Category: safety

USAG has long published a list of permanently ineligible members.

They are now also posting a list of those currently under suspension.

It does not include names of those suspended in the past nor minors serving suspensions.

Coach and Mom Nicole Paseka Grundmeier advises parents to ask these questions:

1. Will I be allowed to watch my child practice once she joins the competitive team?

2. Will my child be required to be home-schooled now or when she reaches a certain competitive level?

3. Will the coaches weigh my child at practice or at any other time?

4. Will my child get a snack break during practice?

5. Will my child be punished with painful conditioning for mistakes made inside the gym?

6. How will the coach respond if my child is afraid of a skill or bails on a skill?

7. What percentage of my child’s teammates suffer from overuse injuries?

8. Do my child’s teammates cry frequently at the gym?

9. Do my child’s coaches communicate well with me?

10. Will my child ever be alone with a coach?

Toxic coaching tactics enabled Larry Nassar to abuse girls. Here’s how to know if your gym uses them.

I’d add one red flag I look for in every Gym I visit …

How many older girls are on the competitive team?

If there are few (or none) when and why did they quit?

The love of gymnastics still runs deep among the thousands of young girls who streamed into suburban Chicago’s Sears Centre Arena this weekend to cheer reigning world all-around champion Morgan Hurd and other rising stars at the 2018 American Cup. …

At the Safe Sport booth, eight-foot-tall banners displayed the toll-free number (1-833-844-SAFE) and email address (safesport@usagym.org) for reporting abuse. Brochures about child sexual abuse prevention were free for the taking, as were copies of USA Gymnastics’ beefed-up Safe Sport policy, which requires all members to immediately report instances of abuse. …

Rhonda Faehn:

“You have to let the athlete at a very young age understand and know that they can — and it’s important that they do — learn to communicate and speak up,” said Faehn, a former elite gymnast who coached 13 seasons at Florida. “It’s not only okay, but the best gymnastics results from a teamwork of communication.”

Athlete empowerment wasn’t the hallmark of the command-and-control coaching style of the Romanian husband-and-wife tandem of Bela and Martha Karolyi …

As USA Gymnastics promises to change in post-Nassar world, love for the sport remains

All good.

But, like many others, I’m still wondering what happens when USAG is hit in court with their first multi-million dollar payout to an athlete.

The organization doesn’t have many millions of dollars in their budget.