Power & Change; The Gavel Hammers the Doctor!
Hello readers and followers. I have been letting this build up over the last couple of weeks as the trial of a monster disguised as a doctor has been ongoing. Going a bit further the trial was really of a system, an institution and its negligence, ignorance and passivity. At the end there is a true Heroine. Some of you may recall from prior blogs, my constant indictment of USA Gymnastics (USAG). A "not so governing" body that should be totally dismantled, destroyed and completely rebuilt. There are about 155 young women who can do the job better. They are victims.
Larry Nassar- the monster who preyed on the athletes, the young women he was supposed to protect and heal from injuries. Nassar had a medical degree to hide his lascivious actions- he was the USA Gymnastics Team doctor, the Michigan State University (MSU) athletic department doctor who was protected and revered while he abused and harmed the young women he was supposed to treat. This is not just me taking another swing at USA Gymnastics, I mentioned nearly a year ago that if you went to your internet browser and typed in USA Today + USA Gymnastics + Predator that your screen would fill with details of coaches and sexual abuses going back 20 years--known to USAG with no serious actions taken.
Rachael Denhollander is the heroine. A woman who was once a 15 year old gymnast, an athlete that was injured and sent to Larry Nassar, Physician and Predator. He violated her trust and her body. Now as a 32 year old attorney she was the first to put her name out in public and really push the case forward. Rachael opened the floodgates for all other women, some are now only 15, who put their names, their faces and their anguish out for public display to crush Larry Nassar. It does not and should not matter whether the gymnasts, or in the case of MSU, any female athlete was world class or not- to put their name on this case...but many did. They did so because so much was swept under a mythical rug of secrecy and their stories were not to be believed.
Further, it doesn't matter that Ms. Denhollander was not the first to speak up and in disgusting fashion, was not the first to report abuse. Nassar was protected by two different institutions and their governing bodies for 20 years. It was criminal behavior and it was a crime. The surge of over 150 victims (disturbing) gave power to their charges. Their statements were filled with tears, anguish and angst. Their words echoed with frustration and anger. Mattie Larson completed her statement with "I fucking hate you!"
I hate him too and USAG and their mishandling of everything to do with coaches, doctors and training. Basically, everything that was their responsibility. I hate MSU for protecting the deviant, for shaming the victims. I am befuddled by the now former President of the University, a woman, for being an idiot. I am a father of only daughters, a grandfather of a granddaughter. My daughters once took gymnastics but dropped out. I am grateful for that decision now after all that I have discovered over the last two years. I was involved in their coaching in other sports so I had the ability to protect them from predator coaches or maniacs who abuse athletes mentally. ( I will address that in a separate but related piece on USAG.) I will share a piece from the last time I wrote about USAG and coaching abuses.
Coaching is a privilege. It takes dedication and an investment of time and energy. The soulful return is bountiful if the only reward you seek is the progress of your charges. Say it out loud, it is a privilege, the privilege is granted by the varying associations, youth groups, governing bodies, the families and parents. There is an implicit trust. Anyone who misuses that trust to gain access to the youth should have to face the rest of us for defying the trust. If there are legal and "organized bodies" such as USA Gymnastics that do nothing to protect the athletes then I say those of us that are coaches for all of the right reasons should be judge, jury and executioner. I am the Answerman and that's my answer.
I believe that we have finally reached a point in time where our athletes, our female athletes or young women of any profession no longer feel oppressed to the point of silence. Their voices, their words and stories are to be believed. When Judge Rosemarie Aquilina swung the gavel she ensured that Nassar will never be seen outside prison walls again. The 150 + women, some Olympic champions or national champions, some budding athletes - all damaged by a Doctor and a system- hammered Nassar inside those walls. 175 years is a very long time and in some way I really wish the bastard could be kept alive all of that time so he could be forced to suffer.
The Answerman says "Rachael Denhollander and Aly Raisman should lead a new and totally transformed USAG. There is so much that needs to change and improve. Those that suffered know where and how this should be done. The time to rebuild properly has arrived and we have the heroines to save the future for all the daughters that come after them."
Larry Nassar- the monster who preyed on the athletes, the young women he was supposed to protect and heal from injuries. Nassar had a medical degree to hide his lascivious actions- he was the USA Gymnastics Team doctor, the Michigan State University (MSU) athletic department doctor who was protected and revered while he abused and harmed the young women he was supposed to treat. This is not just me taking another swing at USA Gymnastics, I mentioned nearly a year ago that if you went to your internet browser and typed in USA Today + USA Gymnastics + Predator that your screen would fill with details of coaches and sexual abuses going back 20 years--known to USAG with no serious actions taken.
Rachael Denhollander is the heroine. A woman who was once a 15 year old gymnast, an athlete that was injured and sent to Larry Nassar, Physician and Predator. He violated her trust and her body. Now as a 32 year old attorney she was the first to put her name out in public and really push the case forward. Rachael opened the floodgates for all other women, some are now only 15, who put their names, their faces and their anguish out for public display to crush Larry Nassar. It does not and should not matter whether the gymnasts, or in the case of MSU, any female athlete was world class or not- to put their name on this case...but many did. They did so because so much was swept under a mythical rug of secrecy and their stories were not to be believed.
Further, it doesn't matter that Ms. Denhollander was not the first to speak up and in disgusting fashion, was not the first to report abuse. Nassar was protected by two different institutions and their governing bodies for 20 years. It was criminal behavior and it was a crime. The surge of over 150 victims (disturbing) gave power to their charges. Their statements were filled with tears, anguish and angst. Their words echoed with frustration and anger. Mattie Larson completed her statement with "I fucking hate you!"
I hate him too and USAG and their mishandling of everything to do with coaches, doctors and training. Basically, everything that was their responsibility. I hate MSU for protecting the deviant, for shaming the victims. I am befuddled by the now former President of the University, a woman, for being an idiot. I am a father of only daughters, a grandfather of a granddaughter. My daughters once took gymnastics but dropped out. I am grateful for that decision now after all that I have discovered over the last two years. I was involved in their coaching in other sports so I had the ability to protect them from predator coaches or maniacs who abuse athletes mentally. ( I will address that in a separate but related piece on USAG.) I will share a piece from the last time I wrote about USAG and coaching abuses.
Coaching is a privilege. It takes dedication and an investment of time and energy. The soulful return is bountiful if the only reward you seek is the progress of your charges. Say it out loud, it is a privilege, the privilege is granted by the varying associations, youth groups, governing bodies, the families and parents. There is an implicit trust. Anyone who misuses that trust to gain access to the youth should have to face the rest of us for defying the trust. If there are legal and "organized bodies" such as USA Gymnastics that do nothing to protect the athletes then I say those of us that are coaches for all of the right reasons should be judge, jury and executioner. I am the Answerman and that's my answer.
I believe that we have finally reached a point in time where our athletes, our female athletes or young women of any profession no longer feel oppressed to the point of silence. Their voices, their words and stories are to be believed. When Judge Rosemarie Aquilina swung the gavel she ensured that Nassar will never be seen outside prison walls again. The 150 + women, some Olympic champions or national champions, some budding athletes - all damaged by a Doctor and a system- hammered Nassar inside those walls. 175 years is a very long time and in some way I really wish the bastard could be kept alive all of that time so he could be forced to suffer.
The Answerman says "Rachael Denhollander and Aly Raisman should lead a new and totally transformed USAG. There is so much that needs to change and improve. Those that suffered know where and how this should be done. The time to rebuild properly has arrived and we have the heroines to save the future for all the daughters that come after them."
Comments
Post a Comment