President’s Message
Sandy Knapp announced last month my intention to return to my home in Seattle this fall to head up its effort to secure the USOC bid city designation for the 2012 Olympic Games. I have several more months to serve as President and so will not say my final goodbye yet. But I would be completely remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our members for the rewarding experience I have had, and continue to have, as President of this organization. It is a reflection of the tremendous energy, commitment and passion of the gymnastics community. During my tenure as President we have tried to emphasize member services and broadening our commitment to the clubs, coaches and services provided to the broad base of the gymnastics community, while maintaining a commitment to excellence for all three of the national teams in our Olympic disciplines.
One of the areas in which we continue to work is safety and coaches education. As you are aware, the Board of Directors has adopted a policy that all professional members must be safety certified by August 1, 1998. We are setting a record pace for safety certifications as this deadline approaches.
To improve our processing of safety certifications and ensure monitoring of safety courses, we moved responsibility for the safety certification programs to the Member Services Division. Steve Whitlock, who pioneered our Safety Education program, remains with USA Gymnastics focusing on the development of General Gymnastics, the Website and the USA Gymnastics Congress. Steve will also serve a vital role in content development for our safety and coaching education programs.
Along with the move of safety certification, the Member Services Division is administering the Professional Development Programs I and II and the Kinder Accreditation Programs. Both the content and administration of these programs will be reviewed in the next several months.
Meanwhile, our commitment to coaches education continues to grow. The Talent Opportunity Program (TOP's) in the Women's Program provides an important opportunity for those interested in coaching at the elite level to be educated by some of the top clinicians in the nation. Not only are we reaching a lot of coaches this way, but additionally the TOP's program is showing great results. Remembering that we started TOP's in 1992, it is a remarkable fact that we have one member of our Senior International Team, eight members of the Junior International Team and 10 members of our Child/Junior/Senior National Teams that have been a part of the TOP's program. These 19 athletes are out of a total of 72 on these teams. Equally important, these athletes come from 15 clubs, including eight clubs who have never before had an elite program. The Elite Program Committee and Gary Warren, who manages this program in the office, are to be congratulated on its success.
The Women's Program is planning the development of additional coaches education programs in conjunction with the Member Services Department. These programs, which will be piloted this fall, will provide coaching instruction for all levels of coaches and be offered by some of the top clinicians in the nation. Please look for the announcement of this exciting new opportunity.
The Future Stars Program, launched by the Men's Program in 1996, has placed an even greater emphasis on coaches education than the Olympic Development Program it replaced. In 1996, this program included a division for 10-11 year olds, in 1997 a 12-year-old division was added and in 1998 a 6-9 year old division will be added. In 1997, 100 coaches attended the coaches workshop. I am sure that this program will continue to produce many National Team Members.
Both of these programs, and efforts in the rhythmic program, will be analyzed with the Professional Development Program as Member Services and our program staff continue our emphasis on coaches education and development.
I hope many of you read Dr. Michel Léglise's very interesting paper in the last issue of Technique, a paper which was also presented at the Berlin FIG Symposium. Dr. Léglise provides very direct answers to some of the questions you as a coach or judge may be asked by parents, including: Does the specific and intensive practice of gymnastics limit growth, and therefore adult height? and Doesn't the practice of gymnastics cause certain disorders, such as delayed bone structure development, late menstruation, menstrual disorders, etc.? To both of these he answers a resounding no.
The work of the Medical Commission in providing answers to issues raised by the media and reflected in parents questions is very important to the development of gymnastics world wide and in the United States. Dr. Dan Benardot, of Georgia State University, has been appointed as an Expert to the Medical Commission and is directly involved in its work and research.
The educational materials being developed by our Athlete Wellness Program will, I hope, provide critical assistance and information for coaches and parents involved in our programs. The information developed for the use of the National Teams is applicable to our Junior Olympic athletes and the Wellness Program provides a means of disseminating that information.
I well appreciate that many coaches are concerned about how to deal with issues of strength and weight and many feel frozen at the switch-afraid to say the wrong thing or to be misunderstood by the athlete or parent. Please use the expertise provided in the National Health Care Referral Network. These professionals have been selected because of their professional knowledge and commitment to the sport of gymnastics. The further development of the Wellness Program curriculum, under the able leadership of Nancy Marshall, will provide additional assistance.
Congratulations to St. Petersburg and the clubs involved there for the very successful hosting of the Reese's Gymnastics Cup. We have announced that St. Petersburg will host the 1999 Visa American Cup and 3 on 3 International Gymnastics Cup. I am confident they will repeat the great success of the 1998 Reese's Cup.
I hope you saw the American Team Cup coverage on April 11 and April 18 on NBC. It was a great meet for our Senior Men's Team and Senior Women's Team-both of whom won against Romania and China. This meet also includes a Junior competition, which is great for our future development since our juniors have few chances to experience team competition. And thank you to the clubs and volunteers in Knoxville who worked hard to make this event a success.
This article appears in the May 1998 issue of Technique, Vol. 18, No. 5.
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