By: Cathy Cai

Everybody knows that to perfect a skill you need practice and time, especially British Gymnastics, also known as the British Amateur Gymnastics Association. British Gymnastics is known for promoting a dangerous culture in which coaches give their athletes cruel and ridiculous punishments. These punishments included being made to sit in store cupboards if an athlete cried or refused to perform a skill in training, being shouted at and called names, being forced to stand on the beam for an hour, and being sat on if they were not fully on the ground while performing the splits. There were also reports of gymnasts being put under a huge amount of pressure over what they ate and not being allowed to go the toilet. Lots of people explained that this treatment had affected their mental health in a negative way. Someone even said this treatment classified as child abuse. I believe that when you learn something, you must pay attention and your teacher should be strict, but certainly not to the extent that British Gymnastics coaches were. Since the discover of this mistreatment, coaches are being taught how to be patient and nicer. One way they could be nicer is by asking what their students think, and asking their students about how they could improve. This way their students are learning but not in a high-pressure environment.