Anon Inappropriate Coach Behavior

[Anonymous (7754)]

My daughter was struggling at her gym for quite a while- the coach was demoralizing and commented on her looks, her pale skin, (multiple times), that she would hit her if she doesn't perform a skill, etc. She does not encourage or make it easy for parent meetings and so I decided that we need to leave for my daughter's mental wellbeing. I have been told other parents have had similar issues but no one has reported this behavior. Is there a proper protocol to report this? Will USAG actually do anything? What should I do- I don't want any repercussions for my child but I also don't want this to happen to other children- it really impacted my daughter.

Thank you

 

[Anonymous (8057)]

I think you should report to Safe Sport. I don't know the exact procedure, as I'm from a different country,

 

[Anonymous (257d)]

So sorry that this is happening to your daughter. You can read about usag safesport and report a concern using a link on this page: https://usagym.org/safety/u-s-center-for-safesport/

 

[Gymnastics15]

That is crazy, would hope USAG would do something about it.

 

[Anonymous (204a)]

This is where it gets a little tricky from my limited experience. SafeSport doesn't really do annonymous complaints for obvious reasons... if complaints were annonymous then it's harder for them to be validated. We were told that my child's initials would be on the report and that would be seen by the person being complained about.

From my experience most gym owners and coaches are terrified of SafeSport and I was afraid that it would get around (the gym community is really a very small world and stuff as a way of getting around) that my daughter had been involved in reporting someone because her initials would be obvious.

I'm not telling you not to report it, this definitly sound like something that should be reported. You can always call SafeSport and get the details straight from them before you decide if it worth reporting or not. They were wonderful to really talk things through with me. They are a legal organization so they use a LOT of legal jargon and they are VERY careful NOT to influence you one way or the other. Just be prepared that it may not be the easy outcome that some people make it out to be.

 

[Anonymous (2bfe)]

If a coach is threatening physical violence, I would think that's a matter for the police.

 

[Anonymous (bb9b)]

This is where it gets a little tricky from my limited experience. SafeSport doesn't really do annonymous complaints for obvious reasons... if complaints were annonymous then it's harder for them to be validated. We were told that my child's initials would be on the report and that would be seen by the person being complained about.

From my experience most gym owners and coaches are terrified of SafeSport and I was afraid that it would get around (the gym community is really a very small world and stuff as a way of getting around) that my daughter had been involved in reporting someone because her initials would be obvious.

I'm not telling you not to report it, this definitly sound like something that should be reported. You can always call SafeSport and get the details straight from them before you decide if it worth reporting or not. They were wonderful to really talk things through with me. They are a legal organization so they use a LOT of legal jargon and they are VERY careful NOT to influence you one way or the other. Just be prepared that it may not be the easy outcome that some people make it out to be.

If this is the case then SafeSport has failed.

You should always be able to report an issue without fear of retaliation from the club/league/sport. If you have to weigh in if it's worth it than that is fuel for predators to keep abusing others. I know you say "things have a way of getting around" but the whole purpose of safe sport is to protect against just that happening. Nassar and the Karoli's got away with the abuse because everyone was afraid to speak up and be black balled from the sport, this can't still be the case or children are not being protected.

 

[Anonymous (7754)]

This is where it gets a little tricky from my limited experience. SafeSport doesn't really do annonymous complaints for obvious reasons... if complaints were annonymous then it's harder for them to be validated. We were told that my child's initials would be on the report and that would be seen by the person being complained about.

From my experience most gym owners and coaches are terrified of SafeSport and I was afraid that it would get around (the gym community is really a very small world and stuff as a way of getting around) that my daughter had been involved in reporting someone because her initials would be obvious.

I'm not telling you not to report it, this definitly sound like something that should be reported. You can always call SafeSport and get the details straight from them before you decide if it worth reporting or not. They were wonderful to really talk things through with me. They are a legal organization so they use a LOT of legal jargon and they are VERY careful NOT to influence you one way or the other. Just be prepared that it may not be the easy outcome that some people make it out to be.

I know it would not be anonymous- I'm just worried about her getting black listed. I'm wondering if I should speak with her current gym to get their perspective on it- they know that there was a serious issue but tried not to bring the complaining to the new gym. My daughter is very happy now but I feel like someone needs to do something otherwise another child will experience something similar. It's just shocking!

 

[Dahlialover]

I’m sorry that this happened to your child. Get her settled at a new gym and then make a SafeSport complaint. Do not discuss the complaint at the new gym. If the new gym finds out that you made a complaint and treats you badly as a result, then you’ll know they are the kind of people who protect child abusers not children and you can get the heck out of there. Good luck!