#azarian

USA Gymnastics suspended Gonzalez, Hensley and Davies on an interim basis on Sept. 4, pending the completion of an investigation of the coaches. The coaches are prohibited from “all contact” with gymnasts under the terms of the suspension. Hensley, who unsuccessfully tried to get her interim suspension lifted in a recent hearing, will have her suspension lifted.

The Register recently completed a three-month investigation based on complaints, interviews, Azarian and previously undisclosed confidential USA Gymnastics documents, medical records and therapists’ reports. The findings showed gymnasts, parents and certain Azarian coaches alleging some Azarian coaches regularly physically, emotionally and verbally abused, bullied and belittled young female gymnasts and pressured them to continue training and/or competing while injured.

“This makes me so sad to see children who were abused speak up for the first time after being silenced for years, abused for years and USA Gymnastics couldn’t care less,” said Rena Shikuma, a former Azarian coach who was a whistleblower in the case. “(USA Gymnastics) is saying what happened to (the gymnasts) doesn’t matter.”

Ashton Woodbury, a former Azarian gymnast now competing at Cal, said Gonzalez, Azarian’s head girls coach, routinely slapped her so hard that she left marks on her legs. Azarian gymnasts even had names for the marks – “five stars” or “turkeys,” the latter a reference to the finger-painted birds children make around Thanksgiving.

“I had five-star marks from being slapped hard enough to leave a mark that would last a couple of hours.  She would laugh, ‘Oh, ha, ha, that left a good mark.’ I had marks on me all the time,” Woodbury told the Register.

Davies on a regular basis tickled young female gymnasts after pinning them down and sitting on them or having their teammates help pin them down, according to formal complaints with USA Gymnastics and interviews.

Gonzalez had a parent take a mandatory USA Gymnastics Safe Sport course for her, according to a formal complaint to USA Gymnastics by an Azarian coach and interviews. “She made a parent take the test FOR her because she was ‘too busy with other important things,’” Shikuma wrote in her complaint to USA Gymnastics

Gonzalez not only bullied young gymnasts but often encouraged other girls to ridicule Azarian athletes with whom the coach was unhappy, according to confidential complaints filed with USA Gymnastics and interviews. Gonzalez and other coaches used the punishments not only as a way to correct mistakes but to also break down the girls, gymnasts and parents said in interviews, and formal complaints and emails to USA Gymnastics officials.

Gonzalez told “parents her goal is to ‘break’ kids,” according to a parent complaint filed with USA Gymnastics in August.

USA Gymnastics ruling Monday “is based on our finding that the allegations reported to us are generally credible and substantiated,” Kim Kranz, USA Gymnastics chief of athlete wellness wrote in a text to a parent Monday. “We believe the experiences that the parents of athletes shared with us.”

Kranz also wrote in separate letter to victims and their parents Monday that, “We find many of the reports to be disturbing and most of the reports to be founded. The primary goal of USA Gymnastics Safe Sport is athlete safety. USA Gymnastics strives to eliminate misconduct and abusive situations throughout the sport. These efforts also recognize the need for rehabilitative growth and changes in conduct and culture with reliance on removal only when necessary to ensure the future safety of the USA Gymnastics community.”

The Azarian ruling comes as USA Gymnastics is about to mark the second anniversary the organization filing for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis in the wake of facing potentially hundreds of lawsuits related to sexual abuse by former U.S. Olympic and national team physician Larry Nassar and decertification efforts by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

The ruling also comes against the backdrop of President Trump signing legislation that grants Congress the mechanism to decertify national governing bodies like USA Gymnastics, and the expected release of the Department of Justice inspector general’s report on USA Gymnastics, the USOPC and FBI’s handling of the Nassar case.

The volume of complaints against Gonzalez, Hensley, an Azarian girls team coach, and Davies, the gym’s former girls team head coach, led USA Gymnastics to postpone the Sept. 15 hearing for Gonzalez. The hearing was not rescheduled in large part because USA Gymnastics has now received as many as 30 complaints against Gonzalez, according to USA Gymnastics documents and five people familiar with the case.

Mark Busby, USA Gymnastics general counsel, told at least five people shortly before Gonzalez’s hearings first scheduled date that USA Gymnastics favored educating Gonzalez and the other coaches instead of issuing extensions of their suspensions, according to four people familiar with the conversations.

Busby raised the option of education over suspension without having read all of the 15 formal complaints originally filed against Gonzalez and other Azarian coaches with USA Gymnastics, according to three individuals familiar with the case.

Busby told witnesses USA Gymnastics’ concerns about facing civil suits from coaches who have been suspended for extended periods or permanently banned is a major reason for the organization’s emphasis on SafeSport education in lieu of suspensions or bans for abusive coaches, according to four people involved in the conversations.

He also told an Azarian parent that USA Gymnastics has concerns about suspending coaches at a time when he said there is a shortage of qualified coaches in the sport, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

“Very disappointing and very disturbing,” Terry Hill, a former Azarian parent wrote in an email to Busby and Kranz after the ruling was revealed Monday. ” You are the exact culture that infests in this gymnastic culture of a never ending cycle.”

Busby has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

USA Gymnastics, Gonzalez, and Davies also did not respond to requests for comment. Gonzalez and Davies have previously cited confidentiality agreements with USA Gymnastics in declining to discuss the allegations against them.

“I am unaware of any ruling that has been made today by USAG,” Hensley said in an email. “This has never been brought to my attention. I am still under a confidentiality agreement and can not go into detail about the investigation. I’ve always had the best intentions with my athletes and would never intend to cause them any harm.”

While Kranz wrote in an email to a parent Monday that “no hearing panel was left unfinished,” interviews and USA Gymnastics emails, texts and letters indicate that hearings were not held in the Gonzalez and Davies case in which victims, their parents and others were allowed to testify. Shikuma and Block said Busby told them 30 individuals were willing to testify against the Azarian coaches.

“They didn’t speak to any of us,” Shikuma said Monday, referring to USA Gymnastics officials. “They never called us up on the phone to hear our side of the story.”

Three key witnesses in the Gonzalez case, Shikuma, Woodbury, and Keri Moffitt, a former Azarian parent, said they were initially not invited by USA Gymnastics to testify in the first scheduled hearing even though they repeatedly told the organization they wanted to appear.

Gonzalez’s disciplinary hearing was rescheduled several times and then put off indefinitely prompting criticism and frustration from alleged victims and their families.

While Busby and other USA Gymnastics officials parried questions from victims and their families about when a hearing would be rescheduled, USA Gymnastics proceeded with negotiations with Azarian officials including, Eduard Azarian, the gym owner and former Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet Union, reaching a deal over the weekend.

“As you know, Ms. Gonzalez, Ms. Hensley and Mr. Davies were placed on an interim suspension with the goal of ensuring athlete safety, pending resolution of our investigation,” Kranz wrote in the letter to victims and their parents “Over the past four months we investigated the reported coaches and culture at Azarian Gymnastics and assessed our shared safety concerns regarding the reported conduct. We have decided upon a course of action following a full review of the interviews, documents and letters gathered by USA Gymnastics.

“Over the holiday weekend, USA Gymnastics reached an agreed upon resolution with Azarian Gymnastics, including Eduard Azarian and coaches Vanessa Gonzalez, Amanda Hensley and Perry Davies. Upon our assessment, we determined that it would be possible to ensure athlete safety at Azarian Gymnastics with the implementation of thorough educational and safety measures. We believe this resolution will lead to significant changes in the culture, coaching committed to significant improvements regarding athlete welfare.”

Kranz wrote that the “negotiated resolution was developed in 2 stages” and includes over 17 requirements that “were agreed upon” with Azarian and the coaches.

The first stage will focus “on education of the coaches and defining a safe training environment now,” Kranz wrote. Gonzalez, Davies and Hensley will be required to complete approximately 50 hours of a course called “The Education on The Science of Training Young Athletes, Positive Coaching, and Emotional Abuse vs. Tough Coaching,” Kranz wrote.

“Additionally, Azarian is required to place team parent volunteers on the floor to observe training with a duty to the safety of athletes. Each parent volunteer will obtain Safe Sport training, submit to a background check and be required to have training in either emotional abuse, positive coaching or healthy boundaries (1/3 of parent volunteers will each take one of these courses).

“Upon completion and review by USA Gymnastics of all items in Stage 1, USA Gymnastics will permit the suspended coaches to return to the gym with a restriction of ‘No Unsupervised Contact with Minors.’”

The second phase, Kranz said, “will focus on changing the culture of Azarian to prioritize ongoing athlete safety.”

This stage will “address emotional misconduct and bullying findings,” Kranz wrote.

As part of the agreement Azarian is required to provide “live positive coaching virtual educational sessions” that coaches must attend.

“Upon completion of the club level requirements, coaches Vanessa Gonzalez, Amanda Hensley and Perry Davies will be removed from suspension of ‘No Unsupervised Contact with Minors’ and will be placed on probation for 2 years, providing they have each completed their individual educational requirements,” Kranz wrote.

But Shikuma and former Azarian parents are skeptical.

“Who’s going to enforce this?” Shikuma said. “Who’s going to make sure Vanessa actually takes the courses this time? The same people who made sure she took the SafeSport class?”