Hi thanks for the response.
To clarify:
I played a variety of sports since elementary school, and I did division 1 track and field. I’m well aware (and mentioned in the article) that it’s not exclusive to gymnastics. I’ve already written something about an abuse case in my sport here.
I speak about gymnastics and track and field exclusively because I know these two sports the best from an athlete and coaching/teaching perspective. I leave the other sports for people who have spent some time in them because that’s not my lane.
I had a coach who is like a second dad to me, and he’s good friends with my dad. Did I like training with him? NO. His state trooper background definitely showed with his coaching methods. My dad has watched him train me 1-on-1. He acted the same way with and without parental supervision.
This article is not about coaches like him. I respect him a lot and I owe much of my athletic success to his foundation. There’s difference between being abusive and being tough. I’m specifically talking about one and not the other.
Making athletes do more because they slacked off=go ahead. Forcing athletes to train and compete with broken bones=abuse. Being stern, loud, aggressive in one’s way of talking when trying to make a point=go ahead. Doing that while cursing at them and throwing harsh insults = ranging from unnecessary to abuse. Telling an athlete the types of foods they should eat to be healthy and perform well or even better have a nutritionist speak to the team/individual about it=go ahead. Telling them to go on a Hollywood style crash diet and/or taking food away from them when you’re already under feeding them coupled with overtraining= encouraging eating disorders and also abuse. Asking the right questions to determine if the athlete’s pain stems from injury or soreness=go ahead. Completely ignoring their concerns about their aches and pains and saying it’s all made up in their head=abuse. These are the kind of coaches I’m calling out, not a coach getting loud and frustrated with their athletes for not doing what they’re supposed to do.
The examples I mentioned are things that I find to be a bit too normalized in gymnastics and that’s how a pedophile doctor was able to treat injured minors for 20+ years unnoticed. Those girls were taught to ignore all forms of discomfort and coaches and parents who knew seemed to not ask for much follow up on the investigation.
Some good references about former elite gymnasts:
- Twitter: following the #gymnasticsalliance hashtag
- Podast: 30 for 30 Podcast has a 7-part series called “Heavy Medals”
- Little Girls In Pretty Boxes by Joan Ryan
- Article about an Olympic gold medalist:
I understand annoying parents getting in the way and kids getting distracted. For my brother and I, parents were allowed to either watch from the stands, in a designated seated area with clear windows, peep through the door windows/sit nearby to hear what’s going on, etc. The practices were never fully closed, they just had clear boundaries.
For me personally, I worked with young children ages 4–5. In the beginning, the parents were in the room. Some children were super shy and attached to their moms. A month later, we decided to experiment by having the parents staying outside in the seated waiting area (there was a window for them to watch if they wanted). There were some cryers in the beginning, but as time progressed the quiet and mommy-attached kids opened up more. In the beginning, a few parents occasionally stood by the window to see what I was doing. After that, they just remained seated on the couches playing with their phones during the whole hour. If teams have trustworthy coaches then maybe parents wouldn’t feel like they have to watch and the child can focus more.
Growing up, my school had a day where parents were allowed sit in the classroom and watch us learn. While I can’t confirm, I’m sure there were rules and expectations made to ensure that the parents didn’t interrupt the lesson and/or purposely distract their child and the other students. If a coach fears over involved parents, perhaps a proposed solution could be making some kind of contractual agreement listing the parent, athlete and coach expectations. Things like this already exist.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do know is that abusive free and transparent environment that produces successful athletes is possible.
