With all the breaking news of the Larry Nassar (I am omitting his title of Doctor because he does not deserve, nor has he ever deserved, that prestige) scandal and the resignation of the entire USA gymnastics board, I want to express my opinions regarding the positives and negatives of the world of gymnastics. People might now view the sport differently with the revelation of these horrific circumstances, but the truth is the sport has always been the same, our knowledge of certain situations has just evolved.

These issues have been deeply rooted within the system for a while and the fact that these women were able to continue to train, compete, and represent our country all while being harassed and abused is a phenomenal achievement that no one should have to go through. These women are strong and powerful and represent everything that is right with the gymnastics world while the people in power who hid these illegalities represent another half of the sport that is finally being acknowledged and dealt with.

While this uproar might cause non-gymnastically educated people to view the sport differently, and perhaps more negatively, I want to share many positives that are instilled in children who decide to join the sport. Just because the system is corrupt, does not mean that the sport of gymnastics is corrupt in itself.

This sport teaches young athletes valuable life skills, including how to deal with adversity and how to bring justice to tyrants.

First, this sport teaches time management. The strict schedules and specific regimes required to succeed in this sport instill within athletes good time management skills. There is so much to learn in so little time, efficiency is key in developing proper techniques and learning new skills.

Second, this sport teaches sportsmanship. While gymnastics might be performed individually, gymnasts compete in teams, for clubs, for schools, for states, regions, countries... There are many gymnasts in this world, so there is bound to be one gymnast who is better than another. When a spectacular routine has been performed, judges reward that and other athletes respect that. Gymnasts learn to accept failure at a young age and learn to respect those who earn success.

Third, this sport teaches commitment. Gymnasts practice for multiple hours every day. When I was in club, I practiced 24 hours a week. That's between 3-4 1/2 hours a day for 6 days a week. Lots of athletes with these increased hours had to learn to choose between socializing and practicing. I missed Friday night games, school dances, sleepovers, movies, family dinners... but I love my sport so much I was willing to devote that much time to my craft, as is every other gymnast in the world.

This sport teaches determination and that one must work hard to get what she wants out of life.

Lastly, this sport instills confidence within its competitors. While there is a stigma about gymnasts needing to eat very little and train excessively to achieve their powerful yet lean body frames, newer generations of gymnasts are pushing past that stereotype. Aly Raisman is a perfect example of this confidence. She not only is body-confident, now partnering with Aerie in their no-retouch photo campaign, but she is also confident in life as a strong individual and spokeswoman, speaking out against the injustice and evil that was created by Larry Nassar and the entire board of USA gymnastics.

This sport teaches athletes grace and beauty can accompany strength and power, and performing in front of crowds helps them become more comfortable with putting themselves in the spotlight, being the center of attention.

There are of course numerous other positive lessons that the sport and industry of gymnastics teaches its athletes, but these are some of the most prominent ones and ones that I feel are appropriate for the industries current situation.

While these people have desecrated the name of the sport I hold so dear, incredible individuals like Aly Raisman and Jordan Weiber are coming forward and implementing their character traits that they learned in this sport to help it evolve into something more along the lines of what every gymnast dreams of it being. The evils inflicted upon the hundreds of women are nothing less that devastating, but the knowledge that those women gained from the sport itself helped them to take down those evils.

This sport itself is amazing, and once we have positive role models advocating for it, perhaps it will finally become the system that it was thought to be all along. With the respect and strength that its competitors learned by practicing the sport, gymnastics will hopefully begin to evolve into something as beautiful and powerful as the women who are speaking out against injustice.