USAG Board of Directors Meeting Today

This is a copy of an e-mail sent to Advisory Counsel Representatives to Board of Directors as well as to some members of the USAG Board of Directors. (The e-mail wasn’t to a “select few” on the BoD but to anyone whose e-mail address I had). I know they have many things they have to deal with but I do not mind being a squeaky wheel representing the elite coaches as well as members of the professional coaches community.

To Members of the USA Gymnastics Board of Directors;

As the Chairman of the USECA I have sent out an e-mail asking for concerns that people wanted brought to the attention of the Board.

The NUMBER ONE thing from the USECA membership as well as my consulting contacts is that professional members want some form of protection from untrue accusations brought by parents, athletes or former athletes. We are not asking to take away anything from Safesport or Mr. Busby.

We want the sport to be “Clean” . There is no room for abusive coaches.

Yet we are all afraid of being unfairly persecuted and thrown out of the sport because of accusations brought by a disgruntled client.

Right now every coach is presumed guilty. Even if investigations clear professionals of any wrong doing the damage done to our careers can be fatal. The damage done to our businesses could ruin us financially.

As I understand the current Safesport rules we have no recourse. Any recourse would be viewed as retaliation.

Possibly the creation of a Committee to Investigate the Credibility of a Complaint. This would allow Mr. Busby to spend his time concentrating on more credible complaints.

The damage done by false or unwarranted accusations can not be understated or ignored.

As professional members of USAG we feel there should some sort protection given to us.

A few quotes from e-mails I have received.

Protection for coaches from the witch hunt.. There needs to be some sort of way to prevent just any unhappy person to call SafeSport and make a false statement. Coaches get put through the ringer and the accuser walks away freely

Thank you Tony… in North Carolina alone I know of 2 current false claims to Safe Sport that the gyms have had to contact USA Gymnastics and even get Cease and Desist orders against the accuser and open a lawsuit.

Right now it is very open without much accountability

The next thing that USECA members asked about was the make up of the BoD going forward. Make up of the NEW Board (USOC, an agency in trouble itself, has asked USAG to reduce the number of members from 21 to no more than 15 on the BoD. 20% must be Athlete Directors, A majority of the Directors must be independent. ). That will significantly reduce the VOICE of many disciplines on the board.

Please address the court briefs regarding the USA Gymnastics lawyers claiming they have no responsibility with regrades to Larry and others.

Please review existing USAG staff as to their involvement in these matters

Dear Fellow Advisory Council Members:

I understand that the Interim USA Gymnastics Board of Directors is meeting tomorrow morning, and I sincerely hope that our representatives take this opportunity to reinstate Kevin White as our duly elected representative as per our vote on Feb. 10. We as a group elected Bobbie, Evelyn and Kevin as our BOD representatives and with the recent communications and confusion on whether or not Kevin could serve on the board, it is clear to many of us that Kevin did not resign, nor should he resign his position.

Having said that, I believe that Kevin should serve to represent us on the BOD, as he was elected to do.

Again, this is in no way a reflection on Cindy, and her capabilities to serve as a representative — it is just the legal and right thing to do understanding the circumstances that have transpired over the last couple of months.

I hope that all of you, and most importantly, the Board representatives, support me on this. Thank you for listening.

Best Regards,

Tim

Respectfully submitted

Tony Retrosi, Chairman USECA

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