A Call For Change: Ensuring Ethical Conduct

PART THREE

Gymnasts for Change asked a panel of experts from across the world what key change they’d like to see – to the culture, competition format or code – to make gymnastics a safer sport for all. Here’s what Kay Salisbury, Nikki Kimpton, Andy Piekarski, Claire Heafford and Jennifer Sey had to say.

Kay Salisbury

Psychotherapist & former coach and gymnast

 Empathy makes the world a better place and is essential for all healthy relationships. In my view, the culture of gymnastics too often misses the opportunity to create rich, nurturing relationships that promote growth and self-confidence, and instead fosters unstable bonds based on toxic interactions, which are detrimental to the gymnast and risks severe physical and mental injuries. The absence of ‘empathetic concern’ is valued in a world of gymnastics where ‘emotional numbness’ and a ‘submissive demeanour’ is desired as more ‘coachable’ than a child with a higher sense of self-esteem.

As a psychotherapist and former gymnast/coach, going forward I’d like to see a shift in the power dynamics of the sport, where we strive to create relationships that are based on a more mutual footing between athletes, coaches and governing bodies. In particular, I’d like to see the implementation of an ethical framework as part of a new ‘healthy strategy’ - similar to those seen in sectors bounded by a duty of care such as teaching & the care sector. As part of this healthy strategy I’d like to see a scheme of education delivered by British Gymnastics which encourages those who hold positions of authority in the sport to develop and value the capacity to be self-reflective, showing empathy and respect for themselves and others at all times. 

Nikki Kimpton

Gymnastics Parent

As story after story of athlete mistreatment hit the headlines following the Netflix documentary Athlete A, a recurring question was raised ‘where were the parents?’ This is a valid question, and one I would most likely have asked if the abhorrent events described in the media were in any other setting. At the elite level, where the training hours are immense and the stakes high, parents are often pushed into the shadows of their child’s sporting life rendering children vulnerable to abusive practices.

A collaborative parent coach partnership is essential for the safeguarding of children in sport. Open communication, parental viewing of practices and mutual respect are required to breakdown the power differentials that currently exist. Parents have a right to question coaching behaviours they may feel uncomfortable with -  without judgement or fear of reprisal. Hopefully, once parents are viewed as a valued part of the process rather than the problem, we will no longer have to ask ‘where were the parents?

Andy Piekarski

British Gymnastics coaching tutor & former BG Regional Development Officer 

I have been coaching gymnastics for over 40 years and first began working for BG before the creation of their welfare department (now the Integrity Unit). In my time as a BG tutor I have therefore seen a number of iterations of the coaching syllabus, which has evolved to keep pace with safeguarding & child protections measures. During this time, one key issue I have observed is that in any cohort of gymnasts, some children are keener to please than others and can appear to soak up and respond to punishment. These children are often the gymnasts who are considered to be the ‘right kind of kids’ for gymnastics.

Coaches who use punishment to motivate their gymnasts, can start down a negative path that becomes destructive to their performers. Such coaches tend to dominate the children, resorting to emotional and physical abuse as they see fit. I’ve seen such coaches initially get good competition results, with parents, gymnasts and clubs who have high expectations, satisfied by the results - giving these coaches reason to think that their methods are what are needed. Longer-term consequences however are not considered and within this system there is always another new hopeful when the current No. 1’s performance starts to decline, as it invariably does, typically leaving a damaged personality or worse.

At the policy level at least, the needs and wellbeing of the gymnast have always come first and as a BG coaching tutor & assessor, I have delivered many presentations stressing the importance of looking after our young performers. Such presentations have always had a positive response, seemingly with all in agreement. So what has and is going wrong?

For me the brutal truth is that you can talk all you like, but there will always be a few who nod in agreement then go their own way. No amount of course logic, be it face-to-face or online, will make any difference.

I would therefore like to see three key changes:

Firstly a clear code of coaching conduct must be included within the BG membership package & restated in the membership terms & conditions.

Secondly, British Gymnastics must begin working in partnership with parents to promote this code of conduct widely, embedding it within the culture of gymnastics to show that everyone has a responsibility to stay vigilant, talk to gymnasts about their gym experience and take away the stigma of reporting concerns to the integrity unit.

Thirdly, the names of coaches who are investigated and found to be in breach of the code should be made publicly available on a register so abusive coaches can no longer hide in plain sight.

Claire Heafford

Level 2 coach, former gymnast & Gymnasts for Change founder

In far too many cases, the gatekeepers of our sport are hostile, authoritarian bullies. Instead of dedicating their skills and energy to the creation of a welcoming sport for all, these coaches and officials use emotional manipulation, defensive communication styles and coercive control to maintain their own positions of power. At the elite level, these training environments haemorrhage athletic talent at an alarming rate.

My mission is to raise awareness of how bullying and coercive control are used within our sport to perpetuate abusive coaching practices. I want to highlight the long-term impact and devastating effects that such coaching techniques have on the lives of the victims. Through litigation & changes to the legal system, I want to push case law so that ‘Coercive Control’ can be applied outside of domestic settings to achieve convictions within sporting contexts. It is my belief that an extension to the laws around Coercive Control will help to create a safer more successful British Gymnastics, where athletes at every level can participate in the sport they love, free from the threat of bullying or abuse.

Jennifer Sey

Former US National Champion, author of Chalked Up and co-producer of Athlete A

The most critical thing I’d like to see happen in the sport I was raised in is for coaches to treat their athletes as full human beings, with kindness and respect. For the sport to flourish, coaches and leaders in gymnastics must recognise that the power of youth sports is in teaching children to respect themselves and others, to learn from their mistakes, to persevere in the face of adversity, to love and respect their teammates. 

We would never accept a teacher yelling at a child struggling to learn to read, to say to that child: “I don’t teach stupid kids”. It’s unthinkable as an effective motivating tactic. So why is the equivalent in sport acceptable? Why is it even more acceptable when directed at a talented “promising” athlete? The simple answer is – it isn’t. Not only is it cruel, it doesn’t work! We lose more talented athletes than we gain winners when we accept this approach as necessary to win. 

I want parents to raise their kids, their daughters in particular, to speak up, use their voices. To never accept poor treatment. To know they deserve to be listened to. To be asked how they are feeling. To be asked if they are in pain. To learn to make choices for themselves. I want children to know that obedience is not a virtue. Instil blind obedience at your child’s peril. 

While a child may never need to speak up and say “No, I won’t be treated this way”, it’s critical to instil in a child that she always knows she can and should if she is uncomfortable, being mistreated, being emotionally manipulated or physically abused. 

Parents and athletes have the power to change the current culture in gymnastics. If we love our kids they will believe they are worthy of love. If we teach them their voices matter, they believe it and they will use them accordingly. If we abuse them or allow them to be mistreated, they believe that is what they are worthy of. And that will have grave and lasting consequences.

Let’s teach them they deserve love and kindness. When they know this, they will insist upon it on their own.