All-Star Md Gymnastics Instructor Arrested....

[cheerisloving]

This is a tough one.
I agree with other comments made that a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old could very well be in a consensual, legal relationship. The difference is that the coach here is in a position of responsibility, which introduces another issue to the situation. Much in the same way that a teacher having a relationship with a student, even a senior aged 18, would be highly inappropriate and grounds for dismissal.

I think male coaches in their early 20s shouldn't be coaching a senior all girl team. That way if there is an attraction (legal, mutual) there is no line blurred.

 

[njallday]

Let's toss another hypothetical in there.

Male coach accidentally grabs a female tumbler/flyer on the breast while trying to catch her and prevent her head from hitting the floor. Contact is extremely incidental and corrected immediately. Child is not groped in a sexual way at all and thinks nothing of it. Mom hears what happened and demands his firing and the police be called?

Should he be fired and police involved?


**Slip n Slide. Official sponsor of Worlds 2016**

Absolutely not. This is why one coach and an athlete should never be alone in a gym. If it ever ended up in court, at least there'd be a witness for the "his word against hers" in the favor of the coach.

I do think it wouldn't hurt gyms to create some sort of reporting system for this happening. Low-key, but draft a little incident report when accidents like that happen, have a witness sign it or something. The end. I have to friggen document if I sneeze in a room with a patient because they could get a cold and sue me, so 300% I'd make a note of what happened somewhere if someone ever chose to come after me. But I'm hardwired to document everything.

Would this parent have rathered the coach let Suzy fall on the floor and hit her head to avoid making any accidental contact with her breast tissue? I doubt it; then she'd sue that he dropped her kid. You can't win with some parents.

 

[RockstarCheer]

I, too, am glad that it appears he was caught before something worse happened. It is difficult to pass judgement on a gym without knowing the full story. There are things that could warrant getting fired and reporting to the parents that don't yet rise to the point of being illegal. They also may have been the ones that encouraged the parents to go to the police.

Jody you are exactly right I know that you also have dealt with a similar thing at your gym in Plano. I pulled up the article of when it happened at your gym. As for The situation in Naples here is what we know. The owner does not have a fierce board account so this is from him regarding the situation:

Rockstar Cheer utilizes the The National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI) which is the only national background screening services specifically dedicated to the protection of children. Prior to his employment, Moises Renobatto underwent through the background process successfully as he had no past criminal history.

To the best of our knowledge during our own investigation There was nothing that he did that warranted us contacting the police. He broke company policy by communicating with customers outside of gym operations and was immediately terminated on October 7th 2015.

Rockstar Cheer is committed not only to the safety of our customers but also the community and have provide the collier county sheriffs office with any and all information we have that will help in prosecuting this individual.
Carlos Realpe
Owner of Fierce it Up Cheer






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CheerBank]

I think male coaches in their early 20s shouldn't be coaching a senior all girl team. That why if there is an attraction (legal, mutual) there is no line blurred.

A little too much of a blanket statement for my liking but I get where you are coming from.

 

[cheerisloving]

A little too much of a blanket statement for my liking but I get where you are coming from.

I feel the same way with female 20 year olds head coaching senior teams. There should be an age gap with coaches and athletes. It just eliminates some of the coach/friend issues.

 

[catlady]

Let's toss another hypothetical in there.
Male coach accidentally grabs a female tumbler/flyer on the breast while trying to catch her and prevent her head from hitting the floor. Contact is extremely incidental and corrected immediately. Child is not groped in a sexual way at all and thinks nothing of it. Mom hears what happened and demands his firing and the police be called?
Should he be fired and police involved?
**Slip n Slide. Official sponsor of Worlds 2016**

@SharkDad @BlueCat

While all of these are hypotheticals, here is my suggestion to any business owner dealing with employees and minors, document everything and include all witnesses. If in this example a male coach accidently touched a child while tumbling and mom is being a lot crazy, I'd document. I, also, think that "calling the police" has taken on an extreme connotation, when a conversation only has to go something like this:

Hi my name is _____, I own a gym that deals with minors. A text, situation, etc. was brought to my attention dealing with my adult coach and minor child. Here is the situation, does this need to be reported?....."No? Great thank you. May I have your name for my documentation? Thank you Officer Jones." Then document everything for your records.

Worst/best scenario, they take the coaches name, run it through a data base and you have done your job in protecting a minor, yourself, business and employee involved. If a situation is brought up years later and you wind up where the media, or worse yet, a parent of an abused child claims you could have done more, you have the documentation that says on "February 3rd at 8:30 PM, I took the following measures: .........." You haven't ruined anyone's life, they ruined it on their own accord if the police feel it warrants being run in the system and something is found or the situation is bad enough they feel it needs to be investigated. Yes, this is just my opinion but, I know this is how large corps deal with Human Resource situations and it is based on recommendations from the corporate lawyers. Edited to add, always include all witnesses.

 

[Michael White]

I think male coaches in their early 20s shouldn't be coaching a senior all girl team. That way if there is an attraction (legal, mutual) there is no line blurred.

This is crazy. All males in their 20s aren't crazed animals, unable to control their deviant sexual urges...

 

[Charolais]

This is crazy. All males in their 20s aren't crazed animals, unable to control their deviant sexual urges...

And some males in their 20s are not attracted to females...

 

[cheerisloving]

This is crazy. All males in their 20s aren't crazed animals, unable to control their deviant sexual urges...

And some males in their 20s are not attracted to females...

I don't think that's the case lol I'm saying it's probably in the best interest of the gym to not have the straight, attractive tumbling coach to be working closely with the senior team. It protects the coach and the athlete from any accusations.

 

[crazzyeyesassypants]

I don't think that's the case lol I'm saying it's probably in the best interest of the gym to not have a the straight, attractive tumbling coach to be working closely with the senior team. It protects the coach and the athlete from any accusations.

I don't think the gym should be discriminating someone for a position based on age or looks.

 

[cheerisloving]

I don't think the gym should be discriminating someone for a position based on age or looks.

Okay I guess I should give SOME contexts of where I'm coming from.

I know of situations where Billy Cheer Coach was the 20 something, attractive (to the athlete's) coach that all the girl had a crush on. Susie always had privates with Billy Coach, Billy and Susie were very close, ended up dating..Susie ends up pregnant.

Or Billy Coach is always put in awkward positions because Sally cheerleader is 15 but thinks she has a chance with her coach and is too touchy feely. When he rejects her, she acts out because she didn't get her way.

I'm not saying attractive coaches should be treated differently, but age should factor in where you put a coach. No different than how some school districts won't hire a 25 year old to teach HS english because they're too close in age and that boundary between authority and friend gets blurred.

 

[icequeen]

I don't think that's the case lol I'm saying it's probably in the best interest of the gym to not have the straight, attractive tumbling coach to be working closely with the senior team. It protects the coach and the athlete from any accusations.

That's a ridiculous statement. So Joe blow who is in his mid twenties and extremely qualified for the job shouldn't get it because Suzie might end up with a crush?

ETA: It can happen to a "ugly" coach. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Michael White]

I don't think that's the case lol I'm saying it's probably in the best interest of the gym to not have the straight, attractive tumbling coach to be working closely with the senior team. It protects the coach and the athlete from any accusations.

I'm not going to weigh in on the attractive part, but as a 23 year old, I take offense to this. I don't get a chance to coach a senior level team because,

1. I can't control my urges.

or

2. An athlete has a crush on me.

I already know some of my athletes/lessons have had crushes on me, it's not hard to spot, something that maturity allows me to see. The same maturity that allows me to avoid risqué conversation or inappropriate action with an athlete.

 

[mamabear]

I think male coaches in their early 20s shouldn't be coaching a senior all girl team. That way if there is an attraction (legal, mutual) there is no line blurred.

This is so sad for the 99% of the coaches this age who know how to act professional and respect their jobs.

 

[cheerisloving]

I'm not going to weigh in on the attractive part, but as a 23 year old, I take offense to this. I don't get a chance to coach a senior level team because,

1. I can't control my urges.

or

2. An athlete has a crush on me.

I already know some of my athletes/lessons have had crushes on me, it's not hard to spot, something that maturity allows me to see. The same maturity that allows me to avoid risqué conversation or inappropriate action with an athlete.

I actually never said that they can't control their urges nor do I think it's your fault that the athlete has a crush on you. I'm saying a gym probably can avoid issues by not having you coach girls your age. It eliminates some of these situations being discussed on the board. I'm not even saying it should NEVER happen. I just think the HEAD coach shouldn't be a young male.

This is so sad for the 99% of the coaches this age who know how to act professional and respect their jobs.

It is. I'm not saying it's how it SHOULD be done but given some of the things I seen it could've made a big difference.

I'm the LAST person who thinks all guys are deviants or out to get your little girls/boys. I have a brother in his early 20s, he's friendly and many younger girls like him. We are 3ish years apart in age so if my brother took me and my friends somewhere, parents always knew and he always kept a distance just to avoid accusations. I've seen him pull back to make sure a younger girl didn't get the wrong message.