes out worldwide on Sept 2nd, paperback on the 9th. 

If interested in knowing more, register interest here.

I’ve signed up.

Thanks Jess.

former Chow’s Gymnastics coach arrested

… young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions.

Liang “Chow” Qiao, the owner of Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club’s premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls. …

Last week, more than three years after being suspended from coaching, the FBI arrested Gardner, 38, on a federal child sexual abuse images charge. But his disciplinary case has still not been resolved by SafeSport, which handles sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports.

Guardian

Letter to Sport Parents

A fantastic short video put together by Arsenal academy players for their parents.  …

Parents in Sport

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Shallon Olsen on Mental Health

Shallon is amazing. She juggled an NCAA career simultaneously with Elite, competing 3 Olympics. (so far)

One of the most amazing young gymnasts I’ve even seen, Shallon could do Yurchenko Double Twist at age-8. Tiny … she could barely deflect the FIG Spring Board.

Her age group training was with strict Russian coaches.

Looking back, Shallon wishes she had been listened to more. And supported better.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

Now age-24, Shallon’s still competitive in Elite. And is considering a run at her 4th Olympics.

Jade Carey has a girlfriend

Jade has gone Instagram public about her relationship with Oregon State content manager Aimee Sinacola.

Congratulations.

In an era when ReTrumplican politicians are attacking minorities, I admire Jade coming out. She’s a role model for many others fearful of doing the same.