The sport of gymnastics continues to face scrutiny from the fallout of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Last month, four elite American gymnasts testified at a Senate hearing about the abuse they had suffered by Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics doctor, and their feelings of betrayal from FBI investigators and USA Gymnastics and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee officials. There is a proposed plan that would allow USA Gymnastics, the sport’s national governing body, to emerge from bankruptcy and include a $425 million settlement with those victims of abuse.
Meanwhile, one move USA Gymnastics adopted in December 2020 in looking to the future was the creation of an Athlete Bill of Rights. The stated goal: Unite the gymnastics community around a shared vision of behavioral expectations to protect athletes from all forms of abuse.
“It’s a north star as to how we feel athletes should be treated by all of our community members,” USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung said at the Aspen Institute’s Project Play Summit, noting that gymnasts were a vital voice in creating the document. “It’s about the right to participate in an environment that’s safe for them.”
Moderator Tom Farrey asked Leung how the public knows that the Bill of Rights isn’t simply a public relations exercise in service of an embattled National Governing Body. Leung said the Bill of Rights is one of many steps USA Gymnastics has taken to improve safety.
“I took the organization over in March 2019,” she said. “We are an organization that has new people, has new policies and has new priorities. We’ve created a whole new mission statement which is really focused on the holistic development of the athlete. We’re no longer about the technical development of the athlete in the gym. We’re really much more about holistically developing athletes to set them up for life beyond the sport itself.”
What if someone violates the Bill of Rights? Leung said all eight tenets of the document are codified to a part of USA Gymnastics’ code of ethical conduct. Violations can be reported to the ethics and grievance committee.
Farrey noted some countries’ Olympic committees don’t even fund elite gymnastics for youth – only grassroots – because the training violates the rights of children by asking so much of them so early, lending the training to abuse. If the U.S. gymnastics community can’t change the culture of elite gymnastics, Farrey asked, should elite gymnastics even be supported?
“Yes, I think they should be supported,” Leung said. “What we’re seeing is a little bit of a shift within elite gymnastics. … We are seeing a shift that the length of the gymnastics career is lengthening. The reason, I believe, is the training is becoming more longterm and sustainable from a physical standpoint.”
Leung said she speaks with other NGBs about the Bill of Rights and finds an inaccurate perception that creating such a document is a daunting process. “The Bill of Rights is essentially a way all organizations should be treating their athletes, so I don’t think there should be a fear of creating a document,” she said.
In August, Project Play adopted its own, separate resource called Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports. The resource is designed to create a shared cultural understanding that all youth should have the opportunity to develop as people through sports.
“By using a tool like this, it’s super simple, you can get laser-focused on what matters,” said Chris Snyder, vice president of operations at i9 Sports, which is using the Bill of Rights. “Then the proof is in the pudding. If you can deliver, you should celebrate. If you’re not delivering in those areas, here’s a road map backed by all that data and conversations we’ve had over a decade, put your time into these areas, and these are the things that will really matter.”
See how Starlings Volleyball and i9 Sports are using the Children's Bill of Rights in Sports.
ESPN, Beyond Sport launch Return to Play Fund
Nearly half of youth who are Hispanic (47%) and Black (42%) have resumed sports at a lower level than before the pandemic, compared to 31% of White youth, according to Project Play and Utah State University research. To help support marginalized communities of color come back to sports, ESPN and Beyond Sport have partnered on the Return to Play Fund.
“We have one chance to reengage young people, and if we don’t do it right by applying the whole child experience, we could lose these kids again,” said Angela Woods, senior director of ESPN Corporate Citizenship.
To get more youth of color playing sports, wraparound services for the entire family are necessary, said Los Angeles Dodgers CEO Nichol Whiteman. That means taking into account reduced or no fees, transportation and other barriers preventing some kids from participating. Many times, low-income families don’t even recognize they won’t be turned away from a sports organization due to costs if they inform the league about their situation.
The most common way for youth sports programs to make room for low-income kids is using scholarships. But Rachel Banner, director of park access for the National Recreation and Park Association, said there are better ways to do that. Among them: offering a sliding scale for families that don’t require paperwork to demonstrate need.
ESPN anchor Michael Eaves said it’s vital to educate Black and Hispanic communities that playing sports to become a pro athlete can’t be the only goal. Parents of Black youth rated the pursuit of a pro sports opportunity as 26% more important than White parents, according to 2019 research by Project Play and Utah State.
“Playing in a sport can lead to greater careers, like at ESPN or the Dodgers (front office), without playing a pro sport,” said Eaves, while also noting that physical activity is such an important outlet for kids to cope with frustration and anxiety.
“The only way we don’t leave our children out who want to participate but who are not elite is we really need to support the recreational model. Part of that is also supporting the schools model. It’s meeting kids where they’re at.”
Nichol Whiteman, Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation CEO
Coach the kid first and then the sport
When MOJO founder Ben Sherwood thinks of his own playing career as a child, he remembers being afraid. Afraid of every ball. Afraid of getting kicked. Afraid of everything. He also remembers how his Little League coach believed he was still worth something.
“The most important thing in coaching is to see the kid and to understand the kid and meet the kid where the kid is,” Sherwood said. “What you’re really doing is coaching the kid first and then the sport.”
Project Play Western New York Director Daycia Clarke, a longtime running coach, said preparing for practice is the most difficult challenge. “There’s so much energy that’s expended in advance of practice that the kids are not getting your full self,” she said.
“You don’t send a volunteer into the math classroom to teach math. … But for some reason in this country and in many places in the world, we send a volunteer with no training and a PDF from 1994 or a YouTube video from 2006 onto the field to be coaches and help kids in something that’s critical to their growth and development. For some reason we think it’s OK. Good luck to you. You’ll figure it out.”
Ben Sherwood, founder/CEO of MOJO and former president of Disney ABC Television, on the state of youth coaching
Psychologist: Most coaches are inadequately trained in mental health
According to the CDC, between March and May 2020, hospitals across the country saw a 24% increase in mental health emergency visits by kids ages 5-11 and 31% increase for youth 12-17. Sports can be a frontline to identify red flags, but psychologist Dr. Kevin Chapman estimates only 10%-15% of youth coaches are adequately trained in mental skills.
Coaches will never be trained psychologists. Chapman believes a reasonable expectation is for coaches to be trained in areas such as leadership, communication, nutrition, healthy play, bullying, mental imagery, and performance anxiety. “These are all things readily accessible to coaches,” Chapman said. “I just think we have to do a better job at the top-down level of making coaches more aware, and I’d argue it ought to be mandatory.”
Check out resources from Project Play and TrueSport to help teach coaches.
“A lot of coaches try to motivate athletes by punishing and saying, ‘Stop turning the ball over.’ … In reality, we’ve known since the beginning of psychology that what increases behavior is using a statement that’s more reinforcing. Say, ‘Have better ball control.’ It’s conveying the exact same thing but ultimately it’s saying what I want to see you do as opposed to what I don’t want to see you do.”
Dr. Kevin Chapman, founder and director, Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders
Opportunities for youth sports at the state government level
In spring 2020, New York became the first state to dedicate tax revenues from legalized sports betting to sports-based youth development programs. Monica Wallace, the New York state assemblymember who drove the effort, advised community leaders hoping to start similar efforts, “I thought it was absolutely imperative that we get that funding stream going when [the new budget] passed, and not try to do it after. Because once the bill passed, and the revenue was allocated elsewhere, it would be much harder because now you’re pulling back from another need in the state.”
In Massachusetts, state lawmaker Barry Finegold is sponsoring a bill to create government oversight of the youth sports system in the state, following the bankruptcy of the state’s largest for-profit youth sports organizer. “This has been bubbling up,” Finegold noted. “I think sometimes, when the federal government does not set forth rules and regulations, it’s the state that needs to step in and potentially put forth some legislation to look at this.” Finegold’s bill is currently in front of the public health committee in Boston.
Download a tip sheet from Project Play and the PLAY Sports Coalition on creating local youth sports advocacy efforts.
Registration opens for Project Play Summit 2022
The Project Play Summit is returning in-person – and you don’t have to wait as long as usual. We’re moving our annual event to the spring, so it’s less than five months away. Join us March 9, 2022, at the historic Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington D.C.
Early-bird registration is now open with reduced prices. Act now before the Summit sells out. Don’t miss the unparalleled networking opportunities with peers and inspiring leaders at our first in-person Summit in three years. Register at as.pn/ppsummit22.
Jon Solomon is editorial director of the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative. He can be reached at jon.solomon@aspeninstitute.org.