Konnor McClain to WOGA

[mnesiptolema]

Fwiw, I wouldn’t want Valeri coaching my child. I wouldn’t be sending them to Laurent either without more information on who Grace McLaughlin was talking about. Obviously this is all at a distance and I can’t say what due diligence may have been done by parents who know them, but the reason I raise this is because we’re discussing the issue of whether different standards are being applied.

To be honest, if I had children I doubt they would be in competitive gymnastics at all. I have so much more sympathy for my mum now that she pulled me out when I was invited to the competitive team as a kid. Nothing healthy would have come of that environment.

 

[rue_des_plantes]

cw // (possible) eating disorders, body dysmorphia

Per this tweet, McClain “hated” her old coach and is thrilled to be at WOGA with Valeri. She has not thrown up once (?!?!). ETA: may have been anxiety, trauma, environment, etc. and not an eating thing. Supposedly she also criticized Tom Forster in this IG Live as well, but I am still trying to find receipts.

This is…not exactly how I saw things shaking out, but good for her if they’re liking the change.

 

[irichluck21]

Here is McClain’s IG account. Not seeing any evidence of what this Twitter post is saying, but since its mentioned that it is IG live it might be one and done and we won’t be able to see the video as it is not archived.

 

[rlayt]

Vomiting just before beam was so normal for her if you go by the way it was presented in “Golden”. It seems like a red flag to me. Wanting to leave practice early, talking about her nerves, there were several concerning things.

I’m assuming the Susan Brown at WOGA isn’t her coach from Revolution.

 

[RedBirdie]

I haven’t watched the series. Is there a Susan Brown at WOGA? When USAG initially updated Konnor’s bio, they changed the gym but not the coach, which led to much confusion.

I guess I need to watch this. Vomiting all the time? Yikes.

 

[Kittentoes]

There’s another Susan Brown gym coach. Poor Konnor. And she was at Revolution literally since she was a baby!

 

[RedBirdie]

But my understanding is the non-Revolution Susan Brown hasn’t been at WOGA for years.

 

[tempest]

I feel bad for her… I threw up almost everyday at the first school I worked at and when I changed schools, it all stopped! Good for her for doing what is right for her

 

[rlayt]

But my understanding is the non-Revolution Susan Brown hasn’t been at WOGA for years.

I guess they never took her off their website?

 

[choclatechip45]

They still have the Landi’s listed as coaches so I’m assuming they haven’t updated it in years.

 

[MRR]

To provide a bit of context for those who haven’t watched the series, McClain vomiting was something she did out of nerves, perhaps exacerbated by the stomach virus she was dealing with throughout the year. There is footage of her puking right before her beam routine at US Classic.

Susan Brown (Revolution) appeared way in over her head managing an elite with Olympic aspirations, especially three years in advance of when they expected. At least Valeri doesn’t lack experience at that level, and now there’s no 2020ne Olympics to worry about. Worlds is still on the table, so we could a sense of whether this is a good fit as early as the fall.

 

[RedBirdie]

Revolution only has level 9s and 10s here and there. Of course she was in over her head. (Not to excuse any behavior) I’ve seen so many coaches get stars in their eyes when they hit the athlete jackpot, and never stop and think “do I know what I’m doing? Am I the right coach for this kid? Am I willing to listen, learn, and put aside my ego?”

 

[rlayt]

[No message]

 

[rlayt]

Konnor’s mother’s best friend in high school cheerleading was Susan brown the former coach. They asked her if she could handle it and she said she definitely could.

Konnor will do better away from Revolution. She said in that IG live she hasn’t thrown up since she got to WOGA.

 

[RAFIKI]

She did show some awareness of this in her Golden interviews. I was sorta impressed by that because admitting your inexperience (even when it’s obvious) on TV is a big deal. I have generally been impressed at how honest and raw a lot of that documentary is.

Twitter chatter is that Konnor has been honest about problems with her old coach on her insta but there was one incident which incited the move that she won’t discuss publicly.

 

[JaJa]

Susan Brown’s lack of experience and any real ability to coach an elite, much less an Olympic hopeful, was glaring and obvious. But my sense is there was some incident , which may or may not have been directly related to this lack of ability to coach an elite, that brought about the transfer to WOGA

 

[Fairy1]

First of all there are 3 sides to every story. Throwing Laurent’s name into this discussion is whataboutism especially when he was never explicitly named as Valeri was. Susan is being thrown under the bus and it’s unfair since Konnor’s camp is throwing out insinuations without explanation. That’s my 2 cents.

 

[megansothername]

Konnor’s situation was so CLEARLY unhealthy from the documentary. If you have an athlete who vomits so regularly you carry bags in your pocket for her to puke into, she either has a serious physical condition that needs to be addressed or a serious mental health situation (anxiety or something else) that needs to be addressed. You don’t just let that continue as if it’s totally normal to puke into a bag in your coaches hand regularly. From the documentary, it wasn’t clear to me whether, if mental/anxiety related, the issue was caused by the coach or not (there honestly seemed to loads of family pressure too), but the fact that the puking has entirely stopped since she got to WOGA seems like a sign we should probably all pay attention to. My only hope for her is that she is able to reach a point where she either has joy in the sport or can leave the sport on her own terms.

 

[Kittentoes]

And the barfing is acknowledged.

 

[crdubb17]

It’ll be interesting to see how the anxiety is once she competes again. I’m glad she’s in a better place, both physically and mentally.