It’s Time for a Change
Change is difficult but not impossible. I believe with all of my heart that there are some truly great people working at USA Gymnastics at ALL levels. From the National Office to Regional and State Board members and the volunteers who help put on all the events. It seems to me that USA Gymnastics has been a reactive organization for a while now. It is time for it to become more proactive. It is a lot better to avoid a crisis than know how to handle one.
Having a plan to deal with a crisis is a lot like having an airbag in your car. It’s good to know you have one in case you encounter a situation in where you would need it. It’s better to have a way avoid that situation.
WE ARE BETTER THAN THIS.
USA Gymnastics needs to become a more transparent organization. When speaking about transparency and anticorruption in government, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (1916-1939) said, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.” If USA Gymnastics is going to be viewed as a “clean organization” the first step needs to be shining a light on the process of reporting abuse and the past reporting of abuses.
I know that many people are rightfully angry. They feel betrayed by the organization that they have given their life to. The next leader of USA Gymnastics needs to do their best to reach out to athletes that have been harmed in our sport. To help them find a way to heal. To let them know that we love them, that they are part of our gymnastics family and we are here to help.
Leadership flows both ways. The people at the top need to set the tone for the entire organization. They need to treat people with respect and not lead through fear and intimidation. Those qualities will flow down to the foundation of the sport with how every professional should deal with their athletes.
AS PROFESSIONALS WE PROMISE TO DO BETTER.
Mistakes have been made. We must admit to mistakes and implement some changes.
Change 1. As professionals we can not afford to turn a blind eye and hope someone else makes a report.
Change 2. On the sets of movies and tv shows, when the actor is a minor, there is a child advocate on set making sure the children are not abused, over worked or just have someone to talk to. It would not be difficult to have an independent child welfare advocate for the athletes at all training camps.
Change 3. USA Gymnastics has already implemented the Safe Sport Program on it’s website. This needs to be made available on all Regional and State websites as well.
I recently took the SAFE SPORT TRAINING PROGRAM. Every participant in gymnastics and their family need to know that abuse of any kind is not acceptable and there should be a clear reporting process (Safe Sport also has this. I had to use it last week. It was not intimidating and I had a phone call back with a few hours on a Saturday morning). It is a good place to start.
I had an e-mail exchange with Vinnie Silber from Gym Blog Central who had some ideas about Safe Sport that I would like to share.
USAG is in the process of hiring a SafeSport Director but this position needs a team to help plan and roll out all the program parts. The Directors position at USAG is simply too big for one person. There will need to be a team to create the policies and procedures. In the past, USAG would roll out a program and then scramble to catch up with the demands of it. There needs to be a plan to roll it out in chunks. SafeSport courses need to be mandetory like the Safety and Risk Management course. There will need to be a strong policy in place regarding coach/gym relations. Many parents are afraid that there will be retaliation in the gym.
A question I have is, will the club be notified if a complaint is made about one of their employees? At this point there are more questions than answers. The program within USAG is in it’s infancy, this is where a proactive plan comes in.
To move forward, here are some steps I think USA Gymnastics needs to take.
1.HAVE A CLEAR AND PROACTIVE PLAN and NOT only for the abuse. Educate the coaches, the parents and gymnasts.
2. Force ourselves to criticize our own plan.
The biggest thing we can do to avoid distress is periodically review our plans. USA Gymnastics is a membership driven organization. It would be better to have the criticism come from within, from the members (coaches, athletes, former athletes) who are in the trenches than from the outside. There were many moving parts that got us here. We need to direct the process that got us here so that we can move forward. There needs to be a policy of independent review from the outside as well.
3. Avoid jumping into a plan too quickly.
USA Gymnastics needs to take some immediate steps to improve athlete safety and lessen the chance of abuse whether it is sexual, physical or emotional in nature. As I have stated previously- it is difficult to be patient. Especially when so many sides are demanding immediate action. If we rush into things we may actually overcorrect and make things worse. Many crises do not have a clear starting point or end state, thus creating a plan based on many moving parts is pointless. The key is to understand the weaknesses and how to shape the future. Once there is a mental map developed and visualized, we can see where we need to go and we can stay on course.
4. Expect more from the board!
The Board represents all of the gymnasts, coaches, judges, and administrators in our sport, in all disciplines. WE STAND FOR SAFETY, EDUCATION and EXCELLENCE. We want gymnastics to be seen in the light that truly represents it. We want it to be represented by the amazing gymnasts and coaches that devote there lives by working hard everyday, learning, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and pushing through until we achieve success…
The Board must represent USA Gymnastics. When we change, when our styles, standards, techniques change, the board must represent those changes as well.
The CEO, the Board, and all gymnastics professionals need to put our sport ahead of our own egos, needs, wants, finances, and put gymnastics where it needs to be. A leader in youth sports, a place where little children are encouraged and empowered to start here, and go anywhere. We want them to take the amazing life lessons they learn from gymnastics into the world and become healthy and well adjusted adults.
The beauty of any board is that it has enough distance from the overall organization to see the forest for the trees. All of us are involved in our own disciplines, we are all busy with the day to day. Some CEOs may have treated the Board as a necessary evil to placate so they can get on with their business, but that undermines the Board’s role as an early-warning system when the organization is heading for distress. A good board will give us perspective.
It is also the board’s responsibility to look at the President/CEO, in the eye and say, “OK, we like your plan and it seems to be bringing in money. Now let’s talk about what it would take to move funds into coaches education. Let’s talk about athlete protections. Let’s talk about what is important to the membership.”
5. Bring SAFETY and EDUCATION to ALL LEVELS
Regional Chairs, Regional JO Chairs, Regional Technical Chairs in all disciplines need to be brought in and trained to spot and deal with suspected abuse in our sport. They in turn will need to train members of the state boards. Coaches need to be educated. They know that they are being watched. They need to be trained and be part of the reporting procedure.
Safe Sport is a good first step. It may not go far enough. Each state and region needs to have a webpage dedicated to Safe Sport (or whatever program is next).
The change needs to be clear, concise, and big.
The community must be onboard, we must all be willing to work for and accept the change.
Gymnastics can be the silver bullet. Gymnastics can be everything. We don’t need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Gyms should be palaces of safety. The competition for the best coaches should be fierce. Coaches should be incredibly trained and making six-figure salaries. That’s my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.
wow- that was a lot longer than I expected.
Thanks Wendy, Jessica, Vinnie and others who let me bounce ideas off of you.
