WAG Anyone following what is happening with USAG?!?! (Rhonda Faehn asked to resign)

[raenndrops]

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with you but the timing of this is horrible, they knew she was informed by Aly a LONG TIME AGO so why wait until NOW to fire her????

My guess is because Michigan State is paying victims... the writing was on the wall ... time for more changes.

 

[tomtnt]

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/05/...sign-as-usa-gymnastics-senior-vice-president/

Potential chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement tomorrow??!

 

[Texastwister]

It's just crazy....i'm going to be very selfish here and say that I am so happy that my daughter is as young as she is. Hopefully this mess will all get sorted out eventually and things can get back to normal. But these girls that are trying to make it to the 2020 Olympics are the ones that I really feel badly for.

Personally I feel bad for the 2012 and 2016 kids who lived with the abuse. Hopefully the house will be cleaned out for the 2020 and beyond kids. In the big picture canceling a few camps to get things worked out is no big deal.

 

[Flippin'A]

Who possibly thought doing this in the middle of a camp was a good idea? Seriously? I don't know enough about the situation to say whether Rhonda should go or not, but push the announcement three days in either direction and at least you don't have the best gymnasts in the world flying across the country and then cancel camp halfway. We're years out from what Rhonda actually did wrong, so a couple days couldn't possibly make a difference. I feel bad for all the girls, those who were victims, and those currently dealing with the fall out. And poor Simone who falls into both categories. Again, I don't know whether Rhonda should go or not, but whoever's making these decisions clearly doesn't have the gymnasts' best interest at heart. The way this was done was absolutely inexcusable.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Personally I feel bad for the 2012 and 2016 kids who lived with the abuse. Hopefully the house will be cleaned out for the 2020 and beyond kids. In the big picture canceling a few camps to get things worked out is no big deal.

And I feel for them all. Inviting kids to a camp and then cancelling in the middle is ridiculous, the camp shouldn't have happened in chaos. Saying so does not diminish the horrors experienced by those that came before. There is not a limited amount of "feel bad" to go around. It's not a contest with a finite amount of empathy to be won.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Totally off topic. What’s verifying a routine?

 

[MILgymFAM]

It seems that they didn’t cancel training at all- the girls did. I’m assuming then that the camp could’ve continued without her?

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...oil-head-women-s-program-asked-resign-n875271

 

[Texasmomof3]

It sounds like the kids are the ones cancelling the camp. They are refusing to train because they don’t like a decision USAG made.

Frankly, if Rhonda was told about the abuse and did nothing, she needs to go. USAG needed to fire her as soon as the new leadership found out and confirmed it was true. If that confirmation happens during a camp, so be it. (I can’t believe it took this long, but better late than never.)

I cannot believe these girls think one coach is more important than the abuse their predecessors faced. What selfishness.

 

[LindyHopper]

Who possibly thought doing this in the middle of a camp was a good idea? Seriously? I don't know enough about the situation to say whether Rhonda should go or not, but push the announcement three days in either direction and at least you don't have the best gymnasts in the world flying across the country and then cancel camp halfway. We're years out from what Rhonda actually did wrong, so a couple days couldn't possibly make a difference. I feel bad for all the girls, those who were victims, and those currently dealing with the fall out. And poor Simone who falls into both categories. Again, I don't know whether Rhonda should go or not, but whoever's making these decisions clearly doesn't have the gymnasts' best interest at heart. The way this was done was absolutely inexcusable.

I think it has everything to do with damage control. MSU announced they'd come to a settlement and would be paying a half billion dollars. And USAG went into "oh crap! We can't try to fly under the radar anymore. People will be looking at us again." mode

And now I find Kerry Perry is testifying on Congress in a few days... it's all damage control timing.

 

[LindyHopper]

It sounds like the kids are the ones cancelling the camp. They are refusing to train because they don’t like a decision USAG made.

Frankly, if Rhonda was told about the abuse and did nothing, she needs to go. USAG needed to fire her as soon as the new leadership found out and confirmed it was true. If that confirmation happens during a camp, so be it. (I can’t believe it took this long, but better late than never.)

I cannot believe these girls think one coach is more important than the abuse their predecessors faced. What selfishness.

At the same time, these girls are young, in panic mode, possibly swayed by peer pressure, and we don't know what other influences are at play. (Thinking of the gymnasts Kathy Klages made sign a card of support for someone they obviously didn't support. Is there someone at camp in A position of influence over the young women encouraging these posts)

What grates on me is that a few of them are saying "We all" when it obviously isn't "all". Speak for yourself in your own voice. Don't speak for others with nearly identical posts.

 

[amiandjim]

Whether or not Rhonda needed to go, I think it’s beyond wrong to do this in the middle of camp. I mean, seriously.

 

[Texastwister]

And I feel for them all. Inviting kids to a camp and then cancelling in the middle is ridiculous, the camp shouldn't have happened in chaos. Saying so does not diminish the horrors experienced by those that came before. There is not a limited amount of "feel bad" to go around. It's not a contest with a finite amount of empathy to be won.

Of course not but do we truly know the situation? There could be a very good reason camp was cancelled in the middle of it. Until the full story is out, which could never be, its hard to give accurate assessment.

 

[twocurlygirlz]

Camp was not cancelled--- the girls decided not to train.

 

[Texastwister]

Camp was not cancelled--- the girls decided not to train.

Good point! Lol
Maybe there was a good reason for what ever is going on at camp.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Totally off topic. What’s verifying a routine?

National meets like Classics and Championships having to be qualified for with certain scores. These can be achieved at a few elite qualifying meets or at national team camps or previous year international assignments. They do this so the gymnasts already traveling to national team camps many times a year don't also have to travel to elite qualifiers, they can verify their event scores at camp.

 

[Flippin'A]

The one bit of good I was hoping to come out of this whole horrific situation was for the gymnasts at the highest level of the sport to have a bit of agency over their own lives, and the freedom to speak up. If camp was shut down because a few members of the national team felt that decisions were being made for them against their best interests, then at least we've reached that point. These "adults" in charge need to stop making reactionary decisions because Congress is coming up and start actually thinking about the athletes. I also think Rhonda probably needed to go, but pulling the rug out from the national team in this way was just wrong.

I'm not going to call a group of scared teenagers selfish and imply that they don't care about their abused friends. If they didn't feel that the people in charge of training were looking out for them then good for them for refusing to train.

 

[wandrewsjr]

And I feel for them all. Inviting kids to a camp and then cancelling in the middle is ridiculous, the camp shouldn't have happened in chaos. Saying so does not diminish the horrors experienced by those that came before. There is not a limited amount of "feel bad" to go around. It's not a contest with a finite amount of empathy to be won.

Replace this with "USAG inviting kids to a team camp,and firing the head coach in the middle is ridiculous. The camp should not have happened in chaos". The girls should demand better of USAG. Hopefully this is a sign of them taking ownership of their team. Far from selfish in my book.

 

[suds]

A public statement by CEO Kerry Perry is overdue... and the minutes keep ticking away.

Strong leaders would effectively communicate facts, empathy, and long-term vision in moments like this.

 

[aerials]

It sounds like the kids are the ones cancelling the camp. They are refusing to train because they don’t like a decision USAG made.

Frankly, if Rhonda was told about the abuse and did nothing, she needs to go. USAG needed to fire her as soon as the new leadership found out and confirmed it was true. If that confirmation happens during a camp, so be it. (I can’t believe it took this long, but better late than never.)

I cannot believe these girls think one coach is more important than the abuse their predecessors faced. What selfishness.

I read this morning that Rhonda went to Steve Penny right after she was told about the abuse and thought he was handling things. I don't know if that is true but if it is true then that would maybe explain why she wasn't removed earlier. She too is expected to testify next week to congress...not sure if that has anything to do with them firing her at this time plus the MSU settlement...firing her looks like they are doing something

 

[wandrewsjr]

I'm not going to call a group of scared teenagers selfish and imply that they don't care about their abused friends. If they didn't feel that the people in charge of training were looking out for them then good for them for refusing to train.

Damn straight to this. For goodness sake, some of these girls were also abused!!! I am baffled by the accusation that the girls think they are more important than those that were abused. Though the kids may make mistakes in what they choose to stand for or say(as all teenagers do), Isn't one of the biggest takeaways we want from all of this for the gymnasts to feel they have the power over their own training and their own bodies? That they aren't bound to silently accept what the adults in charge demand of them? I would rather hear their voices than see them standing in line silently while USAG parades another decision in which they had no say in front of them.