HEY Y’ALL AIMEE BOORMAN ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS.

In case for some strange reason you are unaware, Aimee coached a gymnast you may have heard of named SIMONE BILES (who was just added back to the National Team!!!!!!!!!). Aimee started coaching Simone when she was just six, and brought her all the way to the Olympics. ICYMI, Simone dominated there. Aimee has long been a gymternet favorite, and I’ve had a great deal of respect for her. Her answers to my questions only serve to reinforce that. Here, Aimee talks about conditions at the Ranch, standing up to Martha, working with Larry Nassar, the experience of being groomed, and what changes need to happen.

As far as I can tell, Aimee has done the right thing by her athlete and her own moral code all along. We can’t ask for more.

And now….

(best Oprah voice) AIIIIIMMMMEEEEE BOOOOOOORRRRMAAAANNNNNN!

Please tell me what your first reaction was when you went to the Ranch and were involved in the elite system as it existed under Marta? Did your feelings about the Ranch and the Karolyis change as time went on?

I honestly don’t know if I can recall what my first reactions to Ranch were. I think I was very excited and nervous. Simone and I started out in Developmental camps, under Martha. Martha was intimidating. She was the decider of fates, and we were new and completely inexperienced. We had a lot to learn.

From the beginning, Simone and I had an agreement that we DID NOT have to do camps, we DID NOT have to participate if we did not like the way we felt during/after a camp. We decided to plug on and if we experienced negativity, we would take was was useful to us and throw away the rest of the garbage. If something doesn’t make you grow as a person, you should not hang on to it.

Some camps were good, some were not. Once when it wasn’t a good camp, we declined our invitation to go back to the next camp. Some people thought it was professional suicide on my part, but honestly, I was looking out for the emotional stability of my athlete. I have never looked back on that decision with regret.

As we spent more time going to the Ranch, I think it just became second nature, a second home with your National Team family. Was it a luxury hotel? NO, but it did improve over the years I went there. New beds were brought in, DirecTV was installed, they TRIED to improve the internet, there were toiletries provided by P & G. I think that during my time at the Ranch, they were truly trying to make changes to the living accommodations ….but all of these things happened around 2012 (maybe a little earlier than that), so I can’t give any kind of testimony about the conditions before that. Also, we lived close to camp, so we were able to bring “creature comforts” with us. We would bring our own food, blankets, etc. We found ways to make it comfortable.

Can you tell me anything about your interactions with Larry Nassar?

At first I thought he was a genius. Then, he became my friend. We would sit and talk. He would compliment me on how I treated Simone with respect and let her “participate” in her training plan and not just dictate everything to her; how I protected her on days when camp seemed rough; how I had the bigger picture of Simone’s well being at heart. He appeared to be a kind, caring, trustworthy man. But in reality, he was grooming me to trust in him while he secretly abused my athlete and so many others.

How did you learn that Simone is also a Nassar survivor? How did you feel?

I don’t think anyone that has not stood in my shoes can truly understand how it felt when the truth set in. I did ask questions but…I SHOULD have known. I SHOULD have seen signs. I SHOULD have prevented it…but the reality is I did not know, I did not see any signs, I did not prevent it and I will forever hate myself for not being there to protect her.

I wish I had a better understanding of HOW the Larry Nassar abuse happened. He groomed the athletes, he groomed the coaches. He was a master predator. I think in some cases there were athletes that gravitated towards him because he was kind and they needed that because they were not getting that from their personal coaches, other trusted that his “treatments” were necessary to making them feeling better and being able to perform at an elite level. I have no explanation on how that happened. All I can say is that my stomach is sick and my heart is broken.

The way I think of how coaching ought to move forward is Less Marta, More Aimee. What makes your coaching different? I’m especially interested in stuff around food, injury prevention, and trust.

The training days leading up to competitions were not extreme. The girls would not be expected to do a grueling number of routines, but Martha did demand excellence. This is why the USA can win. The expectations are set high and the talented athletes in our country are able to rise up and exceed those expectations.

From my experience, the hardest part for the athletes was the number of DAYS they would go with consecutive trainings. The girls would come to me to ask me to speak to Martha about having a day, or at least a 1/2 day off for “down time”. Sometimes they just needed a break. We were told that representing the US on the international stage was not a vacation, and everyone in the delegation understood that, but EVERYONE needs a day off every once in a while. So, I would definitely advocate for the girls in that department.

I think that my style of coaching is very different from the “old school”. I believe that we are just teaching cartwheels, but we COACH athletes. We have to coach them about life. We coach them about adversity, we coach them about dedication and sacrifice; about failure and success. There is so much more to life than gymnastics and gold medals.

I never monitor my athletes diets, that is their parents job. My gymnasts know that their bodies are their instrument and they have to keep in tuned for it to perform properly…and pizza every now isn’t going to kill you. If they can maintain a good strength to weight ratio, and are healthy, they will stay safe. When injuries happen, as they do in gymnastics, I make sure that an athletes communicates with me. We have a physical therapist on-site at our gym. If our athletes have chronic or acute pain, we send them to the trainer. We work closely with our trainer to get the athletes back into normal practice as quickly as safely possible. I focus on the long term. A short term injury that’s ignored can lead to a life long pain. It’s simply not worth it.

One of the things lots of gymnastics fans felt when you and Simone were leading up the Games is that she “got away” with things that other gymnasts didn’t with Marta. Did you feel you were able to put down boundaries around Simone and her training that other coaches had more trouble doing and if so why?

I never made Simone do anything that I didn’t feel was right for her just because Martha “told me to”. Martha taught me a lot, but I stood up to her on more than one occasion. There were times that I would tell Martha that Simone couldn’t do another bar routine and I was going to have her stop. Martha didn’t like that, but what was she going to do? Simone was MY athlete, not hers, and Martha would usually end up saying “you know her best”. Which was true. I think that more coaches could have stood up to her, and probably didn’t because they were afraid of repercussions. Simone and I were not immune from “repercussions” but we didn’t hold them or Martha’s judgement as high on our priority list as some others did. Martha and I formed a very good relationship and I will forever hold dear what she taught me, but we (Simone and I) held on the the power.

What factors do you think contributed to Larry Nassar’s ability to abuse athletes with impunity for so long? How should those factors be changed?

The risk of this happening again can be greatly reduced by education and transparency. My company is currently working on a program to roll out to our staff, parents and athletes about recognizing signs of grooming and abuse. This falls right in line with the charge that Aly is leading and I’m so happy that she is a public figure to spread this word. We need to keep sharing the message. Athletes need to know what is appropriate treatment, both physically and mentally. Abuse comes in many forms, and it is 100% preventable. Athletes need to feel empowered, and young coaches need to believe in themselves, not just follow what someone else did because it “worked for them”.

Additionally, I believe that there are major changes coming to the USAG organization to bring back confidence that athletes will be protected and that the adults that are involved in our sport are accountable. I know that everyone wants a “quick fix”, but a quick fix will only be a band-aid. Real change needs to occur, and it needs to be done right the first time. I encourage athletes, parents, coaches, & fans to reach out to USAG and share their ideas and experiences. They may not get a response, but their voice will be heard, and hopefully it will lead to action! You can’t be afraid to speak up. Your voice is powerful.