Anon Utah Coach Arrested

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Anonymous (65d2)

I post this with a heavy heart. This was a coach trusted by many in his gym and others. I was hoping to not have to post this at this time out of privacy and respect but now that’s it’s gaining national attention, it’s best that we show our love and support for those families.

 
This hits home. A similar thing happened to my DD's gym. My heart goes out to all the families and staff affected by this. No doubt they are feeling shock, sadness and anger. They are concerned for all the kids - their own and others, current and former team kids. All the logical thoughts of 'was my kid recorded?' and the much darker 'did other things happen?'. I'm not sure if State has happened yet in Utah, but this happening during the celebrated post season brings a whole other set of worries to the families. I hope the kids are able to complete their season with joy.

I post this with a heavy heart. This was a coach trusted by many in his gym and others. I was hoping to not have to post this at this time out of privacy and respect but now that’s it’s gaining national attention, it’s best that we show our love and support for those families.

I can't tell if you are directly impacted by this. The way it's worded makes me think you are trying to bring awareness to the situation. I have no reason to doubt that you come from a place of care and concern however I encourage you to be mindful of how you speak about this. You say that you were hoping to not have to post this, but you did. You have a choice in what you say and how you speak of this situation. I'm especially sensitive to this because of the actions of another gym owner/HC in the aftermath of the situation at my DD's gym.

A few weeks after the incident came to light, the local news picked up on the story. We already knew the local gymnastics community was gossiping about it but having the story 'out there' in the news brought a new level of exposure for our families. The owner and HC of a very prominent neighboring gym posted the story to his personal FB. The guy has 100s of followers. That was uncomfortable enough but OK. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. He also had a copy of the police report (which at the time had not redacted names of kids) and offered to send it to any FB friend who asked! Dozens of people requested the report including parents, coaches at other local gyms and a number of people in other states. Word got back to him to stop, which he did, but not before inflicting more hurt on our families. The guys gym is in the same part of town so some of the kids at his gym were classmates with our kids and since the gym community is small in upper level optionals, several in both gyms followed each other on social media. The following week was Regionals and our girls were incredibly self-conscious to be there. It's been 4 years and I'm still filled with rage when I think back to how this coach was peacocking around the host gym while our girls and coaches were dealing with their own hurt, partially caused by this guy. (Note: peacocking is an appropriate description based on what the guy was wearing that weekend. I don't use the word lightly.)

The moral here to the OP: be mindful of how you talk about this. At the end of the day there are real kids, families and staff behind the news story.
 
This hits home. A similar thing happened to my DD's gym. My heart goes out to all the families and staff affected by this. No doubt they are feeling shock, sadness and anger. They are concerned for all the kids - their own and others, current and former team kids. All the logical thoughts of 'was my kid recorded?' and the much darker 'did other things happen?'. I'm not sure if State has happened yet in Utah, but this happening during the celebrated post season brings a whole other set of worries to the families. I hope the kids are able to complete their season with joy.



I can't tell if you are directly impacted by this. The way it's worded makes me think you are trying to bring awareness to the situation. I have no reason to doubt that you come from a place of care and concern however I encourage you to be mindful of how you speak about this. You say that you were hoping to not have to post this, but you did. You have a choice in what you say and how you speak of this situation. I'm especially sensitive to this because of the actions of another gym owner/HC in the aftermath of the situation at my DD's gym.

A few weeks after the incident came to light, the local news picked up on the story. We already knew the local gymnastics community was gossiping about it but having the story 'out there' in the news brought a new level of exposure for our families. The owner and HC of a very prominent neighboring gym posted the story to his personal FB. The guy has 100s of followers. That was uncomfortable enough but OK. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. He also had a copy of the police report (which at the time had not redacted names of kids) and offered to send it to any FB friend who asked! Dozens of people requested the report including parents, coaches at other local gyms and a number of people in other states. Word got back to him to stop, which he did, but not before inflicting more hurt on our families. The guys gym is in the same part of town so some of the kids at his gym were classmates with our kids and since the gym community is small in upper level optionals, several in both gyms followed each other on social media. The following week was Regionals and our girls were incredibly self-conscious to be there. It's been 4 years and I'm still filled with rage when I think back to how this coach was peacocking around the host gym while our girls and coaches were dealing with their own hurt, partially caused by this guy. (Note: peacocking is an appropriate description based on what the guy was wearing that weekend. I don't use the word lightly.)

The moral here to the OP: be mindful of how you talk about this. At the end of the day there are real kids, families and staff behind the news story.
I don't think the OP had any malicious intent in posting this...it's just another sad and sick incident in the gymnastics world ....and where gymnastics historically has tried to bury/deny/hide/blame victims in the past, maybe the OP felt because of that, it was a story to share.
 
I agree. It is already out in the news, and has been posted on FB in a group that was not being as respectful of the families and gymnasts impacted. That was why I made the decision to share it in a respectful manner. I would rather start the conversation in that way, rather than to see what has been said in other places.
 

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