Parents Olympian files lawsuit against USAG physician

[munchkin3]

Parents are not allowed in the ranch.....I know 10yos who go with their coaches.....something that I would have a MAJOR problem with.

 

[Gymmommy71]

I think at a lot of the international elite competitions parents are banned/prohibited from rooming or traveling w/ their kid - for instance, if your kid goes to worlds, they aren't in a hotel with you or allowed to see you for more than a few minutes even if you travel all the way there to the meet. Not sure if this is a USAG/Karolyi rule, or something that all countries must abide by? So yeah, Nassar, who has been at this since the late-80's/early 90's, has had more access to these gymnasts than their own parents when they were traveling to meets. I'm not sure if he was ever at the ranch w/ the camps or what, but yeah, that's pretty awful if he was.

I also read somewhere he doubled as the team photographer for that National Team while traveling as well ,

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Short of being on the national team, I can't imagine not being *expected* to go to travel meets.

Yeah that would be a case. Good thing my kid is not going to National Team.

 

[cftmoonlight]

Some gyms do travel meets where the kids all travel with coaches, and stay in hotel rooms with older athletes/parent chaperones. Then they do meals together, activities, and go to each others sessions to cheer each other on. Its tons of fun, and great for team bonding. Unfortunately, all these sickos are making it near impossible for us good people who actually care about the kids to do anything fun like this.

 

[notthatmom]

Some gyms do travel meets where the kids all travel with coaches, and stay in hotel rooms with older athletes/parent chaperones. Then they do meals together, activities, and go to each others sessions to cheer each other on. Its tons of fun, and great for team bonding. Unfortunately, all these sickos are making it near impossible for us good people who actually care about the kids to do anything fun like this.

I was on a synchro ice skating team that travelled, all chaperones were always coaches (female) or parents of current skaters (parents also only female). The only male who ever travelled with us was our team manager who had a daughter on the team,and he was really like our "second dad" to everyone, even so, no one would ever be just alone with him, and he of course always had his own hotel room. Even tho our coaches knew there's no way anything remotely dangerous could happen to us while under his care, they still made certain none of us were ever alone with him without another chaperone. I'm grateful for that. I also know that MOST men and women who are authority figures to children in sports 100% mean well, and I agree that it's unfortunate that the bad apples make it difficult for the well meaning people to effectively do what they do without the speculation.

 

[mobeans]

I checked Nassar's FB page right after this news came out...he had hundreds of supportive comments on his page. It's bewildering to say the least. Of course now there are "no posts to show".

My daughter attended the Twistars summer camp a few years ago with a friend. I have to say I really found JG to be a nice guy and didn't see anything that resonated with egotism and my daughter enjoyed the time she had working with them. Just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[mobeans]

You would have to think with the news of Michigan State firing him, Gedderts will soon follow if they haven't already done so.

And I'm sure it will come. This is someone they've worked with and trusted for years. I'm sure it was a shock and they needed to think through the process. When news hits of someone you don't know, it's easy to be unattached and distance right away. When you have personal relationships you naturally believe they're innocent. I'm sure Twistars feels gobsmacked right now.

 

[bogwoppit]

The accused abuser is no longer at Gedderts.

 

[GymmieC]

Just how long did it take geddert to realize he was playing with fire...my goodness!

 

[Jenny]

I know we have been talking about national team travelling to international competitions without parents. How about girls travelling to the ranch for camps. I was looking at some photos that were coming up on Instagram and there are large numbers at the ranch for these monthly camps. I think I counted 57 for Development invite camp, 40 for developmental camp and 23 for team camp. These girls are as young as 8 years old.

I would hope that all these girls travel as a group with a female chaperone or singly with a parent. Obviously these girls should not be travelling with a male coach and no parent. Or are they? Do parents get any choice in this? Or do they do as they are told because they are starry eyed/ overwhelmed / skint.

They should not travel with a husband and wife couple either. This is because the wife cannot be considered a independent or impartial person from the male coach. Sounds weird but makes sense. Think about it, where do her loyalties lie, who would she side with? She actually makes it look more above board than it actually it if a coach were that way inclined.

But actually women can be abusers too. The safest way for these girls to travel is to always have a teammate. To always have another child with them. But a lot of the girls at the ranch are the only ones from their gyms. It starts to become a logistical nightmare.

And of course most people are not abusers. Of course they are not.

 

[duyetanh]

I know we have been talking about national team travelling to international competitions without parents. How about girls travelling to the ranch for camps. I was looking at some photos that were coming up on Instagram and there are large numbers at the ranch for these monthly camps. I think I counted 57 for Development invite camp, 40 for developmental camp and 23 for team camp. These girls are as young as 8 years old.

I would hope that all these girls travel as a group with a female chaperone or singly with a parent. Obviously these girls should not be travelling with a male coach and no parent. Or are they? Do parents get any choice in this? Or do they do as they are told because they are starry eyed/ overwhelmed / skint.

They should not travel with a husband and wife couple either. This is because the wife cannot be considered a independent or impartial person from the male coach. Sounds weird but makes sense. Think about it, where do her loyalties lie, who would she side with? She actually makes it look more above board than it actually it if a coach were that way inclined.

But actually women can be abusers too. The safest way for these girls to travel is to always have a teammate. To always have another child with them. But a lot of the girls at the ranch are the only ones from their gyms. It starts to become a logistical nightmare.

And of course most people are not abusers. Of course they are not.

There is one very popular youtube gymnast who definitely just went with her coach. It's posted everywhere on her account....ugh.

 

[lhmom]

I know someone whose child has been to a development camp and her child traveled with the coach. IIRC, the girls room together in cabins and coaches stay in another section. Parents could come and stay in the nearby town but were not allowed at the camp, at least that was what we heard. Not sure if I would be comfortable at all with that.

 

[Jenny]

There is one very popular youtube gymnast who definitely just went with her coach. It's posted everywhere on her account....ugh.

well in the light of the last few weeks that needs to stop.

 

[Jenny]

I know someone whose child has been to a development camp and her child traveled with the coach. IIRC, the girls room together in cabins and coaches stay in another section. Parents could come and stay in the nearby town but were not allowed at the camp, at least that was what we heard. Not sure if I would be comfortable at all with that.

Even if they room with other kids the travel part is a no.

 

[bookworm]

I know someone whose child has been to a development camp and her child traveled with the coach. IIRC, the girls room together in cabins and coaches stay in another section. Parents could come and stay in the nearby town but were not allowed at the camp, at least that was what we heard. Not sure if I would be comfortable at all with that.

When my daughter went to the Ranch for camps ( TOPs , developmental) , it was exactly like this...she travelled with her coach and the coaches were in the section of the Ranch called the Motels and the girls were all together in the cabins. I went a couple of times and stayed in the Woodlands or Conroe but lhmom is correct, parents aren't allowed at camp so I did a lot of reading and shopping when I was there back in my hotel room.

Back when we were doing all this, I was very comfortable with her coaches and had travelled with them on multiple occasions and I was ok with sending them with her, and she was ok with going with them...as I asked her before I committed to not going.

 

[duyetanh]

When my daughter went to the Ranch for camps ( TOPs , developmental) , it was exactly like this...she travelled with her coach and the coaches were in the section of the Ranch called the Motels and the girls were all together in the cabins. I went a couple of times and stayed in the Woodlands or Conroe but lhmom is correct, parents aren't allowed at camp so I did a lot of reading and shopping when I was there back in my hotel room.

Back when we were doing all this, I was very comfortable with her coaches and had travelled with them on multiple occasions and I was ok with sending them with her, and she was ok with going with them...as I asked her before I committed to not going.

Just curious (not being snarky at all!)....would you be comfortable sending her this way now?

 

[bookworm]

Just curious (not being snarky at all!)....would you be comfortable sending her this way now?

With the exact same coach she had, yes...and even with one of of her later ones who was a delightful, knowledgeable ,positive, caring coach who kept my daughter in this sport and sadly, left this world too soon...

 

[Madden3]

People send 8 year olds (and even younger) to sleep away camps. I mean, I would not. But plenty of people do. And this is not with a coach you already know and presumably trust- it is with camp counselors you know nothing about! I am not sure how adding travel into the situation makes it significantly more dangerous, unless there is a need to stay at a hotel during the travel? And many sleep away camps offer travel as well.

Few if any parents can be everywhere their kids are. The answer is for all parents to take the responsibility to educate themselves all about this subject (and yes, it is scary and sickening but at least we have reliable resources and info at our fingertips our parents and grandparents did NOT have.) Parents need to get comfortable talking to their kids repeatedly about how to respect their bodies and protect themselves in an age appropriate way from a very early age. That and creating a relationship with our kids where they trust us more than anyone else -more than coach, teacher, other kids... they must trust us well enough they can tell us anything, ask us anything, and know they will be believed, respected, and protected. My oldest son is 13 and is training with some much older boys and so yes, he asks me some really difficult to answer questions about stuff he hears. And I rejoice every time he does because I know it means he trusts me to respect him, and that I can be relied on to know the facts and to tell him the truth.

This will not stop any abuse from occurring, of course. Nothing will ever do that. But parents taking a very proactive role in preventing abuse of their children does help tremendously according to experts. We can do it and we have to do it. No organization or business is going to do it as well as we can.

 

[BachFlyer]

^^Madden3 I wish I could like your post 100 times.

 

[Natasha]

NBC news covered the story tonight. The Lawyer says he now has 12 clients.