Men's Program At USOPTC Shutting Down; EVO to privately fund much of team

[Passion]

 

[Doug1233]

He seems like a really wholesome and nice guy.

 

[Yarotska]

I’mma keep side-eyeing Syque ever since he did that entire twitter thread subtweeting Donnell and how he earned his spot on the team.

 

[Passion]

I’mma keep side-eyeing Syque ever since he did that entire twitter thread subtweeting Donnell and how he earned his spot on the team.

Are you talking about this thread? I don’t know how you got that from this. Unless you mean another thread. I thought this one was pretty diplomatic. Maybe he shouldn’t have said he was shocked Shane wasn’t named alternate, but that’s a dig at Yul not Donnell. It’s not like it’s a secret that the bonus system is the only reason Donnell was on the team, everyone already knew that. He was 6th without the bonus.

What I took away was there was nothing Shane could have mathematically done to make the team numbers-wise at Trials. And if that’s the case, what was the point of Shane going to Trials? It shouldn’t be impossible before Trials begin because of a competition that happened 2 months earlier. Shane literally won day 2 of selection camp. He beat Yul both day 1 and day 2 in October, but Yul was named alternate because of what happened in August. I don’t feel he’s wrong to say maybe we could explore some changes in the process.

I don’t even disagree with the team they took, they were all so bunched together you could have taken any of them. I doubt it would have changed anything at Worlds either way. Sucks for Shane though.

 

[irichluck21]

I think they realized that allowing someone like Donnell to auto-qualify for Worlds by finishing 2nd with bonus isn’t fair overall as said bonus does not exist anywhere else.

 

[Doug1233]

what was the point of Shane going to Trials?

I guess there’s always room for someone to get injured?

 

[Passion]

An update from Syque Caesar. I’m going to copy and paste all of this instead of posting multiple twitter links, the first tweet is the start of the thread if you would like to click through.

The USOPTC, originally USOTC, Men’s Resident Program was founded by Ron Brant on Jan 3, 1990.

Brant was head coach until 2000. He was the National Team Coordinator from 2000 - 2009. He has been the High Performance Director of Acrobat and Combat Sports for the USOPC since 2009.

As head coach, Brant produced the program’s first World Team Member, Paul O’Neil, in ‘94. That was followed up with John McCready making the World Team in ‘95 that qualified USA to the ‘96 Olympics. After that, the program continually produced World and Olympic Teams members.

During Brant’s tenure as NTC, USA men earned 3 gold, 2 silver, & 2 bronze medals at World Champs and 1 gold, 3 silver, & 1 bronze at the Olympics; earned 1st back-to-back Olympic team medals; and the best Olympic medal performances since 1984 & best world medal tally since 1979.

Since Brant, there have been 3 Head Coaaches of the program: Vitaly Marinitch (now coaching for the MAG French National Team), Andriy Stepanchenko, and…me.

There were big shoes to fill. I was extremely honored to have been chosen to continue the program’s legacy. Then…

Some interesting news came through the grapevine near the end of March about a new MAG training center being created in Florida. I initially just brushed it aside…but probably shouldn’t have!

Things got more interesting when Sam Mikulak accepted a job offer to start in June.

By the time US Champs came along in August, there were a ton of new developments with the Powers Gymnastics Group and EVO Gymnastics in Sarasota.

And I was told that as an unintended consequence, the Resident Program and my job were NOT secured.

So it was a stressful week.

While the resident athletes and I knew the end was near, it was made official on November 14th that the program would be dissolved. No matter how prepared we were, it was still a shock to see it in writing

I sent a newsletter out to current resident program athletes and alums, whose emails I was able to gather over several months, with a summary of the year and the future of the program - this is the email that @GymCastic referred to at the beginning of this thread.

I was upset they didn’t contact me first before posting publicly - it was still VERY fresh and I didn’t want the athletes to get bombarded with questions/comments if they weren’t quite ready to make any personal statements. Please respect their space and privacy at this time ray:t5:

As far as the USOPTC is concerned, MAG National Team Camps are still slated to take place there - in fact, the next one on Dec 17-21 will be there.

USOPTC will likely transition to a resource center for USAG Men’s Program - think camps, seminars, clinics, meets, PT/rehab, etc. Although extremely saddened at the situation, I have a lot to be grateful for. I had a wonderful experience with @USAGym - I was treated well and felt valued. Working with Brett McClure and Jason Woodnick was especially great! So what’s next?

I am excited to announce that I have accepted a job offer at EVO Gymnastics!

I am thankful to be able to continue doing what I love! I look forward to new challenges, helping to build something special, and finally be closer to family.

EVO Gymnastics will be able to provide its men’s senior team members salaries, with performance-based bonuses, as well as access to a full-time athletic trainer and recovery center, among other resources.

FINALLY - our senior MAG athletes can truly be professional athletes!

This could be EXACTLY what the USA Men’s Program needs right now!

I am hopeful and optimistic that this program will be able to do some amazing things!

There will certainly be more information coming over the next several months. I have been told that there will be no public statement from USAG regarding the dissolution of the USOPTC Men’s Resident Program.

I am happy to answer any questions you guys may have!

End of thread.

 

[rlayt]

this is the email that @GymCastic referred to at the beginning of this thread.

I was upset they didn’t contact me first before posting publicly - it was still VERY fresh and I didn’t want the athletes to get bombarded with questions/comments if they weren’t quite ready to make any personal statements. Please respect their space and privacy at this time ray:t5:

Once again Gymcastic.

 

[QuietColours]

A training center shutting down is major sports news. Why would a media organization focused on that sport not report it immediately? That’s their job. The men training there are adult professional athletes who should expect major changes in their program to be reported.

 

[navyblue]

Yeah, I mean Syque has a right to his feelings and it’s sweet that he would want to shelter the athletes, but Gymcastic didn’t violate any norms. It’s why you’ll often see the phrase in news Mr. Smith was not immediately available for comment, because journalists might call one of the subjects of their breaking news story, but in cases where they don’t pick up the phone right away, it’s essentially just a courtesy notice (not asking permission) for a story that’s about to get rushed to print or broadcast.

 

[rlayt]

I was still feeling a little raw about what Gymcastic did with Konnor.

 

[RedBirdie]

I do see his point regarding the fact that Gymcastic didn’t contact him. “Syque, we have a copy of the e-mail you wrote, and we are going to post. Do you have any additional comments?” That’s not hard to do. It sounds like there wasn’t even an attempt to reach out to him.

 

[Doug1233]

Did Jessica ever apologise for retiring Konnor?

 

[rlayt]

To EVO:

 

[HappyMama]

Is this whole things reminding anyone else of a somewhat similar attempt a decade-plus ago? That fell apart, and the whole thing just gave me a very weird vibe. I can’t remember what the name of it was (shed a tear for the loss of WWG, because we discussed it extensively there, iirc). But we had a lot of the same questions about where is the money coming from, how reliable is this?

And what exactly is Power Gymnastics Group? Google turns up almost nothing.

Pretty sure they are the same group that buys out gyms and gets rid of their Women’s team programs except for Xcel (usually with no warning at all, I heard one gym had elite hopefuls and their program was cut before a big competition - NC). They also have no gymnastics classes available for boys after age 6 at most of their gyms, unless they want to do their Ninja classes. Funny that they are funding the Men’s Elite Program when they don’t seem to believe little boys should have access to gymnastics classes. But it’s all about making money for this group, so I guess it’s just another way.

If it’s the same group, the owners are Jill Powers and Trevor Thompson. They have bought gyms in several states (NV, AZ, TX and NC that I know of) and pretty much do the same thing with every one. My daughter’s team had no notice given and then we were told they were no longer offering compulsories or optionals, only Xcel.

 

[RedBirdie]

Very interesting, and thank you for the insight. Sounds like they’re not exactly great people.

 

[Doug1233]

He calls gymnastics a “small dying sport” yikes!

 

[rlayt]

I hope the men going there asked questions. It’s not sounding like a long-term legitimate option.

 

[OnoNoKomachi]

The similar attempt about a decade ago was not the same people.

That was Manny Galarza and Gattaca. It didn’t end well.

I believe he moved on to football.

EVO from what I heard will pay these guys decent money.

 

[MAGfan]

Pretty sure he is referring to MAG, so not a completely inaccurate representation.