Gymnastics is facing yet another controversy involving coaches causing mental and emotional distress to their athletes. Long Island University gymnast Syd Morris and 10 other athletes have spoken up about their experiences under head coach Randy Lane and assistant coach Olivia Courtney. Morris, a sophomore at LIU, shared that the problematic behavior started within two weeks of her joining the team.

Syd Morris explained that Randy Lane vented about disliking his position and ‘threatened’ to resign within the first two weeks. While the team convinced him to stay, he later blamed them, saying Morris and the girls were ‘big reasons’ why he lost his passion for coaching. Unfortunately, this was only the beginning of the young gymnast’s problems.

The former LIU gymnast explained that Lane would interfere with other aspects of the athletes’ schedules without their knowledge because they didn’t align with the team’s practice timings. At the start of her second semester, when Morris faced another class-practice schedule conflict, Lane refused to adjust. However, things got worse during Syd Morris’s first meet as an LIU athlete.

Lane and Courtney left Morris stranded when she ran into trouble at airport security. After sorting things out, the gymnast had to sprint across the airport alone, arriving just 10 minutes before the gates closed. When Syd Morris later realized that she forgot to pack her team shoes, “she had a sever anxiety attack,” out of fear of explaining it to Lane. Other athletes had a similar experience under Lane.

Former athlete Katy Koopman narrated her experience from 2020, revealing a pattern in Lane’s conduct. Koopman explained that during the team’s inaugural year, Randy Lane told them he would leave LIU because the school didn’t give him a contract, and he would leave alongside Olivia Courtney. He said the athletes needed to fight if they wanted him to stay. Koopman later discovered that Lane had simply been unsatisfied with the contract he had. Unfortunately, the head coach didn’t make life easy even for those who decided to retire.

The head coach didn’t let Syd Morris retire on her terms

After repeated incidents overwhelmed Morris, she decided to retire shortly into the 2024 season. However, when the athlete approached Lane with her decision his response “hurt” her. The head coach explained that she was the only athlete on the team he would fight for. The statement affected Morris because she loved her team and was taken aback by Lane’s attitude toward the rest of the team.

However, when the coach couldn’t dissuade her from her decision, he announced the news to the team. Syd Morris, who wanted to explain her decision to change to her teammates, didn’t get the opportunity. Morris’s story is one of 10 other athletes who have alleged similar mistreatment from Lane and his assistant coach. Alongside Morris and Koopman, Talia Folio and Jules Rider are the only athletes who have publicly named themselves in the extensive statement. The other athletes have chosen to remain anonymous.

What Syd Morris and others have written in their statement paints a grim picture of how head coach Lane has treated athletes. The statement has sparked serious discussion, just like it did when she publicly announced her retirement. However, neither Randy Lane nor LIU has come forward with any response yet.