Anon Escaping USAG Restrictions

[Anonymous (b409)]

This coach and the gym owner were being investigated by USAG. Mid-investigation they decided to rescind their membership, and go to AAU, telling current team parents that it was just one disgruntled parent who reported (it’s not, there are at least 20). While he was restricted to coaching only under supervision, they only told the team members, not the rec or preschool families. Now that they’ve lost half the competitive team and have only one optional left, they moved girls from intermediate and advanced rec class up to team to help fill in the gaps, and these parents have no clue what’s going on.
Because they dropped the USAG membership they are now placed on administrative hold, which means they have to go through the investigation should they ever try to apply for membership again.
They told parents that their values and philosophy just more closely align with AAU. I am worried about this facility continuing to operate while enabling an abusive coach. I am also worried for these girls and their families who have no clue what they’re signing up for.

What would you do? Just let it go??

 

[Anonymous (459e)]

Anyone at the gym can look up the head coach and easily see a lawsuit, the USAG info, and plenty of reviews that suggest something’s up- as I just did. I wouldn’t want to be at a place that generated this much conflicting information. If people are turning a blind eye to this for convenience or because they want their kid to be on a team or whatever, I don’t know what else you can do. If there wasn’t so much info easily accessible, it would be harder to decide what to say or do.

 

[Anonymous (eff4)]

Anyone at the gym can look up the head coach and easily see a lawsuit, the USAG info, and plenty of reviews that suggest something’s up- as I just did. I wouldn’t want to be at a place that generated this much conflicting information. If people are turning a blind eye to this for convenience or because they want their kid to be on a team or whatever, I don’t know what else you can do. If there wasn’t so much info easily accessible, it would be harder to decide what to say or do.

New team members and lower level team might not have a clue what the head coaches name even is

 

[Anonymous (459e)]

New team members and lower level team might not have a clue what the head coaches name even is

That’s true. Maybe it’s over the top, but when we had to switch gyms, I googled every coach’s name I could find at potential gyms, talked to parents of other gymnasts, and poked around here to make sure we ended up somewhere safe. We dodged some evolving, sketchy situations with a little bit of digging. It isn’t fair that parents can’t trust other adults, but they can’t. It’s one thing for a coach’s bad behavior to be hidden and under the radar, but when it’s easily found via google I think the parents are responsible for the situation they join. I presume the original poster is a parent who is wondering what their responsibility is to other parents who don’t know about the coach- I don’t think you have a responsibility to warn them once it became public info.

 

[Anonymous (73aa)]

I would think that most brand new parents would not have the wherewithal to look up coaches under USGA especially since the gym is now AAU? Would they even know that it's possible to look up coaches? I would leave the gym and let parents know why if they ask.

 

[Anonymous (9cb4)]

I'm not sure I would do anything in your situation, unfortunately this happens all the time. Coaches sometimes even switch countries. A good reminder to always do a little research on who you are trusting your kids with.

 

[Anonymous (b409)]

Update, there is now going to be a hearing for AAU in a few weeks.