T&T Gymnastics Federation (TTGF) member Jeffrey Charles III is calling for members of the board to resign, but insists that he will not resign as he wants to help the troubled association.
To date, four members of the TTGF has resigned including Dale Ali, Carynn Chen, Anderson Charles and Sarah Lambert following the controversy surrounding the exclusion of national gymnast Thema Williams from the Rio Olympic Test event, the qualifier for the Olympic Games.
TTGF members have been under pressure to resign as the public believes there was some bias involved in replacing Williams from the Test event with alternate national gymnast Marisa Dick. The TTGF stated that they were forced to pull Williams out of the Test event after Williams’ coach John Geddert said she was suffering with an injury and struggling in training leading up to the Test event.
One such group which called for the TTGF to resign was the “Incensed and Right Thinking Citizens” which wrote an open letter to the board calling for it to be disbanded.
Charles, who is a club member, coach member and a representative of the men’s artistic gymnastics on the TTGF voiced his opinion on the local gymnastics body.
Charles said, “These people who are on the board right now should leave because they are not working for the clubs and for gymnastics. They are not trying to develop the sport at the grassroots level and they don’t listen to coaches. Those people on the board are selfish and mauvais lange.”
He added: “Coaches are the backbone of gymnastics and are the vehicle in spreading gymnastics, not the federation. Those are some of the grounds why they should leave.”
However, Charles says he will not resign from the TTGF as he wants to help the situation currently facing the TTGF.
“You get the good and bad in everything. We need to help, why run away from the situation. I am not going to resign from the federation.”
Williams has decided to take legal action against the TTGF. Williams, who is being represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Emir Crowne, is seeking “damages, declarations and relief for all wrongdoing” from the TTGF. Williams’ attorneys have sent a pre-action protocol letter to the TTGF requesting a response by 9 am tomorrow.