ESPN Takes Swing at Gymnastics
I watched "E:60 Roundtable: Violated" on ESPN this week. 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.
USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny was in a no-win situation as he answered questions, on camera, from an ESPN journalist. How could USA Gymnastics allow its banner to hang in these gyms? Why does USAG's background check only screen for felonies? Why can't USA Gymnastics ensure purity in every last coach at the thousands of gyms across 50 states and also make sure they all show up for work on time and never say a cross word to their budding gymnasts?
That USA Gymnastics is responsible for the individual hiring practices of every member club is ludicrous. I'm not questioning the veracity of the cases brought to light here. The alleged actions of these gymnastics instructors make my stomach turn. But to report that this behavior is exclusive to gymnastics is off the mark.
This ESPN piece was really about life. You could replace the word gymnastics with any youth activity — softball, swimming, church youth group, Boy Scouts — and produce the same story. Heck, right before I had switched channels to ESPN, I watched Pope Benedict decry pedofile priests.
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.
Gymnastics is not perfect, but it is good in many ways. Bad things simply happen in all areas of life. After I watched ESPN's show, I too felt violated.
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Comments (2 posted):
As far as the point that the piece could be applied to any aspect of life, rather than worrying about gymnastics being singled out, I think we need to worry about the fact that there is a potential for such abuse to occur. To borrow a line from a IG fellow-letter writer ten years ago, at the height of the Little Girls in Pretty Boxes controversy, if even one girl suffers from abuse, that's one too many. Rather than complaining about negative media reporting, we ought to focus on how we can prevent situations such as those that the girls interviewed last night found themselves in. No, USA Gymnastics will never be able to monitor every last club all of the time. But that doesn't mean that the process couldn't be better than it is now, or that we shouldn't have a continuous dialogue about issues such as this.
Is there any way to avoid these “interviews?” How can this be legally allowed from a show billing its self as news? In some countries you are required to have a license and degree to be a reporter. This in no way stifles the reporting of events but does encourage a more balanced approach to reporting. We license other professionals who have less influence on our people.
How do you prepare for that kind of interview? I doubt that Mr. Penny is an attorney versed in criminal law. Scanning for Misdemeanors. Doesn’t any sex crime, even a misdemeanor, come with sex offender registry especially when involving a minor? And USA gymnastics does look for that. He was set up to give them the winning quote.
Less hugging by coaches? Not a bad idea. As a male coach I hug from the side. It’s unconscious that I turn my body. However I also have a collection of “special high 5’s” I use with the kids. Less hugging does make sense if for no other reason than it defines a special moment in the accomplishment of a gymnast when it’s given.
Gymnastics will ride out this next wave of controversy. Let’s keep in mind that the more attention we place on this “news cast”, and the more we comment on it, then the more it will distract from the upcoming Olympics. I only found out about this because USA gymnastics sent me an e-mail with their response.
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