Jennifer Sey of the Athlete A Film Discusses What Needs To Change in Gymnastics -

The Athlete A documentary, produced by Jennifer Sey and others, was a ground breaking film for not only gymnastics but the entire world of youth sports.

The film highlights the massive atrocities that lead to hundreds of young gymnasts being sexually abused. But also important is how the film discusses the wider spread cultural issues in gymnastics related to emotional and physical abuse.

This film launched the massive #GymnastAlliance movement of Jennifer Pinches (more here) and an avalanche of people demanding for change in gymnastics.

I am one of those people who feel that there are huge, clear changes that must be made. It is all of our responsibilities to build a new version of the sport that is evolved to use new methods to help maximize performance and reduce physical/mental injury risk.

I was grateful to be asked by Jennifer to join her for a Q&A last week on the Athlete A Instagram page.

We dug into some massively important topics including

Where the myth of “no days off” came from in gymnastics
Why eating disorders and disordered eating are still a huge issue in gymnastics
Why gymnastics needs science-based, interdisciplinary teams to help gymnasts
Why there are so many injuries in gymnastics still but medical advice is often not followed
Why I have hope for the future of gymnastics
The biggest things we need to change first

You can listen to the entire podcast here on iTunes, Spotify, or Stitcher