Statement #1—Athletes' Long-Term Personal Growth—We believe all athletes should be training in environments that promote long-term personal growth in addition to gymnastics excellence. All athletes should be empowered to develop their character and skills to grow personally and manage both the demands of gymnastics and the transition into meaningful callings once their gymnastic careers have concluded.

From Statement #1, do you believe the current gymnastics industry as a whole or the coaching ranks are prepared or capable of addressing the athletes' long-term needs as mentioned?

Statement #1—Athletes' Long-Term Personal Growth—We believe all athletes should be training in environments that promote long-term personal growth in addition to gymnastics excellence. All athletes should be empowered to develop their character and skills to grow personally and manage both the demands of gymnastics and the transition into meaningful callings once their gymnastic careers have concluded.

From Statement #1, do you believe the long-term development of athletes is the responsibility of the governing federation, the gym owner, or a combination of all industry parties such as gym owners, club coaches, college coaches, etc

Statement #1—Athletes' Long-Term Personal Growth—We believe all athletes should be training in environments that promote long-term personal growth in addition to gymnastics excellence. All athletes should be empowered to develop their character and skills to grow personally and manage both the demands of gymnastics and the transition into meaningful callings once their gymnastic careers have concluded.

From Statement #1, do you believe it would be prudent and valuable to create a tool for coaches associations to develop, implement and measure athlete development, wellbeing, transition, health and safety standards

Statement #1—Athletes' Long-Term Personal Growth—We believe all athletes should be training in environments that promote long-term personal growth in addition to gymnastics excellence. All athletes should be empowered to develop their character and skills to grow personally and manage both the demands of gymnastics and the transition into meaningful callings once their gymnastic careers have concluded.

From Statement #1, do you believe coaches currently have the tools available to keep themselves healthy—tools provided by gym owners, the federation, coaches associations, etc.

Statement #2—Coaches' Long-Term Personal Growth—We believe the long-term physical, mental health, and social well-being of coaches should be maximized as the front-line gate-keepers to help provide the all-important healthy athlete personal growth. It is essential, as children, athletes are safeguarded. Equally, career, physical, and mental health issues experienced by coaches in the sport require careful preventative measures and ongoing care and investment. In turn, a healthy coach can provide better for their athletes.

For Statement #2 to be realized, do you agree gymnastics will need to collaborate with the athletes, coaches, and their associations and build on a shared principled coaches commitment

Statement #3—Duty of Care—Gymnastics organizations and employers exercise substantial control over the environment in which coaches work and pursue their sports careers. They, therefore, owe their coaches a legal duty of care. Coaches and their associations enjoy a relationship of trust and confidence with each other. In most countries, coach associations owe their members a fiduciary duty.

From Statement #3, do you feel confident in the federation's ability to provide a trusted relationship on which to build healthy coaches or create an environment for coaches to be the front-line athlete gate-keepers 

Statement #4—Commitment—Advancement of an athlete’s development and well-being must be guided by an agreed-upon principled commitment to an “athlete-driven approach’ (approach driven by the best interests of the athlete as a person and an individual, and not the club, coach or federation). This ‘whole person' approach sees the athlete beyond the gymnast and embraces their mind, body, heart, and spirit.

From Statement #4, do you believe the gymnastics industry needs to collaborate with athletes, their coaches, and gymnastics facility owners—and be built on a shared athlete commitment

Statement #4—Commitment—Advancement of an athlete’s development and well-being must be guided by an agreed-upon principled commitment to an “athlete-driven approach’ (approach driven by the best interests of the athlete as a person and an individual, and not the club, coach or federation). This ‘whole person’ approach sees the athlete beyond the gymnast and embraces their mind, body, heart, and spirit

From Statement #4, do you agree or disagree that coaches, gym owners, and the federation exercise substantial control over the environment in which gymnasts work and pursue gymnastics. USA Gymnastics is an independent organization controlled by its members. Athletes, coaches, and their respective associations should enjoy a relationship of trust and confidence with each other and owe their members a fiduciary duty.

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches–As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Education—Ensure coaches can access science-driven and tailored education courses, programs, and services to establish they are qualified both within and beyond gymnastics 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Inclusion—Create and promote respect, courtesy, and consideration of coaches' diversity through awareness programs addressing cultural, racial, and religious differences and sexual preference 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Health and Well-being—Enhance the physical health, mental health, and social well-being of coaches during their careers through the provision of professional advice, care, and treatment, initiatives in education, support services, and skill development for those they (the coaches) are working with. 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Coach Development Agreements (CDAs)—Encourage gymnastics bodies, employers, coaches associations, and coaches (within the framework of collective bargaining) to negotiate and enter agreements that clearly define and help fund coach development and well-being programs 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Coaches' Rights—Encourage itself to protect, respect, and uphold the human rights and fundamental freedoms of coaches. This includes basic lawful “innocent until proven guilty” accusations and findings. 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches–As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Research—Encourage itself, employers, coaches associations, and those connected with coaches, to actively research and promote knowledge of activities seeking to assess the impact of elite sport on a coach’s personal wellbeing, work-life balance, social networks, and more 

Statement #5—Effective Collaboration-Coaches—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to coaches:

Working Environment—Ensure all coaches work in a safe working environment that supports and encourages their physical and mental health, safety, development, and wellbeing, including sufficient access to qualified medical care, support personnel, and dedicated CDMs. 

Statement #6—Effective Collaboration-Athletes—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to athletes:

Resources—Ensure all can freely access adequately resourced development and wellbeing programs (Programs are most effectively delivered independently by associations acting in the best interests of the gymnasts in a manner aligned with the demands and requirements of the gymnastics environment) 

Statement #6—Effective Collaboration-Athletes—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to athletes:

Places the development, safety, and well-being of athletes at the center 

Statement #6—Effective Collaboration-Athletes—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to athletes:

Health and Well-being—Implement minimum medical standards for the care and treatment of gymnasts in high-performance environments, including injury, injury prevention, long-term injury support, and development of protocols on matters such as head injuries, concussion, heat, travel, and scheduling. Standards should provide for access to doctors, physiotherapists, trainers, accredited sports scientists, and other relevant personnel and facilities. 

Statement #6—Effective Collaboration-Athletes—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to athletes:

Mental health—Provide athletes with access to confidential counseling services away from their club so individual privacy and confidentiality can be respected 

Statement #6—Effective Collaboration-Athletes—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to athletes:

Transition—Ensure gymnasts effectively transition into, during, and from gymnastics by providing them with access to comprehensive programs which can enhance their personal development, resilience, and well-being 

Statement #7—Federation Evaluations—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to its membership, and should implement and publish:

Evaluation-Personnel—Ensure all who work for or with USA Gymnastics undergo an annual 360º review from not only management but those working below the employee/volunteer. Because USAG is a non-profit membership organization, all levels of personnel should be reviewed. The review would be based on the job description as stated in the Strategic 4-6 Year Plan 

Statement #7—Federation Evaluations—As a general principle, effective collaboration should ensure USA Gymnastics meets its duty of care to its membership, and should implement and publish

Evaluation-Organization/Board of Directors—Overall evaluation of adherence to the mission statement and vision 

Statement #8—Federation Information—“If it is all that you know, how can you tell when something is not acceptable?” USA Gymnastics, as the certified governing body for US gymnastics, has an obligation under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978

To provide and coordinate technical information on physical training, equipment design, coaching, and performance analysis 

To encourage and support research, development, and dissemination of information in the areas of sports medicine and sports safety

USA Gymnastics no longer produces its former publications, “USA Gymnastics” and “Technique” which provided its membership with vital research information, international rules clarifications, science-driven material, and more. As part of the membership perks, US coaches and educators no longer have a dedicated avenue of education and information relative to increasing the knowledge base of its members. Without this cutting-edge material, the slow erosion of our coaches' knowledge base has occurred 

For Statement #8, do you agree the gymnastics federation should provide, as part of the membership, much-needed science, research, and general guidance articles and papers for the education of its members

Statement #9—Sports Protection—“There is such a contradiction between what you see, which appears like the athlete is at the center of everything and cared for when in fact it is the sport that people protect, not the athlete.”

For Statement #9, do you agree or disagree

Statement #10—Coaching Fear—“Am I saying and doing the right thing at the right time?”

For Statement #10, have you thought these or similar words, or expressed these feelings, within your coaching and training of your athletes since the Nassar fallout

Statement #11—Empowered Transparency—1) “We need to have policies that encourage transparency, give permission to have honest conversations, and try to break down this enormous stigma.” 2) “This cannot be done alone. We need to be less isolated and work together to support each other.” 3) “By feeling empowered ourselves, we are in a stronger position to support athletes and guide them to the help they need.”

Please agree or disagree with Statement #11 three (3) quotes 

Statement #12—Vicarious Trauma—The trauma of others will have a significant impact on you and your functioning, potentially leaving you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, pessimistic, helpless, and even hopeless. This can become a vicious cycle, leading to compassion (or battle) fatigue, and ultimately burnout, where you can feel unable to do your job. 

However, with good support for you, a reasonable balance between your work and life, and specific strategies to address Vicarious Trauma, you can learn to deal more effectively with this. How you model your own day-to-day coping is important for your colleagues, family, and friends as well as the athletes you support.

For Statement #12, have you experienced “Vicarious Trauma”, thoughts of quitting gymnastics coaching, or something similar since the fallout of Nassar

Statement #12—The trauma of others will have a significant impact on you and your functioning, potentially leaving you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, pessimistic, helpless, and even hopeless. This can become a vicious cycle, leading to compassion (or battle) fatigue, and ultimately burnout, where you can feel unable to do your job. 

However, with good support for you, a reasonable balance between your work and life, and specific strategies to address Vicarious Trauma, you can learn to deal more effectively with this. How you model your own day-to-day coping is important for your colleagues, family, and friends as well as the athletes you support.

RATE: 1-5

1—LITTLE

3—OCCASIONAL

5—MAJOR THOUGHTS ABOUT QUITTING

Statement #12—The trauma of others will have a significant impact on you and your functioning, potentially leaving you feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, pessimistic, helpless, and even hopeless. This can become a vicious cycle, leading to compassion (or battle) fatigue, and ultimately burnout, where you can feel unable to do your job. 

However, with good support for you, a reasonable balance between your work and life, and specific strategies to address Vicarious Trauma, you can learn to deal more effectively with this. How you model your own day-to-day coping is important for your colleagues, family, and friends as well as the athletes you support.

HOW MANY COACHES DO YOU PERSONALLY KNOW WHO HAVE QUIT THE SPORT