Everyone was all over Gym Tyme last year when they had a stunt that many thought were illegal but no one said "well why don't you ask James yourself instead of discussing it here". Instead many people were up in arms because it was dangerous. Now that Rich and SEVERAL others have brought it to people's attention that CEA has several things in their routines that are illegal or at least performed illegally then it shouldn't be discussed? These things are just as dangerous as any other stunt that is called out and discussed so get over it. Sorry but if you are going to get onto Rich for calling out illegalities then point fingers at the others who have posted on here that it is illegal as well. Heck Rich didn't even make this thread but you are still attacking him.
These attacks on people for calling out a team that you love is becoming rather annoying and not needed at all. This thread is nice to have because there are some people that had no idea something like that was illegal but now that they can see it they will know that it is a no no and shouldn't be done.
Or rather these attacks on another team you hate (being a professional coach) is rather annoying. It wasn't just this thread. He made sure to delete his fb status so that it didn't reflect negatively should other people happen to read it (as the link is no longer available in my cache). I assure you it was a bit uncalled for, as were the other ugly comments. If he really wants to "help us", or other athletes, I don't believe posting and allowing nasty posts about our program are the way to go about it. He may have deleted it to save face, but not before I got a screen shot.
If this were a "healthy" discussion (as others in this thread have managed to do, i.e. Kingston) I think there's a way to go about it in a professional manner. I'm sorry but I feel like trash talking and snide comments isn't exactly being professional. If there was/is a legality issue that a USASF coach noted, going about it a certain way would garner more civilized discussion in my opinion, rather than the way he chose to handle it.
I get what you're saying if you feel it is unsafe and afraid of someone else copying it, etc. bc they think it's legal since CEA did it. Totally fine, I get your point. I am not aware if the specific issues being discussed are or aren't legal. I trust Courtney and her knowledge of the rules. I'm sure if she had questions/concerns about certain elements being legal/illegal, she would address them properly. So as far as that part of the conversation, I still stand by my statement about emailing Courtney w/concerns...especially about safety issues...I would think Rich, a USASF coach, being as concerned as he is for the safety of any athletes, would feel obligated to draw it to her attention...right? Sure it's great that if the elements in question are illegal, that they're being discussed in a civil manner to help prevent harm (and as wcdad and someone else said, to "help" our team), but coming from him and the things I read, I don't believe he's drawing it to everyone's attention out of pure concern. It's not just this thread, so I apologize to you since you aren't aware of the other things I mentioned.
I've never really had a problem w/him (and still don't) bc ultimately I trust Courtney. I was surprised to see some of the things I saw (read) bc I did think he was a bit above that. I'm not trying to make this a "hate" this person thread, but I do feel like I have a right to express my opinions as well, given the context in which I have seen things.
Sorry that it bothered/annoyed you.