On November 15, 2024 Bela Karolyi passed away.
Karolyi's name brings images of Olympic gold, of a little girl being carried off the mat with a broken ankle, and of controversy.
Bela and his wife, Marta, are credited with building the dream team of women's USA gymnastics. They are also known for the abuses that took place at their Ranch.
The Larry Nasser situation made headline news as our adored gymnast idols came forward to testify about the sexual abuse that happened to them.
The possibility for such abuse is a primary reason I teach all children "Consent in the gym. Consent everywhere. I am boss of my body." I follow that up with conversations about what to do if something doesn't seem ok. (Say no. Tell parents. Tell another safe adult. Tell.)
Then, when children come to me to tell me that their wrist doesn't seem ok or they have a headache, listen. When we listen to the little things, they will come to us with the big things.
"Here is what you can do for your wrist or your headache. I'm glad you said something. Let me know if it still bothers you."
VERBALLY tell children that you are glad they told you. DO NOT express annoyance or frustration, and certainly do not punish children for telling you the little things.
From a training standpoint, this is smart. If an aerialist feels something funny in their wrist, it's probably either a form issue or they are reaching a point of fatigue. Having open communication means the trainer can fix problems and prevent injuries.
From a greater safety standpoint, this is vital. Children with big dreams are very vulnerable to the Larry Nassers of the world.
Why didn't they tell sooner?
The answer has a lot to do with how they were trained at the Ranch.
The answer lies in training style. In a culture where children are punished severely for stepping out of line or questioning authority, children will be silent in the face of extreme abuse. And that abuse is not merely child sexual assault, it typically begins with pushing children to perform physical exercise beyond their physical ability.
I will explain as simple as I can.
The brain & body have hardwired reactions to fear and pain. Adults who utilize fear and pain as motivators in children's sports are actively turning the child's logical thinking off, like a light switch. This makes it easier for the adult to move large groups of children in the same direction. Every child is too scared to step out of line or ask questions.
This style of training is normalized in America, but is it optimal?
A child motivated by fear & pain is not in their thinking brain. They are operating purely out of "poll-parrot" stage of learning. Mimicking without thinking. They are not analyzing the work. They cannot adapt and grow without the Trainer constantly controlling and pushing them.
This over-dependance on a trainer creates a toxic relationship.
If they do find ways to bring their autonomous thinking to the sport, these kids are extremely dangerous. They haven't been taught how to analyze a situation, so they will flail about without any life experience to guard their actions. (This looks like the kid who makes up their own skills and dances and routines, but over concrete playgrounds instead of mats and with lack of internal body awareness without a trainer constantly poking, pushing, and prodding their bodies.)
At AerFire, my primary goal as I'm teaching all ages, but especially children, is to keep them in their Thinking Brains. Avoid pain and fear as teaching tools! In fact, if a child is feeling pain or fear, they know how to stop and reset. Teach body awareness instead of misusing spotting techniques to exert external control.
AerFire technique utilizes progressions in the curriculum to teach body awareness bit by bit. If a verbal cue can work, use the verbal cue. I can easily spot kids who have become dependent upon external spotting. They flail without control and expect an adult to fix their form for them mid-air. That is so extremely unsafe. Children get frustrated with me when I take them back to step one to re-learn muscle memory and body awareness, but it is necessary.
That's not to say never spot, but a person should already have the proper muscle memory built in before attempting a skill that requires a spot. It's not a replacement for proper training.
I explicitly teach children how to identify fear and pain, and then how to get to a safe situation and think. When children come from school classrooms or other sports that use fear and pain as teaching tools, children have to be taught how to think outside of those constraints. Some children are so programmed with fear & pain that it takes a long time to teach them to use their Thinking Brain in aerial classes.
I'm proud of an aerialist when they do a tough drop. I am more proud when they get the wrap completed and verbalize, "Something doesn't seem right." and practice unwrapping and thinking and re-starting. It's a lot of work to get those wraps. This choice displays mature focus on the process of learning. These kids will master whatever they choose to pursue!
When children come into my aerial classes after experience in Karolyi style gymnastics training, the children will often ask if I'm going to punish them with exercise. No. I am not. Exercise should never be used as a punishment.
Exercise is a tool to build with.
I'm in the business of teaching people how to use training tools. Exercise should be viewed as a gift for our bodies, never a punishment.
A popular request is, "Can you make us do 100 v-ups if we don't do the skills correctly?"
V-ups should be used to build core strength and control. A strong child can do maybe 10-12 good V-ups in form. Punishing children with 100 V-ups may sound like a rigorous discipline choice, but it actually builds bad muscle memory patterns because the last 90 of those v-ups are trash form. And it trains children's brains to blindly obey out of fear of punishment. Again, blind obedience coerced with fear and pain may make it easier to achieve fast results in some cases after the "weak" are injured out, but at dire cost.
Besides, if a person doesn't do a skill correctly, a wise trainer assesses the exact issue and focuses work on that issue. If a child struggles to hold a lock-out position for their footlock work, v-ups will not help at all. The child needs to work pull-ups in a modality that is accessible for their body. The pull-ups can be fun, especially when the child knows that the footlocks will be easier when they build their pull-up muscle.
AerFire kids actually enjoy pull-ups with either bungee or bands for assist. It's bouncy. We do flying eggs, which are excellent lock-out builders. Maximize opportunities for fun conditioning. and explain how the exercise is a tool when the conditioning is not so fun.
When an exercise is needed, but isn't fun, I tell the child exactly what needs to be done and why. I give a clear end to the assignment so the child can understand that they need to endure for a few minutes and then they can move on to the next thing. "3 solid attempts, and then you can have a free choice turn on lyra." The neat thing about this method is that children will begin to choose the exercise that challenges them. Children truly enjoy struggle and progress when their own brain is in control and thinking clearly.
It's common to see children independently choose an oblique drill before attempting star drops, or a choosing the "pulse-through-fire -barre burn - shaking muscle" method for split training. A child who chooses will push themselves farther than any adult could push them.
Parents sometimes see children enjoying their work on an aerial apparatus and falsely assume they are wasting their class time. The play is their work. You may see your child "wasting" time just spinning, swinging, or flying. I see a child building grip strength, core control, and proprioception for body control in various movement patterns. I'm assessing for healthy shoulder engagement, spinal alignment, and such. Don't discourage the play!
My goals at AerFire are to build strong people, not merely great aerialists.
Bela Karolyi had different goals. He received honor and money for the branding of his reputation as the greatest gymnastics coach.
The Karolyi's used pain and fear to weed out gymnasts in a "Survival of the Fittest" manner. Utilizing their methods will certainly produce a significant percentage of injury. This is by design. Complete obedience to their system. This is the fire through which you must pass to taste Olympic Gold. While it does give immediate and superficial results, let's talk about Kerri Strug.
Kerri Strug is the girl who broke her ankle on the vault. It's debated if she even needed to go a second round, but Bela Karolyi said, "You can do it. You better do it."
So she did.
I won't go into the science behind performing on an injury or the dynamic forces an Olympic gymnast places on their body as they land a vault. But that was the last vault Kerri Strug every did. She was young, only 18 years old. Bela certainly knew the price she was paying for his gold. She likely did not fully understand the life-long impact of that last vault.
Kerri is lauded as an American hero. But I say Bela Karolyi is an American villan.
I see things differently as an older woman and mother. I look at my kids who are 11, 18, 19, and 21 and I say no. No. It's not ok to ask a young person to ruin their body for any competition or performance or paycheck. Kerri could have healed and competed again at the next Olympics if she would have been properly treated as a human in 1996.
Elena Muhkina. Google her story. Her tragic accident was just 16 years before Kerri's. Nothing was learned. Another gymnast coerced to perform on an injury, leading to further injury, ending the career of a young woman. She pleaded for rest. She verbalized a fear that she was likely to break her neck in training. When she did break her neck, causing extreme irreparable disability, she was relieved that she wouldn't have to compete. She felt relief when her body was so destroyed that it was no longer of use to her coach.
We must learn. We must say, "No more!"
Scientists actively study sports science and youth sports science. We have research to inform our practices. AerFire stays up to date. We follow the National Academy of Sports Medicine closely as they publish recommendations based upon current research.
We must nurture children as people, not merely a body that performs a sport for a coach's glory.
If we look at Simone Biles, who is the GOAT, unmatched, and utterly and completely awesome, successfully retired as a USA GOLD Gymnast, we can learn a lot about sports science and ethics.
She took a rest for the twisties.
At the Olympic games, she took a rest for the twisties.
Even though there was so much money spent, so much effort from an entire team of people who helped her get there that day, she took a little rest for the twisties.
She did not get injured that day.
She faced a lot of hate for that day.
But she did what was best for her brain and body. And she kept her sanity, her healthy body, and her integrity. Her coach, Laurent Landi, encouraged her to listen to her body and not risk extreme injury by competing with the twisties.
She gained a different level of admiration and adoration from her fans.
Would we have Simone Biles if Bela Karolyi was her coach?
I think we can all agree. No, we wouldn't.
And at the end of the day, each athlete is a person. They have lives outside of the competition or performance. We have to respect each other as humans. As parents, we must protect our child's future. That sometimes means we observe their sports practices, looking for training style techniques.
If there is frustration, pressure, punishment, or even just an eye-roll when a child brings a concern to their trainer, coach, or instructor, that is a big problem.
If children are not taught how and why, that's a problem.
If children are pushed to work on small injuries, major red flag!
Does that mean a child sits out for every little thing? No. It does mean that if a child has an issue with a knee, that the child is taught how to limit work to exercises that don't compromise the knee while healing. The child should not be practicing jumps and squats. The child can be working upper body and core while following a medical professional's advice for their knee. Every adult in the child's life should respect the medical advice given the child.
How many dancers have knee or hip replacements in young adulthood? It's a stupid %!!!
How many pitchers, golfers, tennis players have elbow and shoulder dysfunction for life?
Why?
The adults who enjoy these sports throughout their life were protected from significant injury during childhood. You cannot be a professional pitcher if you trash your shoulder in high school baseball.
Unfortunately, there is little regulation in youth sports. It's truly up to each individual coach, trainer, instructor, and parent to nurture safe practices in your own communities. Unfortunately, many parents didn't receive quality sports education as children themselves and struggle to know what that even looks like.
I am thankful for the many parents at AerFire who dedicate time to observe classes, who sit in as extra adult eyes. It's wise practice for your child. It also serves to build a safety net for all the children at AerFire. We set an expectation of respect and care along with the discipline of hard work that will follow the kids for life.
I want to encourage parents to be present. Observe. Avoid the temptation to coach from the sidelines. ha! And be a part of building something amazing for the kids.
A little secret as a mom: The processes and techniques I use to teach aerial work for all things. Music, math, writing, science, chores, etc, etc, etc... Teach a skill. Give autonomy. Teach another skill. Demonstrate how to connect one skill to the next. Give more autonomy. Observe what the kids choose with their autonomy and use that information when choosing the next skill to teach.
There is no cookie-cutter path that can be coerced with fear and pain that will produce the same end results as actively teaching and nurturing a child's ability to think.
Anyway, I can have a level of compassion for the childhood that Bela and Marta Karolyi must have endured for them to have produced such a program at their Ranch, but ultimately, I hope we all use the pain felt by so many to educate our own paths, choosing wisdom and kindness.
Consent in the gym. Consent everywhere. I am boss of my body. I have a right to understand before I choose. And some things children are simply not mature enough to understand, like the gravity of a disabling injury.
Teaching an extreme sport like aerial arts to children is a complex task. I'm teaching risk management, body awareness, consent, discipline, emotional regulation, social skills, learning skills, training techniques, and so much science. The actual aerial skills are the icing on the cake, the vehicle for the truly important.
Mine will be a legacy of "The fittest nurture the whole so all survive and thrive."
Paula Van Kuren
Empress of the Air, Container of the Chaos, Ringmaster of the Circus, and Keeper of the Zoo
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