Coaches cop abuse as well as athletes

A former coach at a leading gymnastics club who resigned due to verbal abuse from another coach, says abuse in the sport is systemic.

‘‘The biggest thing that I really want people to understand is that the abuse is systemic and the sport is riddled with it,’’ she said.

‘‘It is not just coach to athlete abuse. It’s coach to coach. It’s manager to coach. It’s parent to coach. It’s parent to athlete.’’

Her admission follows an ongoing Stuff investigation into gymnastics, that has uncovered alleged abusive practices including verbal and psychological abuse, body shaming and athletes expected to compete with serious injuries.

She was a paid employee of the club, contracted for 40 hours, across six days a week.

During her time there, she said she experienced regular verbal abuse by the head coach of the club. This included being screamed at by the head coach when he was standing less than one metre away from her in a small office.

The now former head coach has been contacted by Stuff, but declined to comment.

Some alleged abuse was witnessed by the club CEO, who, according to the former coach, did ‘‘nothing’’ at the time.

The former coach said she regularly cried at work as a result of the alleged verbal abuse, and said the alleged abuse got so bad that her partner had to sit in the gym, so she felt safe in her workplace.

‘‘That’s when it got so bad. I was being belittled constantly. I was fighting to protect those [athletes] every single day,’’ she said.

‘‘I didn’t feel like I had any support in the place besides the [athletes] and I felt so uncomfortable being in my workplace that my partner had to come sit upstairs unannounced, so I felt comfortable just being in the gym.

‘‘And I was a fulltime employee, on salary.’’

She alleged the head coach also ‘‘mistreated’’ athletes. This included not taking injuries seriously, silencing athletes when they spoke up about injuries, and blaming athletes for being injured.

Injuries included concussions, broken fingers, a knee injury that required surgery, and a severely broken ankle that swelled to the size of a tennis ball, she said.

When she raised the issue of injuries, she says she was berated.

‘‘[I said to the head coach] ‘this is not OK, the way that you’ve treated [the athletes], is the way . . . you’re treating me’,’’ she said.

The former coach said she would try to protect the athletes but it became too overwhelming, and she quit.

The CEO of the club where complaints about the behaviour of coaches had been brought to the club’s attention, said ‘‘appropriate action’’ had been taken.

She said this included seeking external advice and undertaking an investigation if necessary.

‘‘[The club] is mindful of its obligations as an employer/past employer and it is not appropriate for it to provide additional detail about specific events,’’ the CEO said.

‘‘[The club] provides a safe environment for both its gymnasts and its employees and is comfortable that it has appropriate systems and procedures in place for concerns to be raised.’’