WAG What's the best way to report an abusive coach?

[Radbay]

Hi all,

I just recently watched Athlete A and I'm inspired, yet nervous. I believe we have an abusive coach at our gym but after reading some of these threads it seems to me like nothing will happen. My faith is squandered after reading the recent news on Azarian and I'm wondering what to do now. The owners I believe know about it and choose to do nothing because the coach produces high scores. If USAG won't do anything, and safe sport won't handle the case because it's not of sexual nature, then what do I do?

And if I do report it, what would some of the ramifications be?

 

[GYM0M]

SafeSport handles all forms of abuse, not just sexual abuse. If a claim of abuse is reported, they investigate. If you believe a child (or children) is being abused, please don’t hesitate to report. All reporting remains anonymous, I believe.

 

[bogwoppit]

There is always the police... My faith is USAG and Safe Sport is currently not high.

 

[RTT2]

I don't know. At this point it feels like all you can do is carefully document all of the abuse, write out your observations as clearly as possible, then toss it into the recycle bin before fleeing that gym. No governing body seems to give a ....

 

[GYM0M]

There is always the police... My faith is USAG and Safe Sport is currently not high.

Same. They will investigate, but actions are not likey.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

Reporting remaining anonymous is debatable, ive had several people tell me USAG gave their names to the coaches when they filed an anonymous complaint or were anonymous witnesses

 

[jamieintexas]

I left a gym because the owner was abusive. 35 girls followed me. At least 6 parents filed a complaint. USAG assigned an investigator that called the parents and also called other witnesses including me. Then they did nothing. He is still coaching. I agree with the sentiment on another thread, burn it to the ground and start over.

 

[bogwoppit]

Same. They will investigate, but actions are not likey.

Agreed, but it certainly serves notice to the owners and coach that they are being watched.

 

[jamieintexas]

Agreed, but it certainly serves notice to the owners and coach that they are being watched.

How does it serve notice if nothing is done? I bet next year they make every coach do the 50 hour “don’t abuse kids” online course. Then they will make a big deal about all of the training that we are required to do because USAG cares.

 

[flippin out]

SafeSport handles all forms of abuse, not just sexual abuse. If a claim of abuse is reported, they investigate. If you believe a child (or children) is being abused, please don’t hesitate to report. All reporting remains anonymous, I believe.

There is a difference between USAG Safesport and US Center for Safesport. Just to clarify, USAG SS handles abuse of physical and emotional nature. US Center for SS handles primarily abuse of sexual nature, although they do take cases if there is a conflict of interest with USAG handling the claims (as with the Legacy Elite case involving Anna Li and with the New Heights Gymnastics involving one-time for a hot minute Sports Director Ed Nyman's wife Amy Nyman). If the OP's concerns are of physical/emotional nature then they need to be reported to USAG SS, she is correct that US Center would not handle her case.

 

[flippin out]

also, I'd recommend that if you feel that what a coach is doing is physically abusive that you report to the local legal authorities. Reporting to SS is all well and good, but they have limited authority and are not a legal entity nor do they have any legal authority. The most that they can do is ban a coach from coaching within usag. They can not stop a coach from working with kids in any other organization.......so a banned usag coach can simply join another organization and coach OR just coach with no affiliation to any organization.

 

[bogwoppit]

How does it serve notice if nothing is done? I bet next year they make every coach do the 50 hour “don’t abuse kids” online course. Then they will make a big deal about all of the training that we are required to do because USAG cares.

Just meaning that once the police have knocked on your door, and asked questions, it does make most people reflect for a while. It also means there is a paper trail if other people report the same gym/coach. Far from ideal, but frankly it seems that child abuse is just ignored on an enormous scale.

 

[raenndrops]

I agree with those who said report physical abuse to the police (or child protective services). Also file a report with USAG SafeSport. We KNOW that there is a possibility of nothing happening through SafeSport, but an investigation needs to be done by the authorities in your state.
If the owners know and are allowing it to occur, they are complicit and maybe a police (or CPS) investigation will wake them up. They can either fire the coach or risk backlash on them.

 

[LJL07]

There is a difference between USAG Safesport and US Center for Safesport. Just to clarify, USAG SS handles abuse of physical and emotional nature. US Center for SS handles primarily abuse of sexual nature, although they do take cases if there is a conflict of interest with USAG handling the claims (as with the Legacy Elite case involving Anna Li and with the New Heights Gymnastics involving one-time for a hot minute Sports Director Ed Nyman's wife Amy Nyman). If the OP's concerns are of physical/emotional nature then they need to be reported to USAG SS, she is correct that US Center would not handle her case.

Yes. US Center for SafeSport will just bounce the case right back to USAG Safe Sport if it is not a sexual misconduct case. Here was our experience: a group of us filed a complaint with USAG Safe Sport about two years ago. The complaint was lost three times. As in completely lost. Disappeared into thin air. No record of it. USAG Safe Sport is a disgrace. They lose complaints. They do not contact witnesses. I think it is generous to say that they do the absolute bare minimum. To be fair, they are very inadequately staffed and probably have a mountain of complaints to sort through. If you want to file a complaint, make absolutely sure you do it through their online portal and keep a very thorough paper trail and documentation. You will have to bother them relentlessly to get any sort of update on your case. Two years later, we received word that they had offered the coach in question a "pending resolution." Well, that's great, but I still haven't heard back if "the pending resolution" was accepted, and I can tell you right now that they will never contact me to give me an update. According to USAG Safe Sport's own website, they are supposed to contact the complainants and inform them when the case is closed. Ha! I refuse to expend any more energy though.

 

[LJL07]

I left a gym because the owner was abusive. 35 girls followed me. At least 6 parents filed a complaint. USAG assigned an investigator that called the parents and also called other witnesses including me. Then they did nothing. He is still coaching. I agree with the sentiment on another thread, burn it to the ground and start over.

EXACTLY! A disgrace! You're lucky USAG Safe Sport called the witnesses. That is shocking.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

There is always the police... My faith is USAG and Safe Sport is currently not high.

(my faith in police isn't all that high either)

At any rate, I'd report it to all three: USAG, Safesport, and (if it reaches a level that could be considered criminal) the police.

 

[LJL07]

And what a big surprise. USAG Safe Sport mishandled Maggie Haney's hearing, so her suspension has now been reduced. OP, I don't think there is much recourse for an abusive coach beyond getting law enforcement involved or taking legal action.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Also remember: pulling your kid out is an option. The damage caused by an abusive coach far outweighs the benefits of being at any particular gym, or even being in the gym at all.

 

[bogwoppit]

Also remember: pulling your kid out is an option. The damage caused by an abusive coach far outweighs the benefits of being at any particular gym, or even being in the gym at all.

100% this.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

All these organizations are garbage, but What I can tell you our gym owner is -really- worried about is bad press and bad reviews. Facebook, Yelp and google stays forever. You can complain about a coach till the cows come home - there’s not enough “good” (technically proficient) coaches to give the gym the scores the other parents want to justify getting rid of a coach that fixates on certain kids. But boy will they move quickly on anything that might look negative on social media and in reviews that new parents might see. I work in marketing and for most businesses, people’s word of mouth and reviews online can kill a business.