A general forum for everyone to discuss the recent events taking place at the YMCA gymnastics center.
Click on the following post entries to view and add comments.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Some very interesting posts
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Hello everyone, Mike (Dana's husband) here....
We have had some very interesting things happen in the last two days since we started this blog.
First, I believe we have had two posts from the YMCA management on this blog....the first is still here, and hopefully will remain for some time. I like the post because it asks the "staff" to move on, and outlines that the YMCA has been in some circumstances a beneficial instituion for kids. Then, of course, it takes on what I like to call the "current" YMCA values, and smears us.
I would like to state my opinions, just as Dana is working on her letter in the other room. Dana stayed up all night working on the letter the other night after we came home from California - ten straight hours in all - and tried to formulate a letter that stated her case in this matter. In hindsight, I should have left this alone. Dana is the best person I have ever met, and I can say without reserve that she places the children first in this endevour.
That said, the reason I am writing this is that, tonight I went into the office and Dana was crying.
It wasn't for the gym, or for the staff, or for the money, or for the time wasted with the YMCA. Dana was crying because we lost another kid tonight. Shannon. She will no longer be able to take gymnastics, because both Flames and Oasis are out of her parent's price range. What the YMCA did not understand is that Dana, unlike the current YMCA leadership, places the kids first in her heart.
I would like to say that all the kids have found a place in a new gym, however that is not the case. Many children have been left out because of the YMCA, and that is why we continue this crusade.
I come from a military family. Dana comes from a military family. When you read her letter, you will see that she takes responsibility for things that were under her command. What is lacking on the YMCA's part is: in my opinion, HONOR.
The YMCA has continued to try and snowball the community and the parents involved by saying they no longer support competitive gymnastics. This is not true in over 40 YMCA's across the country - so I consider that a lie.
The YMCA has tried to smear the coaches, confiding that maybe there was an alternative reason for letting the entire staff go....again, if the YMCA will only honor the staff by presenting the charges and letting them be defended, then we can have a resolution...but there are no charges, because there is nothing that the staff or Dana did outside of placing the children first.
I am not saying Dana or the staff was without fault. Nothing done by humans is without fault. A Christian organization would know this.
Getting back to my point - I am from a military family. Since birth, I have been taught to stand up for my principals no matter what the odds, no matter what the cost. I have also been taught the chain of command, and respect. I believe Dana has followed this credo, and that is why this gym failed - and also why I will continue to work against the YMCA until it changes.
Dana has taken the heat for her actions; however in my opinion, and I have given this some thought, the YMCA has left Tim and Keri to hang for what was ultimately the decision of the CEO of the YMCA of the Valley of the Sun. According to our parents, the CEO makes a quarter of a million dollars a year, all to "grow" the YMCA, and yet he makes some feckless bastard take the heat for what is ultimately his actions. In my book, this is dishonorable, or without honor.
This is the same person who goes business to business with his hand out saying "we build strong kids" give us money...well, Mr. CEO, for 15 years we built strong kids on your behalf...kids that have more athletic ability that any other sport. Kids that study harder, work harder, and will become better citizens than any that your other YMCA staff produces. I challenge you to produce 20 kids in the state YMCA programs that can match just the top 20 kids that were in the Deer Valley YMCA Gymnastics program on athletic ability and learning. We only had 500 kids, and we produced more winners that the rest of the YMCA combined. How you sleep at night is beyond me...and the cowardice of making your PR person take all the heat. For SHAME. At the same time, you set up Tim to take the blame, and I am almost certain that this will enable you to take him out of the picture as well, another tradgedy in my book (Dana may not share this with me, however I think Tim is a good person caught up in a bad situation).
The YMCA has made a couple of tactical errors in judgement. Firstly, I have a good family, and we will not quit reguardless of the pressure placed opon us. After one of the YMCA staff posted the note about "slandering" the YMCA, I consulted with my uncle in the ACLU, and it is our contention that this is still America, and we can voice our opionion, and that is all this is. By the way, it is much later on the east coast....
It is my belief that the YMCA here in the valley has lost it's way. When we joined up, and before I quit the board, there was a management staff who's mantra was "the kids first, everything next". In my opinion, when the YMCA placed the current management in place to "grow" the valley of the sun, they were forced to get away from their core values in order to sustain growth. It is that simple. Our program was not profitable for the YMCA, and therefore did not fit into their current model.
Simply put, the current YMCA management chose money over kids. This isn't necessarily a reflection on Tim or Keri, as they were only doing their job - keeping the bottom line, or in Hollywood parlance "protecting the gate".
My problem with the YMCA, and the reason I will continue working against the organization until it changes or until I die is simply:
There should be some place in America that is bigger than just the money. That is bigger than just new buildings and facilities with shiny floors. We have the wealth and security to provide a chance for kids who's families don't make the big bucks. Without the Deer Valley YMCA Gymnastics program, there is now NO PLACE in Arizona that talented kids that are financially challenged can compete in gymnastics, and possibly go to college, or the olympics. I know that may be a statistical longshot, however without this program, it is a statistical impossibility.
I would like to address the YMCA's recent spin of our facility and our coaches. If our gym was so bad, and our coaches so poorly trained, how come our kids had so much success? Why did we beat the gyms that the YMCA referred us to in head to head competition many times? What about our YMCA National Gymnastics Competition Champions?
I would also like to address the YMCA's contention that our coaches are substandard. All of the coaches, and it has only been two days, have jobs at other gyms. Enough said.
In summary, I believe the YMCA is without honor, and they have set aside their core values, and that is why we will continue to make sure their true nature is brought out. These kids deserve a YMCA that actually is lead by the values in the charter.
At this point, Dana and I have not had time to consider our options, however amoung the forfront is the possibility of our moving to a larger residence in order to build a small facility for those kids that were left behind - for the cost of insurance. Since there are no facilities of this nature now, and this is an unusual circumstance, it will take a little time to work out. It takes a little while for the sting to wear off before you can address the slap.
Anyway, that is only my opinion, I am deeply sorry for any of the families we impacted in a negative way, and sorry that we did not do more to move the venue when the YMCA changed into it's current state. And I am very sorry that I ever asked anyone to donate to the YMCA, the very organization that ended up turning on our kids and parents.
If you want to ask, for this I lose sleep at night. In hindsight, I would have never gotten involved with the YMCA, although I must defend my actions by saying that at the time, it was a different organization, lead by Jeff Andresen, Linda Blackmore, and with Tom Cooper at the helm of the gymnastics facility. These people always placed the kids first, loved the kids dearly; and when you spoke with them, they always put the kids before the money, and in my humble opinion, this was their, and Dana's, undoing with the YCMA.
1 comment:
Hello everyone, Mike (Dana's husband) here....
We have had some very interesting things happen in the last two days since we started this blog.
First, I believe we have had two posts from the YMCA management on this blog....the first is still here, and hopefully will remain for some time. I like the post because it asks the "staff" to move on, and outlines that the YMCA has been in some circumstances a beneficial instituion for kids. Then, of course, it takes on what I like to call the "current" YMCA values, and smears us.
I would like to state my opinions, just as Dana is working on her letter in the other room. Dana stayed up all night working on the letter the other night after we came home from California - ten straight hours in all - and tried to formulate a letter that stated her case in this matter. In hindsight, I should have left this alone. Dana is the best person I have ever met, and I can say without reserve that she places the children first in this endevour.
That said, the reason I am writing this is that, tonight I went into the office and Dana was crying.
It wasn't for the gym, or for the staff, or for the money, or for the time wasted with the YMCA. Dana was crying because we lost another kid tonight. Shannon. She will no longer be able to take gymnastics, because both Flames and Oasis are out of her parent's price range. What the YMCA did not understand is that Dana, unlike the current YMCA leadership, places the kids first in her heart.
I would like to say that all the kids have found a place in a new gym, however that is not the case. Many children have been left out because of the YMCA, and that is why we continue this crusade.
I come from a military family. Dana comes from a military family. When you read her letter, you will see that she takes responsibility for things that were under her command. What is lacking on the YMCA's part is: in my opinion, HONOR.
The YMCA has continued to try and snowball the community and the parents involved by saying they no longer support competitive gymnastics. This is not true in over 40 YMCA's across the country - so I consider that a lie.
The YMCA has tried to smear the coaches, confiding that maybe there was an alternative reason for letting the entire staff go....again, if the YMCA will only honor the staff by presenting the charges and letting them be defended, then we can have a resolution...but there are no charges, because there is nothing that the staff or Dana did outside of placing the children first.
I am not saying Dana or the staff was without fault. Nothing done by humans is without fault. A Christian organization would know this.
Getting back to my point - I am from a military family. Since birth, I have been taught to stand up for my principals no matter what the odds, no matter what the cost. I have also been taught the chain of command, and respect. I believe Dana has followed this credo, and that is why this gym failed - and also why I will continue to work against the YMCA until it changes.
Dana has taken the heat for her actions; however in my opinion, and I have given this some thought, the YMCA has left Tim and Keri to hang for what was ultimately the decision of the CEO of the YMCA of the Valley of the Sun. According to our parents, the CEO makes a quarter of a million dollars a year, all to "grow" the YMCA, and yet he makes some feckless bastard take the heat for what is ultimately his actions. In my book, this is dishonorable, or without honor.
This is the same person who goes business to business with his hand out saying "we build strong kids" give us money...well, Mr. CEO, for 15 years we built strong kids on your behalf...kids that have more athletic ability that any other sport. Kids that study harder, work harder, and will become better citizens than any that your other YMCA staff produces. I challenge you to produce 20 kids in the state YMCA programs that can match just the top 20 kids that were in the Deer Valley YMCA Gymnastics program on athletic ability and learning. We only had 500 kids, and we produced more winners that the rest of the YMCA combined. How you sleep at night is beyond me...and the cowardice of making your PR person take all the heat. For SHAME. At the same time, you set up Tim to take the blame, and I am almost certain that this will enable you to take him out of the picture as well, another tradgedy in my book (Dana may not share this with me, however I think Tim is a good person caught up in a bad situation).
The YMCA has made a couple of tactical errors in judgement. Firstly, I have a good family, and we will not quit reguardless of the pressure placed opon us. After one of the YMCA staff posted the note about "slandering" the YMCA, I consulted with my uncle in the ACLU, and it is our contention that this is still America, and we can voice our opionion, and that is all this is. By the way, it is much later on the east coast....
It is my belief that the YMCA here in the valley has lost it's way. When we joined up, and before I quit the board, there was a management staff who's mantra was "the kids first, everything next". In my opinion, when the YMCA placed the current management in place to "grow" the valley of the sun, they were forced to get away from their core values in order to sustain growth. It is that simple. Our program was not profitable for the YMCA, and therefore did not fit into their current model.
Simply put, the current YMCA management chose money over kids. This isn't necessarily a reflection on Tim or Keri, as they were only doing their job - keeping the bottom line, or in Hollywood parlance "protecting the gate".
My problem with the YMCA, and the reason I will continue working against the organization until it changes or until I die is simply:
There should be some place in America that is bigger than just the money. That is bigger than just new buildings and facilities with shiny floors. We have the wealth and security to provide a chance for kids who's families don't make the big bucks. Without the Deer Valley YMCA Gymnastics program, there is now NO PLACE in Arizona that talented kids that are financially challenged can compete in gymnastics, and possibly go to college, or the olympics. I know that may be a statistical longshot, however without this program, it is a statistical impossibility.
I would like to address the YMCA's recent spin of our facility and our coaches. If our gym was so bad, and our coaches so poorly trained, how come our kids had so much success? Why did we beat the gyms that the YMCA referred us to in head to head competition many times? What about our YMCA National Gymnastics Competition Champions?
I would also like to address the YMCA's contention that our coaches are substandard. All of the coaches, and it has only been two days, have jobs at other gyms. Enough said.
In summary, I believe the YMCA is without honor, and they have set aside their core values, and that is why we will continue to make sure their true nature is brought out. These kids deserve a YMCA that actually is lead by the values in the charter.
At this point, Dana and I have not had time to consider our options, however amoung the forfront is the possibility of our moving to a larger residence in order to build a small facility for those kids that were left behind - for the cost of insurance. Since there are no facilities of this nature now, and this is an unusual circumstance, it will take a little time to work out. It takes a little while for the sting to wear off before you can address the slap.
Anyway, that is only my opinion, I am deeply sorry for any of the families we impacted in a negative way, and sorry that we did not do more to move the venue when the YMCA changed into it's current state. And I am very sorry that I ever asked anyone to donate to the YMCA, the very organization that ended up turning on our kids and parents.
If you want to ask, for this I lose sleep at night. In hindsight, I would have never gotten involved with the YMCA, although I must defend my actions by saying that at the time, it was a different organization, lead by Jeff Andresen, Linda Blackmore, and with Tom Cooper at the helm of the gymnastics facility. These people always placed the kids first, loved the kids dearly; and when you spoke with them, they always put the kids before the money, and in my humble opinion, this was their, and Dana's, undoing with the YCMA.
My best regards,
Mike Hall
(Dana's Husband)
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