# Charter — Gymnastics Injury Prevention Consortium

> The two-page founding charter, for adoption (and amendment) at the founding meeting.

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The Consortium · Draft 0.1, for adoption at the founding meeting

# The charter

Deliberately short: two pages that answer the questions groups actually fight about later — credit, decisions, money. This is a draft for the founding group to amend and adopt, not a finished rulebook.

  

# Charter — Gymnastics Injury Prevention Consortium

_Working name — the founding group can rename it at the first meeting. This draft is deliberately short: two pages that answer the questions people actually fight about later (credit, decisions, money). Everything else stays out until it’s needed. Bring it to the first meeting as a draft for the group to amend and adopt, not as a finished rulebook._

**Version:** Draft 0.1, for adoption at the founding meeting **Date:** [date of founding meeting]

## 1. Mission

The Consortium exists to make evidence-based injury prevention a mandatory part of coach education in gymnastics, across national and international federations. We bring together researchers, clinicians, coaches, and gymnasts to state what the evidence supports, turn it into practical coach education, and advocate for federations to require it.

## 2. What we do (and don’t)

We do: publish consensus positions grounded in evidence; develop and endorse coach-education content; engage federations, coaching bodies, and athlete organizations; pursue funding that advances the mission.

We don’t: certify individual coaches, provide medical advice to individual athletes, or endorse commercial products.

## 3. Membership

- Founding members are the individuals present at, or invited to, the founding meeting and listed in Appendix A.
- The Consortium aims to always include all four voices: research, clinical practice, coaching, and current or former gymnasts. Athletes and coaches are full members with equal standing, not consultees.
- New members join by invitation, agreed by simple majority of existing members.
- Members may leave at any time by notice, and are removed only by a two-thirds vote for conduct incompatible with the mission. Departing members keep credit for contributions already made.
- Members serve in a personal capacity. Institutional affiliations are listed for identification, not endorsement, unless an institution formally partners with us.

## 4. Roles

- **Convener** ([Sarah Vizel]): organizes meetings, keeps records, coordinates communications and external relationships, drives the timeline.
- **Scientific Co-chair** ([name]): leads the scientific agenda, chairs the consensus process, safeguards evidential standards.
- The Convener and Co-chair jointly set meeting agendas. Either can call a meeting.
- Roles are reviewed every two years or when a holder steps down.

## 5. How we decide

- We work by consensus: a decision passes when no member maintains a reasoned objection.
- Where consensus cannot be reached after genuine discussion, decisions fall to a simple majority of members, except membership removal and charter amendments, which need two-thirds.
- Scientific disagreements are not voted away: a member’s documented dissent from a consensus statement is recorded in the statement if they request it.
- Meetings are quorate with half the membership present. Remote attendance counts.

## 6. Credit and authorship

- Publications follow the [ICMJE authorship criteria](https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html): everyone who materially contributes and reviews the final text is an author; nobody who doesn’t, is.
- Author order for the consensus statement: Scientific Co-chair and Convener first and last (or per the group’s decision at the outset of drafting); remaining authors alphabetically unless the group agrees otherwise. Agree order _before_ drafting starts.
- Members may describe themselves as “Founding Member” (or their role title) of the Consortium in professional materials.
- Contributions outside publications — teaching materials, federation presentations, athlete testimony — are credited by name in the materials themselves and on the Consortium’s public pages.
- The Consortium’s name may not be used to imply endorsement of work the members haven’t approved.

## 7. Time, expenses, and compensation

- Membership is unpaid at founding. Reasonable, pre-agreed expenses (travel, meeting costs) are reimbursed when funds allow.
- If and when the Consortium holds funds (via a fiscal sponsor, host institution, or grant), honoraria and funded roles are set openly by the group, with the same terms offered to equivalent roles. Grant-funded work is compensated per the grant’s budget.
- No member is expected to contribute beyond the commitment stated at invitation (approximately four meetings per year plus agreed writing) without a new, explicit agreement.

## 8. Money and hosting

- The Consortium is an unincorporated collaboration; it holds no funds directly at founding.
- Funds are handled through a fiscal sponsor or a member’s host institution, chosen by the group. The arrangement, including any administrative fee, is disclosed to all members.
- The Convener and Co-chair may not commit the Consortium to funding agreements without a group decision.

## 9. Openness and integrity

- Consensus statements and educational outputs are published openly wherever possible.
- Members disclose relevant conflicts of interest (commercial ties, federation roles, ongoing litigation involvement) to the group; disclosures accompany publications per journal norms.
- We do not accept funding that comes with editorial control over our scientific conclusions.

## 10. Changing or ending this charter

- Amendments pass by two-thirds vote at a quorate meeting, circulated at least a week in advance.
- The Consortium dissolves by two-thirds vote; any remaining funds go to a nonprofit with a compatible mission, chosen by the group.

* * *

**Appendix A — Founding members**

| Name | Role / perspective | Affiliation (for identification) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sarah Vizel | Convener | — |
| [Co-chair name] | Scientific Co-chair | [university] |
| … | … | … |

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[Gymnastics Injury Prevention Consortium](https://provingconsortium.org/) — working reference for the founding group. Moving principles into practice.

Working reference site, shared by link and not indexed by search engines. Content is for general information and isn't medical advice; see a qualified clinician about any injury.