Dear Michigan,
I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a supporter, a cheerleader, a teacher, a coach, a Michigander and a voice. For almost seven months now, I have remained silent. Closed lips behind closed doors, holding my tongue and praying for answers and change. I have quietly reached out to news media, social media and parents across this great nation and state in hopes to be heard, but silence resulted in nothing as I placed my faith in our government here in Michigan. Quietly searching for answers and for those who may have a larger impact in news media, has seemed to have let our organization down even more than we already have been.
I can no longer be quiet or silent. I can no longer have faith in our governor and our state representatives—because in simple terms, they care not for the well being of their people, but a political capital and game that they seem to play so well.
I’m here to call that out. I’m here to be a voice for my child, who feels that she has none. I am here as a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife, a supporter, a cheerleader, a teacher, a coach and a voice. I’m sickened over the response that the gymnastic organization has received from our great governor, who as of yesterday (8-13-20) alerted her staff to mute our Twitter attempts to capture her attention for the gain of our children. You mute our attempts to gain your attention, you mute our conversations, our pleas to be heard. You strip us of the right to actually gain any ground on a front that we are so deeply passionate about. What influence do you think that has on our children? For me, I see my child confused and hurt over not returning to her sport, but also angry that those that claim to want to protect our state, have completely disregarded conversation by muting the voice of their parents, their coaches, their families.
Are we not enough? Our votes were. When polling numbers are required, we are enough. You count on us to keep you within your station, to keep you grounded in a state capital that has now proved to mean anything but compassionate reasoning. We are not enough for politics, we are not enough to be heard, we are silenced. How can a government that claims to want the best for our children, not actually want to hear about what is best for our children? I ask this simply because it doesn’t matter how much we plead, beg or storm the front lawn of Lansing, we have gained nothing but a cold shoulder and a blank stare. Even with charts and data and article after article of the importance in the mental and physical health of our children, we are ignored. They are ignored.
We are in a time of uncharted territory. Not one of us was prepared for the outbreak of a pandemic and I wish not critique or criticize the response of our government—however, how can a Casino be safe to be in, but a gymnastic facility is not? How was it fair for bars to be open, but not gymnastics? Please explain in detail how it is that keeping our kids from returning to the sport of gymnastics here in Michigan, protects them when Casino’s can’t truly be promised to keep all of their equipment clean. Let’s be real for just a moment, how much sanitizer will be applied to a slot machine when a patriot moves to another and someone is waiting to jump on it?
Another question, schools are given the permission and encouragement to return to face to face instruction should their district approve so with social distancing and CDC guidelines being followed—how is it safe to return our children to school, but not safe to put them back in the sport that builds their confidence, their skills, their dreams? We have proved in our pleas that gymnastics is a sport to be trusted to remain six feet apart, to have clean gyms and equipment and can protect our kids. And what of the smaller gyms? The ones that are struggling to keep their rent paid and their teams and programs together? We are all struggling, but what of the ones that only have a team of 20 or even less than competing gymnasts? What then?
Do you see our frustration Michigan? There is little sense to be made when very little is given. Mentally, I’m beyond my depths—how do I continue to tell my daughter that she can’t return to her sport, but her friends can return to private dance studios and other activities, like soccer, baseball, football?
How do I explain that every state in Region 5 of USA Gymnastics has returned to their gyms and her state is the only one that hasn’t? More importantly, how do I comfort her when each day she looses a piece of herself and her hope.
For some of our gymnasts, this is their life. They train 20+ hours in a gym a week. They miss birthday parties, family gatherings, sleepovers, dances, after school clubs and friends. They give every ounce of themselves to gymnastics because it’s what they love, it’s their passion, their drive, their confidence. They are dependent on that life, because it’s what they know, what they have, what they dream. That dream…it’s slipping away. The skills they need, the conditioning and strength, it’s not something that can be trained through an online group meeting, or by observation. This is a sport that requires intense training—and like so many other things, it requires understanding and compassion.
You see, Michigan, it’s not enough.
It’s heartbreaking. And for many, the lack of returning to gymnastics has given them the notion that those college scholarships and their dream of competing college gymnastics are slipping further away each minute they are not in the gym.
Yet, this letter I write to you today, will most likely be over looked. Ignored, or deleted all together, because if our government doesn’t care, why should you? If you don’t know someone or have a child impacted by not being in gymnastics, what does this even mean for you? Nothing, this really means nothing to you, but it means something to my daughter who is waiting with desperation to resume her training. It means something to the thousands of gymnasts around the lower half of our state that are in desperate need of support, because truth be told, we can’t do this alone.
It just starts with a voice. It’s starting with mine, will you be the next?
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