The Mary Cain situation is pretty complex. Some of the things that happened to her are terrible and those responsible deserve punishment while others are her own doing.
I listened to the podcast and a lot of what she says rings true. There is way too much pressure in HS to do heavy miles. In HS you should keep yourself from burning out.
The whole influencer thing I agree with. Sponsors and agents have way too much influence over what these people post. Get a contract because you run fast, not because you have people reading your tweets and IG posts. Pro athletes, whether they are runners, football players, of F1 drivers should be paid for their performance on the field, not their social media reach.
She was treated badly by AlSal and I would call what he did abuse.
All that being said she decided to turn pro as an HS student and her parents, one of which is a doctor, seem to have not done a very good job either talking her out of it or preparing her.
Once she was at Nike and realized the disaster it was she needed to get out. At the very least she needed to confide in her parents and they needed to be the adults and get out. I may have missed it but did she ever talk about how much her parents knew and how hard they tried to come get her?
Atalanta is a terrible name for anything other than an Italian Soccer Team.
It seems like she is trying to "be the change she wants to see" with that team and I applaud her for it but until we see some actual results to prove the experiment works it is nothing but vaporware.
Bottom line is she was thrust into a bad situation, some of it her own or her family's doing and some of it Nike's, and she is doing what she feels is best to try and bring awareness to it. She is a little annoying and seems to not take ownership of her role in it but Nike and the whole AlSal situation was toxic and needed burned down.
"Pro athletes should be paid for their performance on the field..."
Why, when that performance literally adds no value for the brand? 99% of the consumer base for running shoes is hobby joggers and walkers/non-runners who just wear them for comfort. These people have no idea who placed at worlds and don't care, either. Brands will get a lot more value out of an attractive woman like Colleen Quigley who posts "interesting" (by number of views) content on social, regardless of how she places in competitions.
Galen Rupp literally adds no value to any brand. 99% of Americans have never heard of him and he has no social media. Totally useless for sponsors.
A pro athlete is a pro athlete is a pro athlete. It doesn't matter if you are a runner, NFL QB, major leave pitcher, or anything else. You are paid to do what you do on the field. Sponsorships are about your performance. If course reach has a little bit of influence but whether you are a runner or Super Bowl MVP you should be able to leave social media entirely and still perform on the field.
I forgot to add. Mary Cain wants the Atalanta NYC to be the Non-Profit designation so that it can give tax deductions to Nuun and Tracksmith for the "sponsorship". This is why you want the Atalanta NYC to be Non-Profit despite having to publicly disclose your finances.
The Not For Profit NYC Pioneers Club cannot give tax deductible receipts, but gets to keep all its finances private and pay no taxes. This is why Mary Cain and her board did the two entity setup, so they can get to give tax deductible receipts to Nuun and Tracksmith while using a loophole so they never have to disclose their true finances and how much Mary Cain or the board gets paid from the Non-Profit. Really shady.
I don't know...I looked at the New York State Open Gov site and it has the NYC Pioneer Club, Inc. as a "Domestic Not For Profit Corporation". The Atalanta NYC website says that it (meaning Atalanta NYC) is a non profit. That makes both the NYC Pioneer Club and the Atalanta NYC non profits???? How does that work? There is not listing on NYS OpenGov for the Atalanta NYC. The filing date for the NYC Pioneer Club is 12/24/2020. The Atalanta NYC was formed in June 2021. According to the linked Runner's World article on the Atalanta NYC website, Mary Cain will only be taking a "first year salary of $1". Whether that is accurate or not I don't know since there is no 501 (c) (3) filing as of yet. Also on the Atalanta NYC site, if you click on "ABOUT" and scroll down, it still says that Jon Green is a coach for the team. I thought he left a few weeks ago?
Looks like intent for Mary Cain to have the NYC Pioneer Club, Inc registered as a Not For Profit Corporation is both so that it pays no taxes what so ever in any situation and also because you can hide the financial details for a Not For Profit Corporation. In contrast with a Non-Profit designation for Atalanta NYC, you are required by law to disclose the finances in tax filings and reports.
So basically Mary Cain has the NYC Pioneer Club registered so she can both pay no taxes and hide everything financial about how much she pays herself along with the board members. That's how you can say she is only taking a salary of $1 because it is BS hidden behind the NYC Pioneer Club charging Atalanta NYC for bulk services, and none of them ever pay any taxes and you never get to really check their finances hidden away behind the true entity, NYC Pioneer Club.
Interesting. I don't see Fast Women (or whatever that blog is, they have some good stuff sometimes) or Chavez going deeper. They want to keep Cain as a source and won't dig deep. LRC has its trolls but it asks questions that are honest and open at times. Like this.
I once was told her older sister claimed she was bullied as well. Ask anyone from the town. Claimed their was a huge anti-catholic conspiracy against them.
The girls team at her HS was SUPER successful. The coach is a NY legend. Yet she wanted no part of being a part of it and trained with the boys team. The rumor I heard was freshman year she ran like the 4 x 800 and some open event at nationals. She lost the open event at nationals and the parents/cain said,, "We'll never run a relay again."
Can you imagine that? That's like the definition of self-absorption. But I'm glad she sued. I hope to see the court docs but I imagine it will never happen as Alberto will Uncle Phil to pay her off.
I remember reading a thread about her in '19 and '20 about the same thing, she separated herself from the girls' team.
The coach was a class act and, my opinion, frustrated with the poorly informed Cain parents. You would expect HS girls to get snippy and say dumb stuff when a talented teammate decides to quit a highly successful team. HS girls can be mean, but I feel worse for the girls who are not the smart, rich, skinny, athletic, etc. Some of the parents said dumb stuff too, most were just trying to be good parents. I think my son’s graduating class was about 105, the school is K-12 in one building so people gossip but they learn to get along.
The anti-Catholic conspiracy comment is funny. Bronxville is not a diverse place but that is a pretty ignorant claim if coming from a resident.