Join us for a special conversation on October 21st at 5:00 p.m. PDT / 8:00 p.m. EDT that aims to educate and empower parents to be the best champion for their child athlete. The conversation will navigate recognizing and identifying athlete’s true needs, the facts and myths of how hard to “push” children for success, and teaching them to be their own advocate.
Our featured speakers include Gina and John Nichols, parents of Maggie Nichols, Elite and Division 1 College Gymnast and 2x NCAA Champion; Gretchen Kerr, Professor of Athlete Maltreatment, Vice Dean of Programs within the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto; Marti Reed, Trainer and National Partnerships & Marketing Manager at the Positive Coaching Alliance; as well as Athlete A producer Jennifer Sey and its co-directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk.
What We'll Discuss:
+ How parents can get involved to support children in highly competitive sports
+ How to create a sense of agency amongst athletes and their parents
+ Myth v. Fact about exercise science and child development
+ How we can learn from other sports
+ Resources to empower parents to be their child’s best advocate
"Jennifer Pinches, a 2012 British Olympian, said that this most recent global push to change the sport was sparked by a Netflix documentary, “Athlete A,” which depicts the harrowing training of American elite gymnasts and the cover-ups that surrounded U.S.A. Gymnastics’s sexual abuse scandal involving its longtime doctor, Lawrence G. Nassar."
- THE NEW YORK TIMES
"In the last fortnight there has been a deluge of emotional and physical abuse allegations made by gymnasts around the world, including Great Britain, Holland, Australia and Ireland. UK Sport and Sport England have since co-commissioned an independent review into the reports against British Gymnastics, while similar investigations are also happening in Switzerland and Holland.
Alongside their independent investigation, the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Union (KNGU) also published an open letter to the FIG. It described the negative sporting culture portrayed in Netflix documentary Athlete A as "not isolated" to US gymnastics, but as present in their own country and "a risk for the entire world of gymnastics”.
– THE TELEGRAPH
"The release of the Netflix documentary Athlete A, about abuse in the sport in America, prompted numerous Australian gymnasts to tell their stories."
– THE GUARDIAN
"Truth gives power to abused gymnasts."
– ITV
"Blind eyes and cover-ups are ubiquitous in “Athlete A,” one of the best of the many powerful #MeToo-era documentaries."
—ABC NEWS
Athlete A follows a team of reporters from The Indianapolis Star as they investigate claims of abuse at USA Gymnastics, one of the nation’s most prominent Olympic organizations. Two years later, an Olympic doctor is behind bars, the US Congress is demanding answers and hundreds of survivors are speaking out.
Equal parts devastating and inspiring, the film reveals the culture of cruelty that was allowed to thrive within elite-level gymnastics, the attorney fighting the institutions, and most importantly, the brave athletes who refuse to be silenced, fought the system and triumphed.
