Laurie Hernandez interviews Li Li Leung for ‘Stronger Than You Think’

By Patricia Duffy | May 28, 2020
Laurie Hernandez interviews Li Li Leung for 'Stronger Than You Think' campaign

Olympic gold and silver medalist Laurie Hernandez interviewed USA Gymnastics CEO Li Li Leung on Wednesday evening as part of the “Stronger Than You Think” campaign–a three-day livestream event promoting conversations around mental health.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Hernandez–who is a co-host for the event–sat down with Leung over video call to discuss the organization’s changing culture.

Read a transcript of the discussion and watch the full interview below.

Highlights: Laurie Hernandez interviews USAG CEO Li Li Leung

Laurie Hernandez: What advice can you give to the young people in our community that are missing their sport and their gym families during this time?

Li Li Leung: Well, I think it’s important to acknowledge and validate what they’re going through: that this is a really hard time for them and for others around them. It’s really difficult that they don’t have the community, and on top of that, gymnastics is such a physically demanding and a mentally demanding sport. I think it’s okay, really, to allow gymnasts the space to rest and recover. That’s not a bad thing. That’s actually a really, really good thing in terms of rest and recovery. I think it’s also good to let them know that they’re not alone in this. This is impacting a lot of other people, not just themselves. I think that gymnasts will struggle with it in different ways, given their individual personalities, but it’s really important for them to utilize the resources at their disposal. We have a bunch of resources on our website. If you go to USAGym.org, you’ll see some resources there.

Hernandez: Have you gotten a lot of feedback in terms of a lot of athletes having to stop their sports, and just a lot of people reaching out on what’s happening? Has that been a big deal?

Leung: Yea, I mean, most of the gymnasts haven’t been able to train. There have been a few, it seems like, that the states have stayed open, but not many. [For] the vast majority, I know the gyms have been closed, and I know you’re in this situation right now, as well–that you haven’t trained for a little bit. I just can’t imagine. When I was training, three days off was a long period of time. Several months off is a whole different ball game.

Hernandez: I’m not even going to lie, it’s felt a little bit nerve-wracking… The fact that we’re so used to working out so often, and then it’s like the rug is swept out from underneath you…

Something else that I wanted to talk about… It’s a little bit of an elephant in the room. I know in my case, earlier this year, I was able to go ahead and share a statement, kind of with the world, which is terrifying. That was due to a hearing that happened earlier this year. In my own opinion, it happened four years too late. However, I did notice that you guys (USAG) did the right thing, and I’m not gonna lie, I was a little shocked. But you did the right thing, and I think that’s important for everybody to acknowledge. Now, some of the mental health challenges that gymnasts face… Of course, national teams and Olympians are unfortunately included… They are amplified by the sport’s history and the sport’s culture. What is USA Gymnastics doing to change the longstanding sub-culture within our community that has continued to tolerate abusive coaching? Because I can only speak for my case, [and] my experience still feels very raw and very emotional… Having done gymnastics for a little over a decade, it’s definitely something that I had to deal with, and I know, unfortunately, a lot of my best friends had to deal with it as well. I just wanted to know what you guys are able to do about that and what you plan on doing.

Leung: Firstly, thank you for your bravery and courage in terms of speaking up. I think it’s really important for gymnasts to do that, because if they don’t do that, we don’t know what’s going on. We actually rely on the community to let us know what’s going on… So, thank you for doing that. I think it’s crucially important for others to do it as well, and hopefully, they follow suit.

I know you mentioned this sub-culture within sports. Firstly, we have to acknowledge our organization’s role in it and that, historically, we have allowed that kind of behavior. We have allowed abusive coaching. We, actually, have even rewarded it in the name of winning in the past. But this is a new era. We will not reward it. We will not tolerate it. I think it’s really important that we make that stand. I think we also need to educate the community in terms of how to recognize abuse; how to report it. I also think it’s important to provide educational resources to the community in terms of helping them understand development–psychological and physical development–of youth. We have actually partnered up with PCA–Positive Coaching Alliance–to develop tools, to develop materials, and get content out there to help educate the community, and we’re looking forward to rolling those things out.

Hernandez: As an athlete, I really appreciate that you acknowledge that it was rewarded and that you acknowledged that it happened. Because I think, in the past, we’ve all seen it kind of like, ‘Oh no, we don’t do that. We don’t tolerate that.’ But then it was still tolerated. So, the fact that you’re acknowledging it, it feels like a very important step. And I’m grateful that you were even wanting to come on here and talk to me about it. I think that’s important for people to see. So, thank you… I think everybody’s excited to see what USAG does next and how we’re able to take care of our athletes.

Leung: [I think it’s important] that we hold ourselves accountable. It is about a shared commitment by the entire community, so we have to set the tone of that. We know it’s not going to be easy to shift. Basically, [to] have cultural transformation within the sport, but we’re committed to doing that for the sake of the sport and for the sake of the athletes as well.

Hernandez: To go ahead and wrap up the interview, what types of mental health resources, that you had mentioned earlier, are available from USA Gymnastics now, and how can gymnasts–or really any athlete, parent, or coach that might be watching–how can they go ahead and access them?

Leung: If you go to our website, USAGym.org, there’s a link called Coronavirus Updates. Within that Coronavirus Updates page, there are several resources. Be it videos, webinars, documentaries related to mental health. You can follow our SafeSport web page or follow our SafeSport social accounts. On our website, we also have webinars. For example, one topic of a webinar that we have on our website is identifying the difference between abusive coaching and tough coaching. In addition to that, the relationship with the PCA, we have rolled out content with them, and we actually will be rolling out more content with them. In fact, our two first workshops, virtual workshops, will be taking place next week. One, the topic is about double goal coaching, so coaching for winning and life lessons. And the other workshop is for club owners in terms of how to lead your organization. After that, we’re going to be developing content for parents and athletes. We’ll be rolling out parent content really shortly. Actually, it was supposed to happen now, but with COVID, everything’s been pushed back a little bit. But you’ll see something in the pipeline for parents really soon.

Watch: USA Gymnastics “Stronger Than You Think” interview

Credit: USA Gymnastics/YouTube

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