Michigan gymnastics coach suspended for misconduct allegations

A Michigan-based gymnastics coach has been suspended for two years by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for what they call physical and emotional misconduct.

Nanci Moore, a gymnastics coach at Bay Valley Academy in Michigan, was suspended for allegations of mistreatment, being forced to compete through injuries, and not following concussion protocols.

Moore’s attorney Russell Prince said the allegations are “100 percent false.” The suspension is subject to appeal and not yet final.

A recent story from WNEM.com detailed the suspension and misconduct allegations.

Below is an excerpt from the WNEM.com story.

“Not only can she not coach anywhere in the country in the sport of gymnastics for two years, but she can’t receive a membership or coach underneath the Olympic Movement,” Prince said. “So 83 or more national governing bodies of sports.”

Prince believes the U.S. Center for SafeSport treats allegations as fact.

“It’s an organization that’s got a very, very significant problem with the ease at which people can manipulate facts and circumstances within the sport in order to essentially effectuate these types of outcomes,” he said.

“Your concussion thing is from a family that refused to actually provide a concussion, come back to the gym. Your complaints regarding a broken arm, and mistreatment, and being forced to compete, is from an ex-employee who effectively forced her own daughter to participate in a meet for the sole purpose of being able to manipulate an insurance issue with USA gymnastics. We could do this all day, but again, it’s better suited for the courts,” Prince said.

Which is exactly where he is planning to go.

“We have hundreds of pages of documentation and we have hundreds of pages of messages. And we have an entire history of connections to these people, and dozens of witnesses that are going to stand up against them when we have the opportunity to actually defend ourselves,” he said.

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TV5 learned some of the allegations against Moore include not following concussion protocol and forcing a gymnast to compete with a broken arm.

To read the full story from WNEM.com, click here.