WAG Some news on Geddert himself - suspended

[flippin out]

http://wlns.com/2018/01/27/a-few-da...ked-to-send-letters-of-support-for-owner/amp/

It's like Kathy Klages with the MSU gymnasts for Nassar

Will they never learn? I mean Klages just got blasted for doing this.....think people. If this came from an individual not associated with twistars employees/owners then it goes over slightly better, but still. And if the individual who wrote it truly believes in his innocence I get that they want to support and help, but had they been paying attention to anything going on in this whole mess they’d have known this what a horrid miscalculation at best.

So, either they’re coerced to write this by intimidation OR they are dumb to think it was a great idea to do so. Either way—-bad move

 

[LindyHopper]

Well he went after Lemke when she testified,

Anybody know exactly what was said to Lemke? All I know is that she confirmed that he had.

 

[flippin out]

Someone close to case told me that that letter was sent to gym members by the Office of Twistars —- smacking my head repeatedly on that one

 

[bookworm]

Someone close to case told me that that letter was sent to gym members by the Office of Twistars —- smacking my head repeatedly on that one

Evidently they would like to be included in pending lawsuits as well for "witness intimidation"

 

[LindyHopper]

Evidently they would like to be included in pending lawsuits as well for "witness intimidation"

Confused... how is encouraging gym members to write USAG letters of support for Geddert witness intimidation? Disgusting, absolutely, but I don't see how it is intimidating

Now if we are talking about intimidating the Lemke family, I get that. But it was my understanding that it was Geddert himself who came after Lemke. But again, all I saw was Lemke's confirmation that he had gone after her.

 

[bookworm]

Confused... how is encouraging gym members to write USAG letters of support for Geddert witness intimidation? Disgusting, absolutely, but I don't see how it is intimidating

Now if we are talking about intimidating the Lemke family, I get that. But it was my understanding that it was Geddert himself who came after Lemke. But again, all I saw was Lemke's confirmation that he had gone after her.

Well I know I would feel intimidated receiving a letter from a gym such as Twistars that Geddert has been at the helm of with his abusive tactics, and maybe we've put up with some of it and escaped some of it but now that he's "gone", I'm finally breathing a little easier and then I get an email "encouraging me to write about my positive experience with John, and do it right away" ....and I'm sure the gym will be able to ferret out who did and did not write these letters...so yeah, call me crazy, but I find this to be trying to intimidate the members of that gym to write letters "on John's behalf"...and yes disgusting as well.

 

[LindyHopper]

Well I know I would feel intimidated receiving a letter from a gym such as Twistars that Geddert has been at the helm of with his abusive tactics, and maybe we've put up with some of it and escaped some of it but now that he's "gone", I'm finally breathing a little easier and then I get an email "encouraging me to write about my positive experience with John, and do it right away" ....and I'm sure the gym will be able to ferret out who did and did not write these letters...so yeah, call me crazy, but I find this to be trying to intimidate the members of that gym to write letters "on John's behalf"...and yes disgusting as well.

Okay, I understand now. I thought you were saying it was witness intimidation for the Nassar case.

 

[Midwestmommy]

I am not surprised at all by that request and by the fact that some parents will write those support letters. From the bottom up, top down, inside out, this USAG system in the US has let arrogant, abusive coaches get away with all kinds of stuff, so that many coaches and parents even get to feel that sick behavior is normal.

In my own little corner of the world, my daughter has experienced caring, positive coaches who we love to hear from and run into, and are grateful for being positive role models in her life. There are others with sort of mixed feelings, don’t remember that much good or bad, they were OK decent coaches.

Then there are those that thinking of them or seeing them turns your stomach, and it is disgusting that they are still getting away with treating kids terribly and in their arrogance think they are great coaches.

I have friends who still pay gyms huge amounts of money and give over huge portions of their kids’ childhoods to adults who think nothing of belittling their kids, humiliating them, and verbally abusing them. They pay coaches and gyms and let them do things to their kids....that if a friend did that to their child they would never speak to them again. If a family member treated their kid that way, they would refuse to spend holidays with them. But in the name of gymnastics somehow rationalize that it is OK.

We have been there and it makes me ill to know that each day and week and month it took before we pulled her out of one particular toxic environment was a day too many.

I think that’s one of the things that made me cry listening to Mattie Larson’s testimony. She wasn’t one of the invisible non-elites like my daughter who the owner didn’t know and couldn’t be bothered to care about, despite being an over $400 a month customer.

Mattie had made it to the pinnacle, so many kids’ dream, and should have been having an amazing time learning from “the best” and representing her country. Yet she too was not treated like the precious child she was and was living a tortured existence.

There are many adults (not on the list of directors being forced to step down) who had a hand in that—Liukin comes to mind—and if they stay in control, sadly this culture may not improve and overhaul to do a better job of protecting kids. Too many kids are being churned through some gyms with huge amounts of hours at very young ages. I don’t think the trail of broken little spirits and broken little bodies and culture that allowed even the most heinous of abuse to thrive was worth even one gold medal.

 

[Mominmichigan]

Do you know the names of the other gyms that would not accept the Twistars gymnasts that wanted to move?

I would also like to know the answer to this.

 

[Mominmichigan]

Agree re: Brett. He is nothing like his father based on the limited interactions I’ve had/witnessed. But there is undoubtedly a black cloud effect based on John’s reputation.

Brett is not Johns son!!!!

 

[Seeker]

Brett is not Johns son!!!!

Yup, I know. I accidentally mixed up the B names. Either way, my comment stands...he doesn’t seem to be like John.

 

[Mominmichigan]

Someone close to case told me that that letter was sent to gym members by the Office of Twistars —- smacking my head repeatedly on that one

That’s completely false

 

[flippin out]

That’s completely false

Well that’s good news if true. My source is close to case but that doesn’t mean I wasnt told incorrectly.....so if they were wrong, then just where did it come from?

 

[Mominmichigan]

Well that’s good news if true. My source is close to case but that doesn’t mean I wasnt told incorrectly.....so if they were wrong, then just where did it come from?

No clue, my daughter competes for Twistars and no communication went out to the families like that. The media is a joke.

 

[Seeker]

No clue, my daughter competes for Twistars and no communication went out to the families like that. The media is a joke.

Maybe it’s true and it only went to certain levels or certain families. Just because you didn’t get it doesn’t make it false.

 

[raenndrops]

My concern would be that we could lose chalbucket to a libel suit.

On the other hand,if an anonymous account just happened to create a thread to post links to articles or other info about coaches who cause concern...

I was going to suggest a stickied post just for links to articles about gymnastics coaches (both good and bad). Just SHARING articles isn't libelous... just make sure the URL is posted (or if it was offline, a jpeg that included the name of the source and all that stuff, so it is properly attributed to the original source).

 

[profmom]

I was going to suggest a stickied post just for links to articles about gymnastics coaches (both good and bad). Just SHARING articles isn't libelous... just make sure the URL is posted (or if it was offline, a jpeg that included the name of the source and all that stuff, so it is properly attributed to the original source).

That's a good idea, especially if we include both good and bad news stories. The one thing to keep in mind is that the media tends to publish only the first story (so, for instance, the one about the big damage award) but not much on the follow up (the reversal/reduction on appeal). But if people are good about including any updates, that would help.

 

[Lunde]

A lot of this whipping up support reminds me of the sexual assault case against a coach at Bieger's gym a few years ago. Jana Bieger actually testified in support of the coach and more than a dozen parents and gymnasts demonstrated in support at the case at the bail hearing - how awful must this have been for the 10 year old having to testify knowing that her teammates and their parents were very publicly supporting her abuser. It turned out that the coach had previous sexual assault arrests - yet had not been banned by USAG
Link Removed

 

[Flyaway]

A lot of this whipping up support reminds me of the sexual assault case against a coach at Bieger's gym a few years ago. Jana Bieger actually testified in support of the coach and more than a dozen parents and gymnasts demonstrated in support at the case at the bail hearing - how awful must this have been for the 10 year old having to testify knowing that her teammates and their parents were very publicly supporting her abuser. It turned out that the coach had previous sexual assault arrests - yet had not been banned by USAG
Link Removed

How awful.

 

[merritt]

A lot of this whipping up support reminds me of the sexual assault case against a coach at Bieger's gym a few years ago. Jana Bieger actually testified in support of the coach and more than a dozen parents and gymnasts demonstrated in support at the case at the bail hearing - how awful must this have been for the 10 year old having to testify knowing that her teammates and their parents were very publicly supporting her abuser. It turned out that the coach had previous sexual assault arrests - yet had not been banned by USAG
Link Removed

I always liked Jana Bieger, and I was really rooting for her to make the 2008 team. While I don’t know the specifics of the situation, I’m disappointed that she would support the abuser in this case.