Gymnastics Sports Culture

Does anyone truly know whether the culture of gymnastics is going to change?
In the aftermath of the Nassar scandal, the predictable response has been a promise to “do more” and “do better.” But doing more‑better is not the same as doing things differently. And without a different approach, the culture will not change.
Doing more‑better is like climbing a mountain with no summit — an endless ascent that convinces us progress is happening simply because we are still climbing. When everyone around us is climbing the same topless mountain, the shared struggle begins to feel like validation. If everyone is doing it, the reasoning goes, then it must be right.
But doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome is not progress. It is stagnation.
If we want a different culture, we must do it different.
Not the same practices with more intensity.
Not the same structures with new slogans.
Not the same systems with new promises.
A different culture requires different architecture.

⭐ Where Do We Begin?
We begin by ending the long‑standing developmental model that accelerates young girls into elite gymnastics before their bodies, minds, and identities are ready for the demands placed upon them. The pace, pressure, and expectations placed on children in the current system are incompatible with healthy development. Clinicians and researchers have long recognized that young athletes are uniquely vulnerable to overuse, burnout, and long‑term physical and emotional strain.
A child should not feel compelled to perform out of fear, pressure, or obligation.
A child should not be conditioned to ignore pain or override instinct.
A child should not be placed in environments where their well‑being is secondary to competitive outcomes.
For kids’ sake, the culture must change.

⭐ A Post‑Karolyi Era
Gymnastics in the United States has reached a crossroads.
The era of Eastern Bloc‑inspired training — built on secrecy, isolation, and unquestioned authority — is incompatible with American values and unacceptable in modern sport.
The Ropes & Gray report made clear that the systems surrounding athletes failed them. In the United States, adults have a duty of care to minors. That duty includes understanding the risks an athlete faces and ensuring they are not placed in situations that could cause preventable harm. A child has the right to train and compete without carrying unaddressed injuries or being placed in circumstances that jeopardize their long‑term health.
If the sport is to move forward, the developmental pipeline and the governing structures that oversee it must be rebuilt from the ground up.

⭐ Reimagining the Developmental Pathway
Growth and maturation are complex processes. Young athletes deserve training environments that respect those processes rather than attempt to manipulate or accelerate them. The sport must shift toward a model that:
•     prioritizes long‑term health over short‑term results
•     encourages multi‑sport participation in early years
•     delays specialization until adolescence
•     supports athletes through puberty rather than attempting to circumvent it
•     recognizes that champions can be developed at older ages
The belief that female gymnasts must peak at sixteen is a myth — a relic of a system imported from another era and another culture. American gymnastics can choose a different path. We can build a model where athletes begin elite training at sixteen and peak between eighteen and twenty‑two. That is not only possible; it is healthier, safer, and more aligned with American values.

⭐ Reforming Boarding and Oversight
If the sport continues to allow boarding‑school‑style training environments, then those environments must be governed by clear standards of care. Any setting where minors live away from home must include:
•     parental or guardian presence for athletes under sixteen
•     a qualified on‑site supervisor at all times
•     clear policies for safety, nutrition, hygiene, rest, and daily living
•     contractual obligations that define responsibilities and accountability
•     oversight mechanisms that protect the welfare of every child
From the moment a child leaves home for gymnastics — whether for training, travel, or competition — their safety and well‑being must be the highest priority.

⭐ Raising the Age Standard
Although the Olympic minimum age is sixteen, the United States can choose to set a higher standard for its own athletes. We can decide that elite competition begins at sixteen, and Olympic eligibility begins at eighteen — with the expectation that athletes have completed puberty before representing the nation on the world stage.
This is not a limitation.
It is liberation.
It frees children from the pressure of premature specialization.
It frees coaches from outdated expectations.
It frees the sport from a culture that has long normalized practices incompatible with child welfare.

⭐ A New American Way Forward
The future of gymnastics does not lie in doing more‑better.
It lies in doing it different.
A slower, safer, healthier developmental model is not a step backward.
It is a step toward a culture that honors the dignity, humanity, and long‑term well‑being of every athlete.
The days of accepting harmful norms because “that’s how it’s always been done” are over.
The sport must evolve — and America can lead that evolution.

 

A paradigm shift of age may place the onus upon the colleges and universities to supply us with the finished products of Olympic hopefuls. The diminishing number of sports in colleges and universities must be reinvigorated. It's a pressing issue which must be resolved or most sports will cease to exist in colleges and universities save for two or three. The sports attrition dilemma in colleges and universities must be cured. Notwithstanding, if we shift to expectations of peaking female gymnasts at 22 years of age then we will need to reconcile with the probability that a female gymnast will likely attend a college or university in those later years. Nonetheless in the interest of a positive and productive change to gymnastics culture, Olympians should come less from club programs than from colleges and universities. Olympic development needs to become proportional between the private sector of clubs and the public sector of colleges and universities.

 

We might propose that Olympic Training Centers or National Training Gyms should be located at Colleges and Universities and not be provided by the private sector and not be provided by the Governing Body. The task then becomes to lobby Washington to subsidize these projects and also find additional revenue streams to finance these facilities. Even more, the income from sports at colleges and universities should not be horded by any one or two sports even if they bring in the lion's share of profits. Top income generating sports should have limits imposed on them so that funds are distributed to other sports programs. Something has to give. Something must be done for sports in Colleges and Universities or we will lose those sports. The spirit and intention of Title IX was never to decimate sports in schools. On the contrary, Title IX was supposed to expand sports. Not induce their demise. Therefore if we do not intercede and reverse the downward spiral, then the future looks bleak for college sports. It's been 47 years since Title IX was passed and nobody has done anything to stop the madness.

 

In and of itself, Title IX is not the reason that sports are winnowed out from colleges and universities. Title IX did however open a Pandora's Box. Upon implementation of Title IX, some schools found they were unable to afford to accommodate the women's version of certain sports. It was easier to eliminate the existing men's sport or both the fledgling woman's and established men's program together, than to add or keep the female counterpart. Upon doing so, money and resources became available. It was considered serendipity that by eliminating a sport, copious resources and money became instantaneously available to use for other more fiscally appetizing sports and purposes such as for basketball and football. The discovery and temptation of instant funds and resources induced a domino effect. The dominoes have been falling ever since. There may be a strategy we can implement by invoking a legal recourse using the Fair Trade Act or Anti-Trust Laws to balance out the funding for all sports. Sports aficionados are sure to agree and support the cause of this type of litigation.

 

Out of the 3,400,000 female gymnasts per year in the United States only 80,000 of them will participate in a competitive program. Yet, club gymnastics and our entire developmental program is structured with competition in mind. It is a competition architecture. It is competition centric. Of the 3.4 million participants in gymnastics, we aim our gymnastics culture at the 3 percent. It unnecessarily narrows the athletic experience for the club itself and for 97 percent of the participants nationwide. Instead of expanding into our universe, we are unnecessarily imposing limits on ourselves. This is not smart business. This must stop. It is boring, redundant, uninspiring, and stifles innovation or creativity, and business itself is stifled.

 

The impetus to do away with this anomaly is to seek more lucrative returns and aim at the neglected clientèle in order to develop a strong, multi layered, multifaceted, entertainment based gymnastics culture aimed at the 97 percent which do not compete and balance it with the 3 percent that do compete. In a balanced gymnastics culture that appeals to and looks participation-friendly to the general population, a multifaceted, multi-layered, entertainment based sport culture would better entice every soul in the country to play an active role in gymnastics. 3.4 million participants could turn into 300,000,000 (three hundred million) participants. That would be our goal. And the 80,000 competitive gymnasts that make up our competitive field of participants would probably go down to a concentrated 50,000 because our focus would shift elsewhere and we simply don’t need them as much anymore. Notwithstanding most people don’t go down the competitive road or want to.

 

Without abandoning the competition based architecture of gymnastics for the few (less than 3 percent) who are so inclined to pursue that venue, what advantage is there if we focus the culture of gymnastics on a non-competition architecture? The agenda changes to pleasing an audience not a judge. A young beginning non-competitive gymnast would not have to be subjected to critiques and lesson plans conforming to what a gymnastics judge would think. The culture subsequently becomes a question of fun in terms of entertainment integration. This means integrating other sports disciplines as well as exploring creativity, innovation, resourcefulness, expansion, incorporation, by commingling music, singing, juggling, circus arts, rhythmic elements, dance, tricking, parkour, trampoline, and so much more. Indeed Circus Soleil could have, and should have been born out of America instead of French Canada. Let's give Circus Soleil a run for their money. Let's give the world more choices and come up with something just as good or better and different.

 

Secondly, in the spirit of recitals at dance studios, or dance shows and extravaganzas such as Dancing With the Stars, or in the spirit of group presentations such as cheer-leading, or Gymnaestradas, weekly, monthly, yearly, or at the end of semesters in gymnastics clubs, enrollees at every level may present their skills to an audience, not for points if they point their toes, rather for the pride of showing off what has been learned for the sake of entertainment and fun.

 

Thirdly, on a more professional level, competitive gymnasts should have a way to continue their careers after they retire from competition. We should be able to provide both amateur and professional opportunities for post competitive gymnasts but we choose to neglect this business market. We neglect to take advantage of it. We neglect to own it. Gymnasts with notoriety and fame can become formal advocates and ambassadors of our sport and promote the benefits of gymnastics for its own sake rather than focusing on Gold Medals and accomplishments at the Olympics. A focus on showmanship over conformity to formatted competition centric standards, may open up other avenues in which a lifelong career minded gymnast may choose to follow. It is a grievous oversight and careless neglect to build up 80,000 highly trained, highly skilled gymnasts and throw them away after they stop competing. Instead, we should harness this resource and give it opportunities. Let's give purpose and build an agenda that leads to extended opportunities and builds up the brand exponentially. We should be in a perpetual state of empowerment and growth by putting the resource of 80,000 retiring competitive gymnasts to work.

 

This expansion of opportunities serving to extend or expand the gymnastics experience would help offset the extraordinary stress that comes from the improbability of winning a position on an Olympic team. In other words, if you do not achieve the Olympics, or you wish to avert competition, other fulfilling participation options, just as venerated and exciting as the Olympics, should be available. You may be able to become a star in a national entertainment extravaganza, or other entertainment-based opportunities related to gymnastics/acrobatic arts. There are no limits to the showmanship side of the sport. Owners and their leadership may also choose to affiliate with other clubs and programs in order to commingle resources, talent, participation, and strengthen community ties by hosting events together. In the future, the biggest stars of our sport will be those who excel and rise to the top with notoriety and celebrity doing gymnastics for health, fitness, fun, entertainment, and its own sake. If the gymnastics culture builds itself on the premise that gymnastics is fun and fulfilling in its own right without relying on the participants that are racing toward the Olympics, then we may be able to minimize the influence which Olympic culture has on our sport and maximize a culture that esteems gymnastics in its own right. Which is the way it should be.

 

Plan B should not be the college circuit. Plan A should encompass the college circuit and stretch past the realm of the club circuit.. The small window of opportunity that presently exists, because we physically put it there, that begins at age 3 and ends at 16 needs to disappear. Focus a plan that peaks athletes at age 22 and make colleges and universities a source of Olympians. It will help revitalize the collegiate culture of diminishing gymnastics teams. Parallel this with the non-competitive side of gymnastics-acro arts and the possibilities have no limits.

 

Gymnastics, or any sport, should be a means to develop habits and learn lessons that strengthens character which will benefit you now and for the rest of your life. In terms of participation, gymnastics should be fun. Habits and lessons derived from the sport should be fun to acquire, learn, and may include developing punctuality, learning to follow directions, learning to seek directions, learning to take criticism, learning to use criticism, learning to conform to rules and work within parameters, learning to give respect and how to command respect, learning to be a team player, learning to work with others in order to make the whole worth much more than the sum of the parts, learning that plans help lay out a process which leads to progress which leads to improvement and results, learning to set goals and how to lay out a long term plan made up of smaller goals, learning to help others and give back, learning that sacrifice is a part of achievement, and much more. The list can extend indefinitely. That is how gymnastics should look. Gold medals should not be in this mix. Gymnastics is the means to the end for its own sake. The end should not be winning medals.

 

The truth is that gymnastics was broken before the Larry Nassar scandal. It needed to be fixed. The truth is that the gymnastics community which may include the fans and media as well as the Gym Clubs and coaches, were blind. We are no longer blind. It is clear now with the 204 impact statements and the Ropes and Gray Report, that the entire developmental program needs a reset. Gymnastics sport culture needs a different focus. Having a new and different focus would change and improve the sports culture of gymnastics.

 

Unfortunately, intense interest and enrollment in gymnastics programs is presently dependent on the outcome of Gold Medals awarded in any one Olympic year. A competition centric architecture becomes a slave to the success, or failure, of gymnasts that compete for medals. It is a precarious business model aimed at less than 3 percent of the gymnastics pool. As Larry Nassar demonstrated, it is also a risky business model where extenuating circumstances may threaten success. The success of our brand is dependent on the success of our competition centric gymnastics culture. If our competitive athletes do well then our entire culture does well. If our competitive athletes do poorly then our entire gymnastics culture suffers. The 3 percent drives the 97 percent. This induces a frenzy of urgency to have the 3 percent succeed in competition and the needs of the 97 percent are irrelevant because our sport culture is not driven by them. A developmental program designed to appeal to the non-competitive gymnastics pool would increase interest and enrollment more than what we have now. Gold Medals would become a secondary bonus on top of or in addition to what we would be depending on to keep our coffers full and our gyms populated.

 

The better gymnastics culture, the better business model is to appeal to the 97 percent that is not driven by competition and derive our success from them. Our entire gymnastics culture would change. We would not have to depend on the success of 3 percent of gymnastics participants. Whenever the 3

percent does well, then it is icing on the cake and does not make or break our sport. If the gymnastics culture builds itself on the premise that gymnastics is fun and fulfilling in its own right without the advent of participation and success in the Olympics then we may be able to minimize the celebrity and notoriety from the influence Olympic culture has on our sport and maximize gymnastics for its own sake.

 

Lets explore other concerns with the governing body of gymnastics. At the same time that the survivors were delivering their impact statements at Larry's sentencing hearing in Lansing, Michigan, USA Gymnastics was in Federal Court attempting to have the girl's lawsuits dismissed. While our Olympians were defending their honor in court, USA Gymnastics was stabbing them in the back. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who is a leader in Congress's examination of the sexual abuse in Olympic Sports, formally asked the FBI to investigate USA Gymnastics in their role to cover-up Larry Nassar and the intention is to prosecute the responsible parties guilty of accomplice liability. The investigation was ordered the day after the Ropes and Gray Report came out in December. I strongly feel that the fallen board members should be held accountable and they should voluntarily back away and withdraw themselves from gymnastics in any capacity in which they presently work in the sport. They should be banned from the sport. Unlike a Firing Squad, the Board of Directors shot innocent victims and they knew the victims were innocent. It doesn't matter who's bullet was the “death shot.” They are all complicit and all are in the same fold. The board members that were present at the time that the Nassar scandal became publicized, previously signed a letter in full support of Steve Penny saying that he did not need to resign. Rachael Denhollander who is a Nassar survivor expressed, “ Neither USAG or USOC were at the courtroom with the victims to support them. Instead, they were at Federal Court seeking to have all the lawsuits dismissed on the basis that they had no legal duty to report sexual abuse.” Clearly, the board members are not friends of Nassar Survivors and any time USA Gymnastics expresses a show of sympathy to the Nassar victims it is hypocritical and disingenuous. Hold the board of directors accountable. I do.

 

"Why hire someone associated with the firm that helped cover up our abuse?" - Aly Raisman… When Aly said that, I wonder whether Aly knew that the board members sign a confidentiality agreement as a condition for employment? The culture of gymnastics at the top is one which suppresses culpability and accountability. Transparency is guarded. Olympic medals are not a license to abuse children. Olympic dreams are not a license granting a privilege to coaches that wish to dangerously fast track children to win medals. Child abuse is exactly that and no excuse is a good enough excuse to abuse a child. I have also mentioned that the Nassar survivors are antagonists of USA Gymnastics and will perpetuate a stigma against USA Gymnastics for generations to come. The negative narrative will continue to be acerbated by new discoveries and developments which emerge over time. For this reason it is expedient to bring the 500 Nassar survivors into the equation of restructuring a new governing body with a new gymnastics culture to go with it. The empowerment of athletes to bring change is alone a game changer for sports culture. A proposal to form a union of athletes as members of a separate organization designed to give gymnasts a collective voice is a great idea. This union or association may have a collective influence upon the new governing body as well as the Washington establishment.

 

"Selecting [Mary Bono] as interim president was an insult to every survivor and shows a complete disregard for the safety of child athletes," said John Manly, a California-based attorney who represents more than 100 women suing USA Gymnastics for its failure to stop Nassar. "USA Gymnastics should be decertified immediately acting as the governing body for gymnastics in the U.S.A. It should be replaced by a body with credible/competent leadership that includes survivors. USAG [USA Gymnastics] is a disgrace to our current athletes, to the survivors and our nation." If we were to put a face on USA Gymnastics at the time that the Nassar scandal became public knowledge, we would see the following names: Kelli Hill, Steve Penny, Ron Galimore, Paul Parilla, Jay Binder, Bitsy Kelley, Tom Koll, Yoichi Tomita, Mike Burns, Patti Conner, Carisa Laughon, Nataliyya Kozitskaya, and many others.

 

USA Gymnastics Board of Directors member Kelli Hill who, worse than being associated with a firm that helped cover up sexual abuse of gymnasts, is not only associated with the discredited organization which covered up the Nassar crimes, she is in reality an integral member of the body of USA Gymnastics at the time of the cover-up and was forced to resign her position by the United States Olympic Committee as a result of her tenure at the time of the cover-up. Nonetheless, Kelli Hill was selected as president of the U S Gymnastics Club Owners Association. Selecting Kelli Hill as president of the United States Gymnastics Club Owners Association is an insult to every survivor and shows a complete disregard for the safety of child athletes, Kelli was also on the Board of Directors when USA Gymnastics removed 1.2 million dollars from their coffers to pay McKayla Maroney for keeping her mouth shut about the sexual abuse she suffered. “If you are willing to settle out of court, we'll pay you one point two million dollars but you have to keep this sex thing a secret. Deal?” The 16 year old female wonders why her friends at USA Gymnastics, (some she has known and trusted for over ten years), are letting Larry Nassar get away with this. Kelli was not present in support of the Nassar victims when the impact statements were being given at Nassar's sentencing hearing. Instead, Kelli and her cohorts had a team of lawyers in Federal Court attempting to have the Nassar victims law suits dismissed.

 

I would question the integrity of USA Gymnastics board members whom the United States Olympic Committee forced to resign. When the scandal broke into the news the guilt laden board members should have preemptively withdrawn from the sport. The mere existence of non-disclosure agreements which forced victims to keep their sexual abuse secret from the gymnastics community, previous to the Nassar scandal or at the time of the Nassar scandal, is reason enough to eschew USA Gymnastics board members.

 

The Ropes and Gray Report finds that USA Gymnastics (the Board of Directors, CEO, COO, and committees) are all about abuse, greed, exploitation, and winning at all costs. The Ropes and Gray Report, revealed the ugly truth about about the Board Members, CEO, COO, and committees, that USA Gymnastics failed the people it was supposed to protect. That said, we may put faces on the Board Members, CEO, COO, and Committees. USA Gymnastics does not operate in a vacuum. There are actual personages behind the USAG title.

 

As much as these members of the “firing squad” may deny their role, they all are responsible and unlike a firing squad, each shooter should take responsibility. Likewise, the gymnastics community should hold these personages accountable. Why? These are the people that the Ropes and Gray Report are talking about when they refer to “USA Gymnastics.” All who are within the fold are guilty by association and is the reason that sponsors such as AT&T or Hershey's, are compelled to withdraw their support from USA Gymnastics and abstain from any further association with USA Gymnastics, the which bears a permanent stigma that rubs off on anyone that touches them. This is the governing body's new reality.

 

In accordance with the public outcry as expressed in A Letter From The Board where objectors such as Nassar Survivors who are disparaging USA Gymnastics, are referred to as an “ugly few,” I urge Kelli Hill to step down as president of the US Gymnastics Club Owners Association. The “ugly few” may also refer to Joan McPhee and James P. Dowden that compiled the Ropes and Gray report which holds U.S.A Gymnastics accountable for the Nassar scandal. I exhort Kelli Hill to take a voluntary departure from any further involvement or association with gymnastics. I ask the same of any fallen member of the board of directors from U.S.A. Gymnastics, who were forced to resign by the United States Olympic Committee as a result of the Larry Nassar scandal. I urge that the US Gymnastics Club Owners Association cease and desist operations and close their nonprofit corporation due to corrupt leadership.

 

Recently, The University of Michigan held Rhonda Faehn accountable for her part in the Larry Nassar scandal. She was terminated as a coaching consultant for the women's gymnastics team. It is publicized that dozens of U.S.A. Gymnastics officials have been previously ousted or charged. Kelli Hill and Tom Koll, among others, are inclusive. Likewise, I hold Kelli Hill and Tom Koll accountable for the Larry Nassar scandal as fallen board members of U.S.A. Gymnastics, in the same spirit that the University of Michigan holds Rhonda Faehn accountable and untenable.

 

As a self-proclaimed objector, I am concerned that board members such as Kelli Hill and Tom Koll, by and through their association with U.S.A. Gymnastics, are responsible for allocating 1.25 million dollars of hush money in the form of a non-disclosure agreement to keep McKayla Maroney from disclosing to the gymnastics community that she suffered the most heinous of all sexual abuse from Larry Nassar. I am concerned that board members such as Kelli Hill and Tom Koll, by association with U.S.A. Gymnastics, sent lawyers to Federal Court in an attempt to have the Nassar Victims lawsuits dismissed while U.S.A. Gymnastics gymnasts were giving impact statements in Larry Nassar's sentencing hearing. U.S.A. Gymnastics did not support their own gymnasts at the Nassar sentencing hearing. U.S.A. Gymnastics was not there. I am concerned that board members such as Kelli Hill and Tom Koll, through their association with U.S.A. Gymnastics, hired Kerry Perry who was found to be incompetent or incapable of serving USA Gymnastics as a CEO, and thereby the board members demonstrated their own incompetence or inability to be leaders of the gymnastics community by hiring her. Henceforth I hold Kelli Hill and her band of cohorts of the fallen U.S.A Gymnastics Board of Directors accountable. I am concerned that board members sign a confidentiality agreement as a condition of employment. I assume that the board members possess a vicarious liability by law. In conjunction with the public outcry, I hold the fallen members of the board of directors who were forced to resign by the United States Olympic Committee, and others who walked away voluntarily, or were fired, accountable for the abuses depicted, enumerated, and blamed on USA Gymnastics as delineated in the Daniel's Report and Ropes and Gray Report as well as journalistic reports from other sources. The board members should remove themselves from the sport. Likewise, USA Gymnastics is accountable and should voluntarily close its doors not before a generous compensation to the Nassar Survivors is paid.

 

If I were to pick one thing that stands out above the rest in the Ropes and Gray Report, it is that we were being told by USA Gymnastics that the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act prevented USA Gymnastics from banning a coach for sexual abuse unless the accuser met certain requirements. It turns out that the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act did not prevent USA Gymnastics from stopping a sexual predator from coaching gymnastics. USA Gymnastics was lying. The Ted Stevens Act requires a due process toward the accused but not for the accuser. USA Gymnastics was self-imposing reporting requirements on themselves. This means that the board of directors should be held accountable for being complicit. Hold the personages accountable. Do not allow them to have any further administrative or other leadership duties in the sport. If they continue to participate in the sport then it hurts the gymnastics brand and sends the public at large the wrong message. Fallen board members were forced to resign because of the Nassar Scandal. The scandal is only the most recent of many other tragic outcomes of their negligence. Read the Report. "... as long as USAG provided accused coaches with a fair procedure before banning them, the Act would not interfere with USAG taking forceful and timely action in response to misconduct." Ropes and Gray Report, page 182

 

“Gymnastics is not for fun. It is not golf.” - Bela Karolyi

 

That's a heck of a mindset for gymnastics. And we wonder why the Nassar Survivors feel that their experience in the hands of the United States Olympic Committee certified Olympic Training Center for gymnastics, was child abuse. The landscape channeling and driving gymnastics culture is multidimensional. Without careful consideration of the forces driving gymnastics culture, change becomes a matter of chance. Change which is left to chance and unprompted events such as the Larry Nassar scandal, becomes reactionary and may find us in a place we would rather not be. It is essential to understand the reasons which make gymnastics culture what it is so that we may subsequently focus on measures aimed at those driving mechanisms in order to change them the way we would want them to go.

 

The truth is that gymnastics culture was toxic before the Larry Nassar scandal. It needed to be fixed. The truth is that the gymnastics community which may include the fans and media as well as the Gym Clubs and coaches, were blind. We are no longer blind. It is clear now, with the 204 impact statements and the Daniel's Report and the Ropes and Gray Report, that the entire developmental program needs a reset. Gymnastics sport culture needs a different focus.

 

A startling conflict of interests existed by allowing the owners of an Olympic Training Center to also be the National Team Coordinators. The feeling of an unfair advantage and imposing upon someone else's hospitality, ownership, and property by being in someone else's “house,” must have been repressive for visiting coaches. This is a conflict of interests which should have been taboo in the bylaws of the corporate charter. As a governing body, I find this to be a clear show of favoritism and bias. It should not have happened. There is a question of dubious ethics, morals, decorum, motives, in the governing body simply from looking at the skeleton of the Olympic training program. Exacerbating these impressions and feelings that the visiting coaches must have felt, is that the Olympic Training Center was an isolated cult-like compound located deep in the woods away from civilization with no parental oversight.

 

The hierarchy channeling and driving gymnastics culture begins with leadership. If we look there first, we find that the governing body keeps its distance from the gymnastics community. Presently, the interests of the CEO are not motivated by a love and passion for the sport or a love and passion for the gymnasts. The consuming agenda of the CEO is an out-of-sync drive to cultivate income in order to meet or exceed the business interests of the corporation. “You want to take a picture of a prototypical NGB, you take a picture of us... We're winning medals. We're the No.1 country in the world in the medals count. We have probably one of the strongest social media followings in the Olympic movement and the value of our social media actions are as great as anything. Our sponsor relationships are very solid. We do a great job of promoting our events, -our ticket sales. Every metric that I could provide you is going up. We have money in the bank. We have a pretty decent nest egg.”-Steve Penney, just before the Nassar scandal broke out. CEO prospects are sought in this light of marketing ability rather than having an ability to connect and identify with the grassroots gymnastics community. A CEO whom we view as the leader of our sport takes on a facade of sovereignty and becomes something the gymnastics community cannot relate to. Inadvertently, the leader of gymnastics becomes a wall between the grassroots gymnastics community and the governing body instead of a bridge. Brotherhood, camaraderie, or a sense of family between the gymnastics community and the governing body, is supplanted by confusion and isolation. There are other people who are actually making the decisions who are obscure creatures working in the background leading from behind. These are the board membership and its committees.

 

Concerned with maximizing income, the CEO is merely a facade which at face value appears to be responsible for leading the sport who, in reality, leaves it to a board of directors and committees. The people controlling the sport are board members, a chair person, a legal team, committees, and the sponsors who are placing conditions or stipulations upon the money they are willing to invest. In essence, the CEO is tantamount to a fund raiser for a booster club who is posing as our boss-man and is used as a scapegoat, when expedient, for controversies while the real decision makers are like a firing squad where no one person is responsible for killing the condemned victims. Kerry Perry who was hired to replace Steve Penny as CEO, is a former sports marketing executive. This was her selling point. Not a passion, love, and knowledge of gymnastics which she shockingly lacked. Her “fit” as a replacement for Steve Penny, was her ability to generate income with no relevance to gymnastics for its own sake. This is a reflection on the office and purpose of a CEO at USA Gymnastics.

 

This disconnect between the grassroots gymnastics community and the governing body is compounded by another classification of board members who are classified as volunteers that give up their time and expertise for free. The adage which tells us not to look a gift horse in the mouth applies. It is not respectful to look at a gift horse's teeth to see if the horse is a fit and sound beast. Rhetorically speaking, we may not blame or hold people accountable that are working for free. Especially if they mess up. We cannot hold volunteers, whom are not on the payroll, to a high standard. Indeed, they are not to be blamed and they are not accountable. Yet, they are board members guiding the course of the entire sport. In terms of accountability within the governing body, I am appalled that a corporation of the magnitude that USA Gymnastics represents, depends on volunteers who sign confidentiality agreements to be members of the hierarchy of the home office. I understand that the corporation is a non-profit. Maybe it shouldn't be set up that way? It is unfathomable that volunteers may be able to garner hundreds of thousands of dollars in favors and tips they call bonuses, assignments, and stipends. It is disingenuous and obscure. Volunteers that are not employees, who are not on the payroll, who are donating their expertise and valuable time for free, cannot be held accountable. We cannot, as the say, look a gift horse in the mouth to see how fit they are for the job. We get what we get.

 

Each and every person within the governing body, board member or otherwise, ought to be held accountable for their work, their ethics, their decisions, and meet their responsibilities. Each and every person in the governing body needs to be accountable, and answer to, and be held accountable by someone who is above their chain of command. Volunteers cannot be expected to meet these conditions. Volunteers cannot be marshaled to the highest standards with a comprehensive, well defined, job description and meet education and experience requirements. Beyond this, what is to keep a volunteer from neglecting their promise to serve our expectations? What is to keep a volunteer from setting their own time schedules and days on duty? What is to keep a volunteer from walking in or out at will? Why would a volunteer stick around to build a long term goal or follow through on a comprehensive sweeping agenda unless they are conscripted instead of granted their privileges? It seems careless and irresponsible to use free labor for nationwide leadership. We are not talking about a dad who volunteers to lead a local troop of boy scouts. Therefore scrap the notion that volunteers are apropos in the governing body home office. Use interns or apprentices if you wish to help people or have someone in training for a professional position. Beyond this, it is a conflict of interests to use free labor that expects to get paid in other ways which are intangible. It is probable that volunteers have ulterior motives for volunteering precious time and expertise in order to win lucrative favors. It is a dubious business arrangement at that level of leadership. Shameful.

 

The personages controlling the sport without accountability or without being responsible for the results of their actions, is a problem which is compounded by board members classified as volunteers, who are handsomely paid in other ways such as speaking engagements, gymnastics seminars, granted rights, or stipends, and outright bonuses. We may say, in a sense, that board members expect to be tipped generously for their services. The entire CEO-Board of Directors-committees-volunteers scheme creates a dubious divide, disconnect, or distance between the gymnastics community and the governing body. Especially when everyone is looking to the CEO for leadership when they should be looking to the chairman of the board who is more likely the central figure running, driving, and controlling the sport.

 

The Daniel's Report lauds Mike Jacki (circa 1983 to 1994), for his significant contributions to the safety of athletes in gymnastics. He initiated a new safety program and began the termination process of sexual gymnastics predators. He is described in the report as aggressive against USA Gymnastics members accused of abuse. It is notable and commendable that Mike, as a CEO, is remembered and immortalized for his dedication to the welfare and safety of our gymnasts. In contrast, when our gymnasts are neglected or exploited without regard for their welfare and safety, the legacy is not a becoming one. The legacy is shameful. Steve Penny is being remembered not for loving our gymnasts and not for his money making abilities or facilitating gold medals. Instead, he is infamous for failing the people he was supposed to protect. His legacy is negligence and misplaced values. Unlike Mike Jacki, he did not put our gymnasts first.

 

Little Girls in Pretty Boxes is also mentioned in the Daniel's Report. The book was written in 1995. The movie came out two years later. The book is a critical review of gymnastics and figure skating which planted a seed after Mike Jacki left USA Gymnastics. The seed of Little Girls in Pretty Boxes should have grown into a massive cultural change in gymnastics. Unfortunately, the gymnastics community ignored the revelations in the book and subsequently 54 secret dossiers later, of sexual predators, lead up to the present time from that era, not counting Larry Nassar. Abused gymnasts continue to come forward decades after their abuse stopped. Marcia Frederick who won the first Gold Medal for the United States at the 1978 World Championships in Strasbourg Germany, who was sexually abused in the late 70's, re-filed her sexual abuse report in 2015 and over two years later USA Gymnastics in the shadow of the Nassar scandal, finally banned Rick Carlson who was still coaching up to 2012. The negative narrative created by the survivors of sexual abuse may continue to add and build upon a growing stigma. I would be careful to underestimate the power of the victims which is toppling strongholds. The army of survivors wields a heavy hand strong enough to threaten the existence of USA Gymnastics, the United States Olympic Committee, Michigan State University, and many others. Some people are already in jail other than Nassar. Penny is out on bond. The time period between 1995 and the year of Nassar is 23 years. The implications of abuse in the book were ignored for 23 years. Now we have the Indy Star Article, 204 Impact Statements, The Daniels Report, The Ropes and Gray Report, and that means that we have no excuse not to cease and desist our elite developmental program which is abusing children. Stop the forthcoming elite competitions. Stop the madness. We don't do it that way anymore.

 

I am appalled at the Firing Squad mentality of the persons involved who are implicated in the Daniel's Report and also implicated in the Ropes and Gray Report as well as other investigative reports. I am also appalled at the Firing Squad mentality of the gymnastics community who are not calling upon the responsible parties to be accountable. If you ask a Firing Squad, “Who killed the deceased victim?” No one knows and no one is responsible and no one is held accountable. The Board of Directors, the CEO and COO are like the members of a firing squad, rhetorically speaking. Include the legal team and committees. The system hides behind a leadership model where no one is culpable and they turn their backs on accountability. The gap of no accountability is built into the system especially when board members sign confidentiality agreements and advance the posture to include non-disclosure agreements for sexual abuse victims so they will not warn the gymnastics community that a sexual predator in in their midst.

 

The answer to the question of obscure, inadequate leadership is to look for leadership which will unify the entire gymnastics community and industry. Let us provide a leader motivated by a love and passion for the sport and for the gymnasts instead of money and Medals. Let it be someone that is renown in the gymnastics community and all can relate to because the person has a reputable history in the sport who speaks our language but is not a fallen board member who was forced to resign by the United States Olympic Committee. The sport needs a bridge not a wall. Let this person be a bridge that bridges everyone and everything that makes gymnastics what it is and will be. Let everyone and everything in gymnastics be accountable to, and held responsible by this person. Let the entire Governing Body answer to, be accountable to, and be held responsible by this person. Let this person hold the CEO and Board of Directors accountable. Let them all answer to this person. Let this person be a czar of gymnastics. A Baron of gymnastics. Or the Commissioner of Gymnastics.

 

Let the Commissioner of Gymnastics decide what is going to happen with USA Gymnastics, our governing body, whether it will live or die. Let the Commissioner of Gymnastics decide how to handle the fallout from the Nassar scandal. Let this person build a new governing body and a new gymnastics sports culture. Let this person be a liaison between the gymnastics community and the governing body, the other governing bodies, the United States Olympic Committee, the sponsors, the NCAA, Capitol Hill, the International Olympic Committee, other gymnastics associations and bodies, and everything else. Let this person change the way we do business if so compelled. Let this person introduce new ideas and build and protect the gymnastics brand as a sport. Let this person infuse the Board of Directors with transparency and accountability to the extent that the gymnastics community feels like they are sitting in the same room with the Board every time a decision is made. Let the gymnastics community know where the money is is coming from and where it is going in real time.

 

Any business venture needs to be nurtured and promoted. In a perfect world where gymnastics is properly nurtured and promoted, a father would aspire for his newborn son to become a gymnast at best or at least do flips and an Iron Cross on Still Rings at some point in his life. Every playground in America would have a set of rings, parallel bars, and a balance beam. Adults would be inspired to start and do gymnastics. Gymnastics should be a part of everyday life in America for every citizen.

 

Once the gymnastics experience is mainstream, gymnastics sports civics is something that should be promulgated and embedded in the sport culture. Civics can be a part of an academic education promulgated by the governing body and taught to the grassroots leadership. Civics should come naturally if the sport is nurtured and promoted properly. Gymnastics professionals and participants should be taught how to build and protect the brand called gymnastics. Everyone should be taught what to say and how to say it through a thorough understanding of the benefits and unique characteristics of gymnastics so we are all on the same page across the country. Sports brand building and preservation should be as important as teaching skills to a gymnast. If we write gymnastics civics promulgation into the job description of a Gymnastics Sport Commissioner, he/she will seek out a strategy for gymnastics sport civics to become common knowledge. A Gymnastics Commissioner will be able to hit the ground running and put everyone on the same page.

 

Before the Karolyi era, almost every coach in America had a differing opinion about how gymnastics should be governed. There was much strife, contention, jealousy, and a general negative narrative permeated the media. Instead of implementing a gymnastics sports civics campaign, the sport was aimed at and channeled through Bela Karolyi. The other coaches in America became irrelevant. The only person that the media was interested in hearing and quoting was Bela. Due to his sponsors and the ones that signed up with USA Gymnastics, Bela learned what to say and what not to say in order to protect the brand. As long as the focus was on Bela, the narrative of jealousy, contention, and strife, was completely mitigated. This is how the bad mouthing that was present in the 80's was solved.

 

The Karolyi era is over. The jealousy, contention, strife, and negativity is back with a vengeance and it is being acerbated by the fallout from the Nassar scandal. Opportunistic coaches and fallen board members are quickly attempting a power-grab in the hopes of replacing the Karolyi's. There is chaos, contention, and uncertainty within the grassroots gymnastics community.

 

The shortcomings of the sport are often blamed upon weak leadership. Perhaps in measure, leaders would do better if the dynamics of the system were not also contributing to the problem. Weak leadership may be acerbated by a business model which facilitates poor leadership. The present system may not be practical or conducive to strong leadership. In this perspective the focus which would change gymnastics sports culture in terms of leadership, becomes a matter of change in the system or the dynamics of the system in order to make it conducive to meet the needs of the gymnastics sports community. In order to fly, drive, or sail a ship effectively, the pilot, driver, or captain needs an effective vehicle. If the vehicle is not optimum, the pilot, driver, captain, or CEO cannot be optimum. Once we have the best vehicle, then we may seek the best leader.

 

There is a conflict of interests between the solicitation of funds that a CEO presently seeks and running a sport. This conflict, in turn, may cause a CEO to get their priorities crossed. The money and deals needed to finance gymnastics should never take precedence over the welfare, safety, and health of the athletes. The business of running the sport and keeping the gymnastics community happy and building and protecting the brand should be second to the health, welfare, and safety of the participants. Raising money therefore, should be third and go to a finance manager dedicated to that end who is qualified in that venue. The CEO is then free to do the real job of running the sport and keeping the kids safe. The CEO will then be free to work with the commissioner free of distractions in order to focus on the fundamental needs of the sport and its membership and thereby guide the board of directors as well as govern all others within the organization. Subordinates accordingly should answer to the CEO who answers to the Commissioner who answers to the membership community that voted him/her in. The CEO would bear authentic responsibility for running the sport and for overseeing the people employed under him/her. Decisions left to the Board of Directors to make, should require approval from both the CEO and the Commissioner.

 

It is evident that between the Daniels Report and the Ropes and Gray Report, there will be no excuse to continue harboring a governing model that is not conducive to personal accountability. Accountability is one of the most pressing issues that need to be addressed in order to change the culture of gymnastics. Convert, therefore, from a typical corporate structure to one that is quasi-professional. In other words do everything by contract. Convert from self-imposed voluntary policy keeping to spelled out agreements that clubs, owners, administrators, team members, parents, even board members, etc., negotiate and sign to. Then hold everyone accountable to the terms of their contract. This will place a legal duty upon all constituents to follow all rules, policies, and terms spelled out in their contract. Else face the consequences of a breach of contract with penalties that are spelled out in the contract. The penalties for abuses or negligence may then be something that is a part of the deal and spelled out. Everything important and pertinent about the relationships between the governing body and its constituents can be obligated by contract with recourse formatted by the same contract. Things such as gym hopping, changing coaches, fees, expenses, etc., may also be included and spelled out in the contract. Then renegotiate the contract every year or two. Once the governing model is grounded in contractual liabilities rather than voluntary exercise, the culture of governance will switch from being service centered to oversight centered. Everything becomes the responsibility of the employees and by contract each person is accountable. Breaches and penalties become transparent, predictable, and accountability is embedded in this governing model. There may even be a contractual relationship between the governing body and the Commissioner in that certain indiscretions may lead to dissolution and decertification of the present governing body whereby the Commissioner remains in power to establish or transfer certification to a new organization. Perhaps the Commissioner may pass certification from one organization to another periodically, if so compelled, so that competition for certification between organizations may raise the bar of excellence. In other words, the threat of having to maintain integrity, and excellence, in order to avoid losing certification to a competing organization, will provide an incentive to maintain the utmost of standards. Competition as we all know, drives excellence.

 

Beyond contractual relationships which would induce accountability, retired board members and governing leadership that leave their posts should remain accountable indefinitely. By contract, each governing member upon absolution of their duties should remain honorary members and be obligated to answer for decisions they were a part of or failed to be a part of.

 

The board of directors should not hire or fire anyone. They should be mitigated of power. They should only be able to suggest the hiring or firing of anyone. The CEO should be hired by a group of designated representatives from the gymnastics membership who are not a part of the governing body such as regional directors or state directors or ballots mailed in by the gymnastics membership community at large choosing between two or more prospective candidates. The CEO in conjunction with the Commissioner should together hire all other employees or use professional agencies for that purpose. All monies spent should require a signed approval by the CEO and witnessed with a signature from the Chairman of the Board. At a certain threshold expenditure, the Commissioner would also need to sign. Every transaction should be witnessed with signatures by the members of the board of directors that are assigned to that purpose. Ultimately, a method should be in place serving to hold the CEO responsible and accountable for expenditures as approved by the Commissioner and the board is used only as a witness as to note where the CEO is sending the money. The board of directors may also be used to oppose expenditures as a measure of checks and balances and if a certain number of the directors oppose an expenditure then it's approval by the CEO is annulled. The point is to have the CEO be responsible for and accountable for where the money goes but not where it comes from and provide oversight for the purpose of checks and balances. To meet this criteria and change the culture of gymnastics accordingly, perhaps a for-profit corporation is more suitable than a non-profit organization. Many clubs and many grassroots programs operate on the basis of a for-profit corporation.

 

A pressing concern about using a corporation to run a youth sport is that a corporate model establishes the corporation as a person in its own right. The leadership becomes nondescript and the corporation is a d-facto representation of that leadership. The facade of a fake person is a mask with a name who's name is the corporation. This entity which is impersonating a human being, is treated like an accountable person, yet there is no person behind the mask. If we are looking for accountability then a corporation is a poor choice for a business model involving children. Somehow, if we insist on using a corporate business model, then we must find a way to remove the mask and make the ruling officers of the sport accountable and transparent without letting them hide behind a corporate mask. Contracts may solve this.

 

In conjunction with the proposed contractual relationships between the constituents of a new governing body and between the clubs and schools, there should also be an agency relationship between each Club, College or University, and the governing body. There should also be an agency relationship with a Club Gym and its team members. In other words, this is in the same spirit as professional sports teams that hold contracts with their players or players with their sports agents. This is in the same spirit that super-models have a contract with an agent. This is in the same spirit that actors, musicians, singers, or authors have a contract with an agent.

 

Each Club should be able to garner financial rewards from the hold and influence they have over the tenure of their enrollees and the success of their program. In a sense, a club gym or school owns the products they produce. If someone wants to use those products for financial gain, then the gym or school which acts as an agent for the gymnasts they represent, should be able to get compensated. This means that the governing body would have to make the corresponding clubs and schools from where the gymnasts are training and coming from, a part of any sponsorship deal, TV rights, marketing agreements, media contracts, etc. Each club or school would also have an agency relationship with their team gymnasts in order to secure a legal document that assigns ownership of the club or school over the team gymnast. In the event that a gymnast moves to another gym then the contracts can be written so as to split or transfer the ownership of the agency relationship with the gymnast among all parties in proportion as negotiated. If we may be bold, there may also be compensation to the corresponding gyms which have agency relationships with the gymnasts so that in the future, in the event of windfalls through personal sponsorships directly with the gymnasts, all parties are compensated.

 

Agency relationships provides an opportunity to develop mainstream branding of the gyms that produce successful gymnasts. A successful gym which builds notoriety, may be able to build their own commercial brand and create a separate culture around their gym brand. This would happen due to the sharing of sponsorships with the governing body who is able to sign with mainstream companies. Subsequent sponsorships may involve direct sponsorships with the gyms that are popular with the media and public at large. The gym brand may then have the potential to license products with their logos and their identity carried forth in those products. The gyms which are more successful than others would have more clout and more leverage over the governing body to earn greater profits from sponsorships that the governing body obtains, than less successful gyms. If every club and program is put under contract with the advent of a kickback generated out from the prosperity garnered at the governing body then every club and every program will have a vested interest in improving the sport, protecting the sport, growing the sport, and guarding the products to keep them well and healthy, who are the participants, then we shall all pay attention to every detail of every event with utmost care. Every aspect of the sport will become important and vital to all.

 

For the sake of a governing body which we wish would exude transparency, the grassroots gymnastics community would benefit significantly from a culture of camaraderie, kinship, brotherhood, and a sense of family between those who lead the sport and themselves. Therefore, board meetings and other pertinent gatherings should take advantage of present day social media technologies in order to broadcast the proceedings of these gatherings to the gymnastics community or public at large. In the interests of an organization which is responsible for the welfare of children, there should be no reservations with having a candid posture. On the website for example, along with biographies of every board member and employee, there should be videos available of each person talking about themselves and what they do. As the personages break away to work in the field at competitions and other special events, live streaming videos, podcasts, or recordings may be offered to supplement the campaign of open communication with the gymnastics community.

 

Efforts should be made to record and broadcast every gathering, competition, road trip, business meeting, etc., by not only the governing body constituents, but also between the club owners, coaches, and parents involved in running the sport at nationwide, statewide, citywide, and local levels. I would even go so far as to suggest that workouts, team practices, and recreational classes should also be broadcast which is something I have found that other sports such as martial arts are already doing using live-stream media.

 

In regard to improving the camaraderie and fellowship among the people involved in the sport and between the governing body and its membership, there are many actions we can take to make it happen. For example, along with the Hall of Fame which already exists, it is possible to enlist talented writers to record the history of the sport in all its dimensions, branches, levels, and aspects throughout the passage of time since the beginning. It is important to understand where the sport has come from and how it has grown and developed up to the point that we have reached today including the good, the bad, and the ugly. The various governing divisions of gymnastics need to be explained and the history of them recorded such as the IOC, FIG, USOC, USAG, USGF, AAU, NCAA, and others from the past and present and how they all relate to one another.

 

At national congresses, a show ought to be produced showing off the best we have to offer on the entertainment side of the sport. This may include skits, plays, contests, and comedy incorporating every acro arts known to man and include singing, music, rap, hip hop, hula hoops, big wheels, trick bikes, unicycle, juggling, poems, extreme dance, martial arts, and much more which relate to acrobatic arts.

 

There should be one or more juxtaposed nonprofit organizations that belongs to the governing body dedicated to several purposes. For example, there should be a scholarship fund that is partially financed by USA Gymnastics and the rest comes from donations and fund raising. The gymnastics community ought to be able to provide full college scholarships to hundreds of gymnasts every year without the caveat of requiring membership on a college gymnastics team. Let the recipients use the scholarships as they see fit whether they join a collegiate gymnastics team or not. Sponsors can come from a multitude of sources.

 

A disaster relief fund and network ought to be developed. There are many gymnastics programs across the country that suffer horribly after a natural or unnatural disaster. A register should be set up much like a wedding, or baby shower where during the year people either donate equipment and supplies or simply list a device they are willing to make available or sacrifice from their gym for shipment. When a disaster occurs, a truck is rented or purchased, and used to pickup and deliver the supplies to the gyms in need with items picked up all over the country. Money of course may also be offered as a resource. Like a Red Cross of Gymnastics, or a Rescue Team, both items and people can volunteer to visit stricken gyms and help get them back on their feet. Insurance is not always enough especially when they need help cleaning up and covering holes. This can be organized as a standing army on disaster-watch ready to come to the rescue locally, citywide, statewide, and nationwide. Again, sponsors can come from a multitude of sources.

 

Gymnastics programs should be recognized and awarded for setting records of enrollment, least amount of injuries in a year, most scholarships awarded, etc. Fan Clubs should be established by the governing body and gyms for every gymnast and coach who obtains notoriety and celebrity. Back this up with sponsorships, perks for being a member of the fan club, licensed paraphernalia, jewelry, special photos, posters, CD's, DVD's, books, magazines, newsletters, tours, book signings, etc. Have the famous gymnast or coach broadcast live streams, podcasts, interviews, call-in shows, etc. Create a doll, toy, trinket, jewelry, for every important person that becomes famous and market all these products as part of the fan club fanfare. Keep the fan club alive for decades for every gymnastics celebrity. Plan for this by recording the progress and participation of any hopeful athlete coming up the ranks and save the media in order to have an abundance of surprises to offer later. Let this be a cultural task. Let parents compile a lot of this information and useful media. Continue to document the life of our celebrities so that the world can see what happens post competition, post Olympics for years to come.

 

The spirit of a fan club and other promotions is to help prolong and immortalize the notoriety of a gymnast who has become famous to keep their marketing value alive so that the said gymnast, governing body, and others that have vested interests, are able to reap perpetual financial returns and promote gymnastics at the same time. The window of opportunity which opens to an athlete once a gymnast becomes famous can be used to help promote gymnastics especially if the window of opportunity would last indefinitely. With this in mind, it is up to us to provide the way and the means to help a gymnast remain a marketing dream or gem worth their weight in gold. We can do this by providing new opportunities to remain in the public eye. Especially if we wish to create agency relationships that will spread the wealth among others within our fold with vested interests. Agency relationships tend to diminish the returns for any one person alone. To make up for thinning out the paybacks, we would need to increase the longevity and maintain the marketing value of the famous gymnasts.

 

“Together, we will create a culture of empowerment for the young men and women who are pursuing their gymnastics dreams today while honoring those who have gone before them.” - Kerry Perry

Empowerment has been an ongoing theme called for by Nassar Survivors that needs to take place in order to change gymnastics culture. However, the means and method that will accomplish this feat are not spelled out. There seems to be a reactionary process going on and alluded to whenever a change that has been implemented happens to result in a hint of empowerment. For example, the improvements that make reporting sexual abuse easier and less of a risk to one's reputation, are being touted as empowering the athletes. The implementation of a better protocol was done for its own sake out of necessity. It was not a result of a strategy or agenda focused on empowering athletes. It was simply an outcome of an improvement in an existing protocol that needed to be made easier.

 

A better agenda or strategy to empower athletes would be to initiate a plan that is focused directly on empowering athletes. This agenda begs to know what gives people power? Once we identify the elements of power then we will need to know how to bestow those powers. Bestowing this power will change gymnastics culture as a result of giving athletes powers they presently lack. While an easier reporting protocol for sexual abuse may empower athletes to some degree, it has not induced a sweeping change of gymnastics culture. Reporting sexual abuse protocols were already in place before the changes made them national and easier.

 

Control is one characteristic which empowers a person. When a person has control over something then the person may be in a position to change it. Another characteristic of power is the ability to be heard. A voice or ability to be heard or paid attention to, is certainly a characteristic of power. Money or funds is another characteristic which may give a person power. Things which need to be bought or financed in order to be implemented require funds. There are other elements of power that we may also consider that may empower athletes such as knowledge or information, relationships with the right people, access to resources such as vehicles or transportation. There are many more. Once we have identified the elements of power, and delineated them, we may then search for ways to bestow the athletes with them.

 

Lets give athletes control. Athletes need to have control over their health, welfare, and safety. I would suggest a manifest of rights in this regard which lists every aspect of health, welfare, and safety that a child or gymnast is entitled to enjoy. Once we have a list on-paper, then we can enforce a policy that says if an athlete has mentioned or complained about an issue that relates to these three concerns, then we must respond with a remedy. The manifest may list things such as the right to know the extent of their injuries and have them addressed before they continue to train. The right to proper nutrition. The right to emotional health. The right to feel that the gym is a safe zone, well guarded, well staffed, well maintained, fast medical response, adequate communication to the outside world ( The Ranch had no cell phone service), and much more. Any time an athlete brings an issue related to health, welfare, and safety, to the attention of a coach, the coach should be obligated by contract to seek a remedy.

 

An athlete may benefit from having control over many other concerns and the quest to empower athletes may be greatly expanded. For example, athletes may benefit from being able to influence policy in their gyms, competitions, governing body, legislation, etc. Control may be granted to athletes if we find a way to give them the means. Making lists which we can call by various names such as manifestos, manifests, Bible, Bill of Rights, etc., may help especially if we obligate leadership to act or meet the bullet points on these documents. These documents may also serve to educate and be a source of information to the athletes.

 

Beyond this, if we look at the force which prompted the changes to reporting protocols of sexual abuse, it becomes apparent that the Army of Survivors which joined together to make one voice out of many was an empowering mechanism. From this we learn that if we find a way to unite the athletes then they will collectively have a very powerful voice. I would suggest the formation of an Athlete's Association apart from other associations or the governing body, where all concerns of any one athlete will be heard first on the inside and as a group and anything which is paramount can then be presented to the outside by the group. At the same time, the association can seek financing from various sources and thereafter have funds available to help make changes.

 

We should know and understand that the Army of Survivors who have joined together in one voice are powerful enough to threaten the very existence of USA Gymnastics. Almost 500 victims are antagonists of USA Gymnastics and continue to increase the stigma which USA Gymnastics now bears. At any moment henceforth for generations to come, the Nassar Survivors who have not come forward may emerge to refresh the stigma and increase its weight. At any moment, events may occur that will refresh and add to the stigma. For as long as the negative narrative is able to refresh the stigma of abetting and harboring child abuse, USA Gymnastics will suffer a famine of sponsorship and decertification is imminent. The threat of decertification and filing for bankruptcy are both stigmas in their own right. Add the stigma of harboring and abetting child abuse and USA Gymnastics is doomed to remain beleaguered indefinitely.

 

The way to turn the negative narrative around is to bring the survivors into the mix of reformation. Let them be a part of the construction of a new governing body and a new gymnastics culture. Either do it through their new association or bring them in individually to form a caucus. Let them make decisions and contribute to forming a new system of governance and a new culture. At the very least, let them say yea or neigh to proposals. Implement their suggestions and ideas. If you get them involved in making the changes, then the negativity will disappear. More than anyone, it would be essential to empower the Army of Survivors and bring them in to help construct and set up a new organization. 500 antagonists of USA Gymnastics will turn into 500 protagonists of a new governing body. 

 

Athletes are presently suppressed by our gymnastics sport culture which limits gymnasts to obedience without question. Instead of unequivocal obedience, certain actions should trigger, should evoke, an off the hip response by the adults in charge. This would include complaints of pain which may reflect an injury the athlete has a right to be treated. Or the need to use a bathroom. Or the need to call parents, etc. Coaches should be trained to be sensitive to what constitutes child abuse and not cross lines. This is the law. Else child protection organizations may intercede upon discovery and put an end to the child abuse much of which is professionally defined by medical associations.

 

I wish to carefully point out that even though hundreds of athletes were sexually molested and filmed by Larry Nassar, he was convicted of only 10 counts of sexual molestation and he was also convicted of possession of child pornography. Let this be a revelation to those who assume every complaint to SafeSport will lead to incarceration of the perpetrator. Let this be evidence of the difficulty of achieving a conviction against a perpetrator. SafeSport has its work cut out for them if they are going to be the cure-all that everyone is expecting them to be. President Trump signed the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse Act into law and subsequently, once sexual abuse is brought to anyone's attention, it must be reported to the authorities within 24 hours. Failure to report is a felony with a one year prison term.

 

Be careful what you wish for. SafeSport is the agency or authority where sexual abuse must be reported. We have unleashed a witch hunting beast. The slightest accusation of sexual misconduct against anyone must be reported fast and can result in an aggressive beat-down. The problem with this is that if there is no evidence, there is little that SafeSport can do. Duh! Once the prosecution was lucky enough to obtain child pornography against Nassar, a plea deal was made and Nassar admitted to only 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse. Imagine going through an aggressive investigation with a false or misconstrued allegation. Or imagine how many times SafeSport will investigate a perpetrator and find no evidence. The reality is that this is why USA Gymnastics was hesitant to take action to ban coaches and claimed that they could not do anything based on hearsay. Of course they could have reported the abuse to the gymnastics community and to the authorities and waited for law enforcement to produce evidence. The problem with USA Gymnastics was that they were not assertively and effectively reporting the abuse. However, evidence was not necessary in order to file a complaint with law enforcement and warn the gymnastics community.

 

We may expect that the harassment by way of a SafeSport investigation may serve to mitigate sexual misconduct out of sheer exposure and inconvenience. Yet, the perpetrator may not be prosecuted if there is no evidence. Indeed, the perpetrator may have been falsely accused if there is no evidence. Therefore the net effect of the new law may not be everything that people are hoping it will be. Again, SafeSport has been morphed into a witch-hunting beast of enormous proportions and the effectiveness of curbing sexual abuse remains to be seen. Larry Nassar was occasionally interrogated by police and was released each time. It was inconvenient but did not slow him down. Instead, it seemed to empower him to continue with increased fervor. Had the police not found the pornography in his trash cans outside, there would have been no evidence and Nassar would have gotten away with his crimes. Think about that.

 

What are we to do? What are we missing here? Is SafeSport another example of a more-better protocol? Is this the same mountain we have been climbing all along? Is the new law and SafeSport going to change the culture of gymnastics? Of course SafeSport is not going to change gymnastics culture the way it needs to be changed. Nice try. Out of 100 allegations they may get a conviction. You think? I pity SafeSport. I pity gymnastics. I pity youth sports.

 

Off the hip. Off the cuff. Knee-jerk reaction: We are going to have to take responsibility and solve this problem ourselves. More-better ain't the answer. SafeSport ain't the answer. Heck, mandatory reporting was already the law in many states. What difference is going national going to make?

 

Let's take a quick look at some statistics. It depends on the study but some studies indicate that one out of four females will be sexually abused before a child turns 19 years of age. SafeSport says one out of ten. Let's believe the conservative estimate made by SafeSport. The key word is, “believe.” Coaches and gym owners have trouble believing that any of their gymnasts will be sexually abused before they turn 19 years old. If we are brave enough and remain brutally honest, we will believe the statistics. The question becomes, “ What are you going to do about the 10 females out of 100 in your gym that are going to fall prey to sexual abuse?' Nothing?

 

What if they never report the abuse? Are you still going to do nothing? Some of the Nassar victims were molested for over 10 years. What if there are 500 girls in your gymnastics program? That's a group of 50 females that may never get justice if you do nothing. If we believe the most generous statistics then an enrollment of 500 females will translate into 200 sexual abuse victims. Hence, you might say that you can expect between 50 to 200 girls will be sexually abused if you have an enrollment of 500. Let that sink in. The minimum is 50 and maximum is 200. At what point are you going to take action? Are you going to wait for one of these kids to report the sexual abuse? They may not report it until they get old enough to feel empowered. By then it might have been over 10 years of abuse before you finally intervene only because it was mandatory to report it after the victim reported it. Let that sink in. Some kids don't even know they are being sexually abused. What can you do about that?

 

The key to the answer is a proactive posture against abuse. Not a reactive one. And certainly not a passive one that waits until a child that has been molested for 10 years finally tells someone.

 

Just ask. That's the motto. This will cure the dilemma. Ask before a child starts taking classes. Certify that every child taking classes at your gym is molestation free. Develop a system nationwide that certifies that a gym is free of sexual abuse and free of Eastern Bloc coaching regimens. Certify that no child is suffering from Bulimia or Anorexia. Certify that no child is training with overuse injuries. Certify that no child is being starved. Certify that no child is taking laxatives to control their weight. Certify that no child is taking anti-inflammatory drugs or Tylenol without a doctor's prescription.

 

How do we do this? By contract. That's how. Under contract a gym must check all existing students and new incoming students and require a doctor's report that says the child has been screened and passed all parameters of abuse before they start taking gymnastics. Every semester or every period of four months, whichever comes first, the child must be re-certified. If the gym complies for a period of one year then the gym is eligible to be certified by the governing body as an abuse-free school with no SafeSport investigations taking place during that year.

 

Team gymnasts are to be handled with more diligence. A nurse must come to the gym and check each team member once per month. Of course medical staff will need to be trained to recognize abuse according to the parameters that are unique in a sports culture. The nurse will be looking for overuse injuries, growth plate issues, drug issues, nutrition issues, and screen for sexual abuse, etc. The child will be asked whether they are being molested. The nurse will be trained to be age appropriate. Parents may be present during the examination. If the gym complies for a period of one year, then they will receive a certificate of certification from the governing body as being an abuse-free gym. Incoming new students will not affect the rating if they arrive already suffering abuse. However, existing students or team members that are discovered with abuse after their first screening after the initiation into the program, and a SafeSport investigation ensues and discovers that the abuse occurred at the gym, it will preclude club certification.

 

The motive is to discover sexual abuse in real time and stop it before it is prolonged. We are to assume that the statistics are real and that they are accurate. We are to assume that sexual abuse may occur outside the gym environment and that the discovery system at the gym will discover the abuse no matter where or when it occurs. Conservatively, we will discover 50 out of 500 students that will be abused, or already have been. Generously, we will discover 200 out of 500 students that will be abused, or already have been. We will not wait for a child to report abuse. We do not expect anyone to notice symptoms of abuse. We get professionals involved and make it their job to screen for it. Ban Eastern Bloc coaching regimens and screen for abuses regularly, frequently, and because we know abuse is inevitable especially sexual abuse. If we know it's coming then let's not be in denial. Let's not be complacent. Let's not be stupid and wait until its reported. Let's go after it like a child is about to be harmed and we know it. Take preemptive action.

 

Looking in from the outside, it may seem dubious or suspicious to the average person, that a grown man would be found coaching little girls. Indeed one has to wonder. Especially if a male coach wishes to make it a lifelong pursuit or career. In the same way that proactive measures should be taken to discover inevitable statistically calculated child abuses, male coaches or males that wish to begin coaching females, should have to jump through some hoops before they are permitted to be around half naked little girls. It should not be so easy to become a male coach of scantily clad young females. A pledge should be written. All male instructors or coaches of female students or gymnasts should have to sign a pledge to abstain from mental and physical sexual thoughts, intentions, or actions. Secondly, a psychologist should certify that the coach is mentally healthy to be around females without abusing them in any way. Thirdly, two or three certifications should be required from child safety organizations such as SafeSport. Fourth, a formal course from the governing body that addresses female issues and child psychology related to gymnastics should have to be passed. Indeed, there are certain characteristics about the sport of gymnastics which are unique and place innocent kids at greater risk of abuse than other sports. Fifth, a two year or more college degree should be required with a slant toward physical education, sports, childcare, child development, etc. Sixth, a male should first have experience coaching males before they begin coaching females. Two or more years should be the minimum. Seventh, males coaching females should be the exception not the rule. The ratio should be one male coach if there is first a female coach and three more females in the gym thereafter before another male coach may be added. Every fourth coach may be a male. One female coach and one male coach to start and then add three more females before another male can be hired to coach females. If there are six coaches for the girl's team, two may be males and four will be females. The first coach must always be a female before a male can begin. Perhaps not lastly, any gymnastics program club that has a male coach must have a men's program for gymnastics. If a female team exists, it cannot have a male coach unless there is men's program at the same gym. In the spirit of the Title IX Civil Rights Act there should be both a men's and women's team program in every club and in every gym. If we are going to build the brand, then let's build the whole brand. Not just pieces of it. Not just half of it. Consider, Rhythmic gymnastics should be available to males.

 

Create a new category for a gymnastics judge and call it a Child Safety Judge. Require one at every competition. Create a curriculum or syllabus for an academic course which covers all aspects of child abuse, especially things unique to gymnastics and especially in a competition. The Child Safety Judge must pass this course to be accredited. This is a judge who is there to insure that the children are protected and safe. This is a judge who watches the warm ups and the entire competition to look for child abuse, child issues, child safety issues, injuries, dangerous behaviors, checks the reason for wrapped ankles, wrapped wrists, wrapped knees, etc. This is a judge who decides when something is not apropos and intervenes. This includes interference from outsiders, banned coaches, etc. This judge makes sure everyone is current and accredited. This is someone who is an official third party with the authority to say yes or no to any concerns of the safety and welfare of the children participating in the competition. This is someone who keeps an eye on everything like an eagle. This is someone that checks for medical supplies and trainers and nurses and looks at the rooms where personnel will work and checks their equipment as well as the equipment used for the competition. This is a judge that decides whether a gymnast will do another vault, a routine, or continue a routine. This is someone that may say no when the gymnast says yes. This is someone that may say no when a coach says yes. This is someone that may say no when the parent says yes. The judge has the say. The judge has the last word. The judge will decide whether the competition may continue. Or whether it needs to be stopped.

 

In the interest of developing a sense of camaraderie, kinship, brotherhood, and family, between the governing body and the gymnastics community, the CEO and the Gymnastics Commissioner, should visit two gyms each in one state every month to observe the program, make recommendations, listen to concerns, and watch a production performed by the entertainment side of the sport at the gym. The commissioner and the CEO will go individually to different gyms and different states, not together, at different times during each month. Then, back at the office, they will write up a summary of the visit and highlight the gym in a newsletter, or magazine. There could be various media used on-line to also showcase the visit with video, audio, and images.

 

Every member club should be obligated to create and post or send in an infomercial that meets certain parameters which the governing body decides will promote both the club and the brand. Highlight the program, the gymnasts, the classes, the employees, the coaches, the owners, the parents, etc. Every member club and program should be on a list on the governing body website to click on and peruse.

 

Data mining should be an ongoing pursuit of the governing body. We need to know when things are going up and when they are going down and why and what affects these behaviors. There should be enough data being collected that anyone who is doing a study, may pick out the pertinent information that they need to figure out the answers to statistical questions they may have. How much, how long, where, to what extent, at what age, etc., are aspects of a study which someone may wish to interpolate from the data. The point is to collect the data and begin to store it so that in the future, meaningful insights can be derived which may help improve the brand or answer questions. Long term affects of gymnastics should be compiled. Long term effects of injuries should be tracked. At the same time books and publications of all sorts may be more intelligent with the analysis and inclusion of pertinent data.

 

It is unfortunate to find ourselves at a crossroads for the reasons that have brought us there. In the same way that Larry Nassar was able to abscond his true sinister agenda of child molestation, so too has USA Gymnastics been able to abscond their true agenda of abuse. Like Larry Nassar, USA Gymnastics built a facade of impeccable professionalism. As Nassar's reputation was impeccable but he used it as a cover and grooming tool to abuse children, so too did USA Gymnastics have an impeccable reputation and used it as a cover to abuse children. Both Nassar and USA Gymnastics used typical grooming techniques to get away with heinous debauchery on children. Larry wrote the guidelines that USA Gymnastics used to explain sexual abuse prevention. USA Gymnastics in turn, wrote Risk Management Manuals that described how to look for and prevent the very abuses the governing body was facilitating. The very things that the Risk Management Manuel says they must not be, the governing body was. USA Gymnastics groomed the gymnastics community in the same way that a typical predator would groom its victims. This is how the governing body got away with adopting abusive Eastern Bloc regimens nationwide. This is how the board of directors and the rest of the leadership at USA Gymnastics were able to write non-disclosure agreements and keep 54 sexual predators a secret for over 10 years and get away with it. It is a fact that Larry was sharing his movies and pictures of our gymnasts with other pedophiles. This knowledge was a part of the impact statements on record. The question remains, were some of Larry's customers people that we know and venerate in the gymnastics community? If so then this may explain how Larry got away with his campaign for so long. This may explain how USA Gymnastics got away with having our gymnasts abused within the Karolyi dynasty in order to win medals which in turn garnered sponsorships.

 

Perhaps the greatest effect we can have upon the college sector which will reverse the attrition of sports programs is to lobby congress to change or implement new laws. The challenge is to discover an effective strategy. My instinct and belief is that if we look upon each sport as a business in their own right, which in reality they are, then we may be able to approach this from a breach of Trade Law or an Anti-Trust perspective. Certainly, two or three sports have monopolized the school sports industry. This goes against the spirit of free enterprise. It goes against the spirit of the Title IX law. It is also unfair to other sports when two or three sports horde government assistance. At the very least, if government does not step in, then sports are doomed to two or three in colleges and universities. There is a trend to eliminate sports altogether in colleges and universities. The subject of sports in schools must become a national concern with the motive to find remedies.

 

We need to take this to Washington.