Al Fong's (GAGE Gymnastcs) story was in an article on ESPN.com. The summary is that he is a changed man, yells less, is more calm, doesn't push too hard past limits, and takes skills in steps, with basics, with technique. [quote]So, with apologies to his former self, Al Fong has learned the hard way that sometimes you need to let girls be girls. But he also knows that when it's time to push he will push, because underneath it all he is a man hardwired to drive to the brink, to see dreams as something never achieved, only chased. So why not let the laughter fly? . . . He might not have been guilty, but he was hardly innocent. And overnight he had nothing. The best athletes at GAGE left for other gyms, and without elite gymnasts to train -- and with his reputation tarnished -- Fong was relegated to teaching after-school programs, a Bill Parcells explaining blitzes to Pop Warner kids. Season after season, as Fong went about his work, he burned up inside. Over time, though, a new man slowly bloomed. In exile, he came to see that his dreams belonged not to him, but to the girls.[/quote] If you haven't read the story on Al Fong yet, check it out at: "ESPN The Magazine: Al Fong's iron fist" URL: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3027224&campaign=rsssrch&source=gymnastics Is his gym cold that he wears black gloves? (picture/text there) Al Fong with the help of his wife Armine is making a comeback as coaching in the Olympic scene, and getting elite gymnasts coming to his gym: [quote]...Inside the new Al Fong's Great American Gymnastics Express, or GAGE, girls move in a pattern as familiar and regular as ocean currents, pausing to twist, lap, roll, flex, tuck, swing, dance, laugh and cry -- a Gulf Stream of motion and emotion. The ebb and flow is harnessed by the quiet mentoring of Al and his wife and co-coach, Armine. Together, they groomed Terin Humphrey and Courtney McCool to win silver medals in Athens, earning Al and his wife the title of USA Gymnastics' 2004 Coach of the Year. Over the past few years, hopefuls from all over the country, including DeMeo and Ivana Hong (a bronze medalist at the most recent Pan Am Games), have flocked to GAGE to prepare to take their best shot at 2008. "I think Al is headed in that direction again," says Marta Karolyi, women's team coordinator at USA Gymnastics. "He'll probably place somebody on the next Olympic team."[/quote] So, as a parent, do you trust a coach that has had bad turns, or does it depend on what the bad turns were, and do you consider that a coach can change his/her ways? What about the "...But he also knows that when it's time to push he will push, because underneath it all he is a man hardwired to drive to the brink, to see dreams as something never achieved, only chased." The "underneath it all". How do you go by choosing your coaches/clubs you go to, or who/where to avoid? In any case, it is better that Al Fong has chosen a different path/methods of coaching, new better methods that you think should come with more experience. Experience can really be a major factor to a lot of things.

That's why Terin's mom would go with her to the gym everyday... [quote]In the first moments of viewing Humphrey, Fong knew he'd been presented with the kind of athlete he'd never had before. When he sat down with the 9-year-old and her parents, he used the word Olympics. The Humphreys were blown away, but they were also cautious. "We were a little timid about going to Al's gym at first," Terin says. "We'd heard the stories. But when we met him, we felt like he was a great person." Still, her mom, Lisa, came to the gym every day to keep an eye on her daughter. Eventually, she got a job there. She says she has yet to see the monster from the stories.[/quote] But everyone can't do that everyday and even then get a job there. But guess it worked for them. Maybe they were living near the gym and that was a factor in choosing it.