British WAG (and MAG!) talk

[crdubb17]

Now this makes me happy! She had so much talent and was ahead of the curve in regards to difficulty, but she was always injured and never able to make an impact. I hope she gets to have her moment this year.

 

[RedBirdie]

Whyte Review available: www.whytereview.org

 

[Samxo]

The Olympic qualifications have been added to YouTube. Currently watching and will edit to add timestamps

 

[irichluck21]

OHHH I love it. I can’t wait to watch.

 

[Samxo]

Here are the times:
Warm Up 2:53:47

Amelie Morgan
Start 2:57:10
Waiting/Replays 2:59:00
Score + reaction 3:04:40

Alice Kinsella
Start 3:05:00
Waiting/Replays 2:6:50 (why did they let her compete when she was in that much pain)
Score + reaction 3:09:08

Jennifer Gadirova
Start 3:10:00
Waiting/Replays 3:11:40
Score 3:13:49

Jessica Gadirova
Start 3:14:11
Waiting/Replays 3:15:59
Scores + reaction 3:17:46 (my heart)

END 3:27:15

 

[MaryClare]

Back page of the Daily Mail

 

[Bob]

I read the whole report last night. That headline does not really reflect the biggest criticisms of the report. The biggest criticisms are complaints not dealt with in any sort of ordered way (or even at all), culture of fear at elite clubs and british squad, weighing and food issues at elite clubs and british squad. Issues with GB head coaches at various times and various disciplines. Martin Reddin and Amanda Reddin being married and potential issues that caused in the line manager system. There is quite a bit made of how he refused to be intereviewed as part of the report and retired. Jane Allen was interviewed at length and seems equally praised and criticised for her work. There is a lot about how much is put on volunteer welfare officers in clubs and that squad gymnasts had no welfare officer at Lilleshall.

I’m not surprised they had to appraise squad parents and coaches before it’s release as it is definitely mostly about WAG GB squad and the clubs and coaches involved. It wouldn’t make you want your kid to be on squad that is for sure. I really can’t believe they are still weighing elite gymnasts daily in some clubs and saying it is for safety reasons. Seriously.

The most upsetting thing to me was it mentions she found multiple complaints about the same elite coaches and elite clubs over years which didn’t appear to have been dealt with effectively or at all and that means more children went on to be emotionally abused when it could have been stopped. That is a big fail. That would have been my headline.

Also it seems when coaches are removed/ let go/ persuaded to leave they seem to all have confidentiality clauses so basically it is all swept under the carpet and BG never look into it again. That does a disservice to the victims.

The good news was the report says very few complaints were sexual abuse and in general these were dealt with effectively.

 

[Doug1233]

 

[J175]

Understandably given its remit, the report and recommendations go into a lot of detail about the procedures and governance of British Gymnastics, and the specific allegations of abuse. But there are a lot of wider cultural issues highlighted as well that don’t just emanate from Lilleshall - what the report terms the “Coach-led culture”, the insularity of the sport, the excessive training hours and the “performance lifestyle” etc. None of these things were ever a secret, but are seemingly just accepted and normalised in the sport, even now when there is greater awareness of other problems like weight management, and you’d probably get the same things coming up in the equivalent report in many other countries (has already happened in some cases).

British Gymnastics didn’t do enough to change this, but to truly transform the culture a lot of people need to buy in to the change, and most of the coaches involved going forward are going to be the same coaches who were coaching throughout the period covered by the report. Without their full support anyone trying to effect change will face a constant uphill struggle.

The volunteer welfare officer issue exists to some extent in all organisations wherever it is the responsibility of volunteers. No one gets into sport to focus on safeguarding, and few of those involved really have any expertise in it, so it becomes a tick box exercise people have to get out of the way so they can do the stuff they actually want to do. Others only get away with it because the welfare issues (hopefully) aren’t as prevalent as in Gymnastics. How many people would British Gymnastics need to effectively police a membership of over 300,000 though?

Another noteworthy point in the report, especially given recent developments in figure skating, is that Whyte clearly believes the senior age limit for women should rise to 18, the only reason given why this isn’t a formal recommendation is that it wouldn’t be reasonable to bind GB to a different limit from the FIG. The views of the FIG on this are detailed in the report, basically they aren’t interested.

 

[RAFIKI]

I’m only 30 pages in so I still have a lot to read and digest. So far I am impressed with the clarity, scope and sensible recommendations of the report.

Gymnasts to demand action from governing bodies after abuse scandals

Advocacy groups have called on the IOC and the sport’s own FIG to review the minimum age of 16 for female gymnasts, given men must be 18

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bob]

I thought the discussions about having to have a license to coach was interesting and something Tanni Grey Thompson is in favour of across all sport.

 

[Bob]

The report is very clear and well written. I was really impressed.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Just catching up now after a batshit few weeks, not had chance to read the review yet but it’s encouraging that some of the gymnasts think the recommendations are positive.

As for Becky’s injury, fucksakes. I’m sure we’re all even happier than we were that BGs objectively not very sensible selection policies led to a veteran with a terrible injury record competing hard landings on vault several months before any major competition. Ellie looks better than I expected at this point.

On the age increase point, I do think things are probably going that way.

 

[MaryClare]

In the UK you effectively do have to have a licence to coach gymnastics though. You have to be a registered member of British Gymnastics and have one of their coaching qualifications. There is far more regulation of who can coach and what level they can coach than in most other countries

 

[Bob]

But you don’t have to be a member of British gymnastics, many coach through leisure centres and independent bodies. And you can be a member of BG and coach without qualifications or without high enough qualifications. There is no way for a parent to check the qualification of a coach. Clubs can check. The shortage of coaches is a real problem that feed into this issue. The report mentions the number of coaches coaching has decreased by 24% since 2008. That is astounding And the numbers taking part have risen hugely.

The idea behind the sport coaching license is to have it across all sports and it be a searchable database. So a parent or employer can check the coach is fully licensed. These would be renewable yearly. I think that might be rolled out in the future but not soon.

 

[Gymfan93]

To do a whole bunch of jobs (mainly relating to working with vulnerable people) in the UK you must be a member of the relevant professional body. I don’t think coaching is one of them though

 

[irichluck21]

Still no CWG team named for England?

 

[Samxo]

I hoping they’ll announce the team on Monday. The selection for euros ‘starts’ on the 20th (everything is submitted by then) so it makes sense to announce the team

 

[makam]

On the age increase point, I do think things are probably going that way.

You almost have to after the winter Olympics. If there is an age where you cannot be held responsible for cheating/PED use and there is no punishment possible for the federation/coaches/whoever, then you can’t have athletes of those ages competing because why not dope up the kid, win the medal, face no consequences for the abuse?

(I also don’t think a single failed test should be a disqualifier unless there is other evidence of systemic problems or previous ped use. It is too easy these days to imagine eating or drinking something tainted)

 

[Gymfan93]

In regards to the CWG team, Ruby Stacey being back and at Koper World Cup right now makes it a bit more interesting. I can Jessica, Jennifer and Ondine being the core of the team sent to Munich, with Alice, Kelly, Ruby at Birmingham, but they’d probably have to send at least one of the CWG team to Euros as well. GMF could slot into either team easily, and this is assuming Alice would do CWG over Euros.