HOW TO PROTECT YOUNG ATHLETES FROM THE LARRY NA SSA RS
In the last week, more than 130 girls and women have testified bravely in a Michigan courtroom at a sentencing hearing for Nassar.
In its ethical guidelines, the American Medical Association says doctors should have chaperones when examining patients.
In the world of sports, that rarely happens. Doctors become trusted members of teams. It is assumed they will honor their professional oaths and take care of the boys and girls, or the men and women, who count on them.
Larry Nassar, a doctor for the USA Gymnastics federation and Michigan State University, exploited his familiarity with the girls and young women he treated and sexually assaulted them. His standing as a physician insulated him from scrutiny.
It is one of the more abominable scandals we have witnessed in sports. In the last week, more than 130 girls and women have testified bravely in a Michigan courtroom at a sentencing hearing for Nassar, who has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first- degree criminal sexual conduct. He already has been sentenced to 60 years for child pornography.
“You didn’t heal me. You only hurt me,” Isabell Hutchins, a former gymnast, said in court Tuesday. Nassar molested her in his home when she was a teen in 2011, she said. He was supposed to treat her for acute leg pain; she later was diagnosed with a broken leg.
Larry Nassar represents the worst of sports. But he is far from the first adult closely involved with young athletes to be convicted or accused of sexual assault, and he won’t be the last.
When it comes to protecting athletes, sports governing bodies at all levels must establish tougher guidelines. Make it mandatory for doctors and other members of athletic training staffs to have chaperones when they treat kids and teens. Many parents don’t let their young children go into pediatricians’ examining rooms alone without a nurse or aide. It is not OK for a child gymnast, swimmer or basketball player to be alone with someone while attending a practice or camp.
It is that familiarity with a doctor, coach or athletic trainer that leads to young athletes— and their parents— letting down their guard. For many young athletes, their sport is their job. They put in long hours and form bonds with the people around them, who also put in long hours for a common goal.
In gymnastics, a big worry used to be whether the national team coaches played favorites in selecting Olympic teams and whether those coaches were too demanding, sometimes to the point of putting athletes at risk of injury. A new training system was put together at the national level for the most promising young gymnasts, one that could ensure more fairness and churn out champions.
A 2,000- acre ranch in Texas belonging to Bela and Martha Karolyi, two of the most successful Olympic coaches in the world, became the national team headquarters. Nassar had the run of the place. Every four to six weeks, young female gymnasts with Olympic hopes went down to the ranch with their personal coaches for four or five days of training under the instruction of Martha Karolyi and her staff. Including the gymnasts’ personal coaches was supposed to provide a check on the national team coaches.
Some of the sport’s most decorated gymnasts came through that system. Olympic champs Simone Biles and Aly Raisman are two of the country’s all- time greats in the sport. They are also just two of the Olympians who say Nassar molested them. Off the competition floor, the system failed them.
After Biles said on Twitter that she was heartbroken about returning to the ranch to train for the 2020 Olympics because Nassar abused her there, USA Gymnastics cut ties with the ranch.
As the team doctor, Nassar traveled to competitions. Gymnasts say he assaulted them on the road. Gymnasts who trained in Michigan as well as athletes from Michigan State University, where he worked, have said he assaulted them.
Athletes told ESPN that they told Michigan State coaches and athletic trainers in the 1990s that Nassar abused them. Nothing happened. Now there is a call for the university president to step down. We would like to hear more from the many university trustees who say that would be an overreaction.
Gymnastics has purged four executives, including three this week. The sport is in dire need of new leadership.
Coaches, trainers and executives— all who are involved in a sport— are supposed to safeguard athletes’ well- being— not just on the competition floor but every minute athletes are in their care. When it comes to protecting kids and teens, there can be no letting up.