[quote]MEMBER SERVICES UPDATES USA Gymnastics Background Checks USA Gymnastics is proud to announce a working partnership with National Center for Safety Initiatives through which we will engage in a comprehensive background screening program. USA Gymnastics is requiring background searches on all USA Gymnastics Professional Members to ensure a safe and secure environment for participants and it members. [/quote] http://usa-gymnastics.org/membership/ USA Gymnastics Background Check Policy: http://usa-gymnastics.org/membership/2007/BackgroundCheckPolicy.pdf Good idea. They should also have basic requirements for member clubs such as the minimum/maximum acceptable gym temperatures, especially in competitions they are sponsoring such as zones, state, and regionals!

Backround checks good idea. "Gymnast group ousted coach in

I don't know how the USA background checks work, but it is a good idea and a good start. A gym in the area just re-hired a coach that had all this drama around him of girls and parents complaining about his conduct towards them, asking the underage kids to meet them outside of the gym, make plans with the underage kids, calling them, giving them gifts, "playfully touching" them, etc. Hopefully nothing went too far. It's sad when a gymnastics club puts its sales ahead of the kids. I think he's married now with someone like 14 years younger.

ABC's Good Morning America covered USAG background checks on gymnastics coaches: [quote]Accused Sex Offenders as Coaches An undercover investigation reveals that background checks often aren

This was brought up in ESPN's tv show aired a couple days ago: "E:60 Roundtable: Violated", Watch video 'teaser': http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/video?id=3346903 Wow - 7 felony counts of child molesation and still coaching at another gym. Side note: those dirty tapes on the rings are gross - re-tape them! Also need to do that a lot on the straps bars. IG commentary "ESPN Takes Swing at Gymnastics" on the show, by Dwight Normile [quote]Compelling stuff. Male coach touches young girl in wrong places. Girl comes forth, coach goes to prison. Another coach does same, gets hired at another gym while awaiting trial for felonies. [/quote] That fake hugging is annoying: [quote]That said, if gymnastics is generally perceived as a breeding ground for inappropriate behavior between adults and minors, all the hugging that goes on during competitions isn't helping. If you watch any women's meet on TV in the U.S. you will see more hugs than actual routines. After every dismount, a female gymnast must endure a receiving line of hugs from coaches and teammates before she can finally sit down and relax. And the majority of these hugs rarely celebrate anything extraordinary, as they should. What's difficult to watch is that a young girl rarely hugs back when it's her male coach's embrace. These superficial hugs might be a coach's way of trying to show he's a nice guy, or that the coach-gymnast relationship is healthy, or a way to get on camera. Or the coach might really love his gymnast, but in a platonic way. But these excessive, emotionless embraces really should be replaced with high-fives or a simple pat on the back. Something sincere. Save the hug for winning the Olympics, or something. Hugs in gymnastics (or in any sport) should be spontaneous. [/quote] Summing it up: [quote]After I watched ESPN's show, I too felt violated.[/quote] The press on abusive coaches is not just in soccer, and sexual abuse with minors is not just in sports - just a while ago there was a news story on a high school teacher puttine a video camera in the girls bathroom. And the problem that the coaches/teachers go somewhere else to teach while the case is being reviewed is not just in gymnastics, as shown in Oekf's links; here's one on a soccer coach in the news recently: "Richmond soccer coach accused of rape" http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=6087502 [quote]Although Chavez no longer worked for the school district when he was arrested Wednesday, he had been coaching a local youth soccer club and renting soccer fields at Richmond High School for league games, Ehara said.[/quote] USAG & Steve Penny's response to it: http://usa-gymnastics.org/news/2008/apr15-e60response.html [quote]USA Gymnastics statement regarding the E:60 program concerning gymnastics INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., April 15, 2008 -- Any form of abuse against an athlete is unacceptable. USA Gymnastics seeks to do everything within its jurisdiction to stop abuse. This jurisdiction does not extend to the employment practices of private gymnastics clubs. USA Gymnastics

USAG website: http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/membership/memship-noticeto.html [quote]The following Membership Statement has been adopted by the Board of Directors of USA Gymnastics: Membership in USA Gymnastics is a privilege granted by USA Gymnastics. That privilege can be withdrawn by USA Gymnastics at any time where a member's conduct is determined to be inconsistent with the best interest of the sport of gymnastics and of the athletes we are servicing. The following former professional members are permanently ineligible for membership within USA Gymnastics: [/quote] A few from British Columbia Gymnastics Association (BCGA) included on this page too. Important facts: the background checks check for felonies, not for misdemeanors - some states touching a minor in inappropriate places is a misdemeanor...being banned only bans the coach from being on the competition floor, not from coaching, the USAG background checks do not include recreational coaches/teachers, staff, etc. Don't think USAG member, club with the USAG banner hanging, so everything is good. Why not ban the coach from coaching and interacting with kids in these gyms during practice - which is even more hands on than in competitions - if the gym wants to be a USAG club member?? It should mean something that a gym is a USAG club member - more than it is paying its fees to be listed in their gym directory - a gym directory which does not include reviews!! USAG's Steve Penny's response to the question of why they let the clubs who employ such people or who even are the gym owners that are on this list be a member and accept their money and have that banner to hang for parents to see in their gym: "These are all good questions that we are working on adressing" As John Stossel says on 20/20, "Give me a break!"

If you missed it on tv, watch online here: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3348471&categoryId=3060647&n8pe6c=2 full screen: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3348471

Great job at finding the tv show online kat! :D A lot of people probably missed it on tv that wanted to watch it. I found this blog through Rick's post: "Australian Gymnastics Blog" She watched the ESPN show too, and blogs on it, adn the issue of wrong accusations: [quote]'Comedian' Peter Helliar (and I use that term lightly because I would hardly classify him in the league of Billy Connolly, Tom Lehrer, Ross Noble or Eddie Murphy but alas I digress) once made an irritating back-handed remark about young female gymnasts getting hugs from their coaches; along the lines that coaches give them light hugs and little pats on the back "because they're grown men that know they're on international television", ergo all coaches are known child predators and abusers, they have to put on a good show for the cameras and anything beyond a pat on the back is a bit suss. But we know that isn't so. Some hugs aren't all bad, and it's unfair that male coaches have to hold back because of suspicion. I would hate to think poorly of Waverley's John Hart, VIS/VIG's Misha Barabach or the AIS' Valery Kaladzinski because they seem to have a good nature around their athletes, nothing negative at all. Let's not forget - they get results. I remember one other fan not long ago mentioning that they got frustrated by someone sitting behind them at the Melbourne World Championships in 2005. The person kept scoffing and making scathing remarks about the way one of the American coaches intimately hugged Nastia Liukin. This fan had to turn around and shoot back, "He's hugging her like that because he's actually HER DAD." [/quote] Like fruitleather wrote here in the "Chalk Talk" section: [quote]There have been some parents in the gym making an uproar over a coach's spot and help with the girls. I don't get it. He's my coach too, but I haven't noticed anything wrong with his spotting and coaching. It feels like they are misreading and reading into things way too much. When you hear the questions they ask you, you wonder, what are you talking about. This is gymnastics. Perhaps they don't know enough of the sport? It is coming to the point where a coach has to be scared of a student coming to hug him, because of what will they think...[/quote] "Post subject: Misreading a coach's spot and help, coaching" http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=1566

April 2, 2007: Montel Williams

Here's how you hug and celebrate for Olympic AA Gold: Carly Patterson-Athens 2004-Floor-AA [youtube]EBelsw8fa-c[/youtube] No fakeness here. Looks like a great coach/gymnast relationship.