Abby Spadafora wants to ensure every sports organization in Sarnia-Lambton gets the message.
“We need the coaches, we need the board members, and we need the parents,” said the Sarnia woman and one of the founders of the grassroots advocacy group Athletes Empowered, along with fellow former local gymnast Melanie Hunt. “I think I’ve sent almost 100 emails, trying to reach every sports club and organization in the area."
The pair are set to host ‘Safety in Sport: Advocating for the Eradication of Maltreatment and Misconduct in Canadian Athletics,’ on September 26 at Lambton College. The event aims to address the crisis of toxic culture and abuse in youth sports, shedding light on the importance of safety, in hopes to create a rich and meaningful environment for athletes.
“We just want people to come out and listen and just be aware — I think they’ll learn quite a bit,” said Spadafora. “I hope they’re open to it; I know it’s a tough subject…but we need to talk about it, because, it’s not just happening at the elite level. It’s everywhere.”
Spadafora and Hunt have earned national attention in recent years after breaking their silence about the physical, emotional and sexual abuse they say they endured as young elite athletes with the Bluewater Gymnastics Club.
The women were featured in the 2022 TSN/W5 documentary “Broken: Inside the Toxic Culture of Canadian Gymnastics,” and are among the members of the Bluewater Survivors, who say they were abused for years by coaches Dave and Liz Brubaker.
They’ve since helped establish Athletes Empowered (formerly Gymnasts for Change), a victim-survivor-led organization supporting athletes and families in their healing, while demanding accountability — taking their plight all the way to Parliament to demand a national inquiry — to ensure no child is a victim of abuse in sport, in any form, at any level.
“You’re not just coming in and listening to people telling their stories; there’s so much more to it than that,” Spadafora said of the event, which includes panellists Dr. Krista Loughead (University of Windsor, Ethics in Sport and Physical Activity), Amelia Cline, (lawyer, former elite gymnast, Athletes Empowered), Dr. Roy Cline (parent of elite gymnast, Amelia Cline), along with Spadafora and Hunt.
The evening will also include a condensed viewing of the documentary.
“It hits close to home, and I don’t think enough people have actually seen it,” said Hunt, who recently spoke on a panel with Spadafora at the University of Windsor; the pair were also selected to give the keynote address during the Department of Justice Victims of Crime Week earlier this year.
Both women, now mothers, say they’re hearing stories from victims almost daily — not just in gymnastics — but from all sports, from hockey, to Taekwondo, and volleyball.
The abuse, they stressed, isn’t just physical — it’s mental and psychological — from favouritism, to yelling.
“People don’t understand just how severe the psychological abuse is when you’re being yelled at,” Spadafora said. “These are extra curricular activities after school, and if you are screaming at children just to do something, you are ruining that child.
“Studies show that when you scream at kids they do worse…”
"If you were in the workplace and being constantly screamed at, no one would think that’s acceptable," Spadafora added. "But when it’s happening to our kids at the hockey arena or at the gym, you think it’s OK? Why? Why do we normalize this?" - Abby Spadafora
“And a lot of parents, coaches, and board members are afraid to speak up because retaliation is very real.”
“And that’s trauma for the child,” Hunt added. “You don’t get to define what trauma is; that’s in the person who is experiencing it.”
IF YOU GO:
What: Safety in sport: Addressing toxic culture and abuse in Canadian athletics
When: Thursday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m.- 9 p.m.
Where: Lambton College Events Centre; Zoom
Details: Event is free; For more information, including how to register, or view via Zoom, visit https://events.humanitix.com/safesportsarnia2024
Contact: [email protected]
The event is being sponsored by Dr. Vanessa Curran; George, Murray, Shipley, Bell, LLP; Insignia Hotel; Mr. and Mrs. Rocca; Darren Allison, Slater Wealth Management.