Somehow I have become an “elder statesman” in the sport of gymnastics. Since Kerry Perry’s resignation as CEO of USA Gymnastics I have had countless messages from friends and colleagues inside and out of the gymnastics industry.
Questions range from:
- “where do we go from here?”
- “who will be the next CEO?”
- “is gymnastics going to survive?”
- “She only lasted 9 months. Why would anyone want this job?”
and statements like
- “I’m surprised Perry made it that long”
- “There should be congressional oversight of gymnastics”
- “Now maybe we can heal our sport”
- “She only lasted 9 months. You Don’t want that job.” (this is from my father who knows nothing about gymnastics)
I am sure there are many great candidates for the CEO’s position. In the meantime I put my faith in the Board of Directors.
Answering some of the questions. I fully believe that GYMNASTICS will survive. Will USA Gymnastics survive? Most likely. There are some great people in the National Office who seemingly have held the federation together with tape and super glue but there will need to be some real and substantial changes. Possibly the next CEO is already someone who works in the National Office.
We can only go in one direction. Forward. We need to admit we made (and will make) mistakes. We must do what we can to rectify those mistakes. Learn from them and move on. More people have to be involved in the conversation. Athletes, Club Owners, Coaches and Administrators. When we put too much power into one persons hand it has a tendency to corrupt. Power Corrupts.
A New Way To Look At It.
I had a conversation the other day with someone who said, “Doesn’t it seem like this job is just TOO BIG for any one person?”
Sometime we do things a certain way because that is the way it has always been done. Read FOLDING TOWELS . Yes, someone needs to be “the Boss” but that person should be able to bring in their own management team. A team to help handle all the various critical responsibilities from athlete advocacy to club support and succoring sponsors. In my humble opinion there are just too many critical responsibilities and when we ask one person to do them all we are doomed to mediocrity.
A note on the call for Congressional Oversight of the Gymnastics Federation.
Although I do not like the bureaucracy that would be involved, I do not see that this would harm our sport. (just a thought).
Tony