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by Tim Sullivan
In Vermont, a high school football coaching staff faces a lawsuit over whether they properly instructed and supervised a player who suffered a severe neck injury in a game. A Staten Island Little League recently settled for $125,000 a lawsuit alleging that they had not properly taught a player how to slide. In 2003, a swimmer sued her coach for allegedly improperly training her on how to race dive and making her do it anyway. Increasingly, litigation over sports injuries threatens coaches and league administrators with enormous legal expenses and, worse, liability.
by Tim Sullivan
Background checks have become a standard practice in youth sports, as coach violence and sexual abuse and harassment have become more frequent (although still rare) occurrences. First and foremost, background checks are necessary as a matter of safety: discovering that a coach has been previously convicted of, for example, aggravated battery, or is a registered sex offender can help a sports league administrator and/or parents stop an incident before it occurs. Background checks are also important for league administrators to protect themselves from legal suits, such as negligent hiring claims. However, although well-done background checks can protect against legal liability, a poorly-done background check can create other legal issues.
A proper background check can protect league officials from allegations of negligent hiring, the penalties for which on average can measure in hundreds of thousands of dollars. A proper background check might follow the guidelines below, from the website www.athleticbusiness.com:
by Tim Sullivan
In the early 1980s, a little leaguer named Joey Fort lost a fly ball in the sun that then struck his eye, causing permanent damage. Shortly thereafter, a lawsuit filed on behalf of Joey accused four volunteer coaches of negligence for placing Joey, a second baseman, in the outfield and failing to train him on how to catch fly balls in the sun. The lawsuit caused concern among Little League volunteer coaches, who feared that they could be subject to legal liability for freak accidents or a player's mistake. Little League officials feared that lawsuits like Joey's would cause would-be volunteers to forgo the role, for fear of the legal risks.
by Tim Sullivan
Hosting a youth sporting event is no longer as simple as just having an open lot, bringing the basic equipment, and letting the kids play. Field owners now have a host of concerns, in order to ensure a safe environment for kids, and avoid legal liability for themselves. The responsibilities of the field owner extend to more than just the participants in the sporting event; spectators must be protected, as well as people who may use the sports field even when no official event is going on.
by Tim Sullivan
Many parents have seen it before when going to see their son or daughter play sports: another parent, or perhaps the coach, raging at the officials, opposing players, and maybe even other spectators. Increasingly, these fits of screaming are turning violent, and state legislatures are responding.
The National Association of Sports Officials receives more than 100 reports annually concerning violent contact between coaches, players, fans and officials. This, however, likely represents only a fraction of the actual occurrences. Consider the following stories:
You know that one guy. The one yelling from behind the backstop. "Hey ump, you're missing a good game here!" Or worse.
It's usually a parent on the other team, right? Maybe it's even a parent on your own kid's team.
It might even be you.
Just this summer in Colorado Springs, two girls were charged with fighting and an adult arrested for third-degree assault after a conflict at the Four Diamond Sports Complex.
The disagreement started when a softball player was hit by a pitch and charged the mound during a game between Cheyenne Mountain and Wasson High School club teams. The umpire ejected the girl and stopped the game, but tempers flared in the parking lot. Police reports say up to 30 people were involved, some with bats.
Kristen Browning-Blas
July 20, 2009
The Denver Post
by Kyle Finck
Daily News
July 14, 2009
"We're in the first inning of what could be an extra-inning ball game." - House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, referring to the fight against steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in youth sports.
Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Gary Sheffield and Manny Ramirez are all members of a special club. Unfortunately, they all belong to the "Future Hall Of Famers tarnished by performance-enhancing drugs" club. Thanks to unrelenting journalists, congressional probes, and former players, the public is beginning to know the truth behind the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs during what many call "The Steroid Era" in baseball.
Major League Baseball is not the only party affected by this disgraceful controversy. For decades, youth all across America had looked up to these players in their dream of becoming big league ballplayers. Kids and adults who had grown up saying, "I want to do everything my favorite player does," were now saying, "If my favorite player is taking steroids, then it's okay if I do."
The Florida High School Athletic Association, as expected Wednesday, rolled back a plan to cut back schedules for every sport but football and competitive cheerleading. The vote was 15-0, compared to the 9-6 vote in April that established the plan as a way to save money in the face of plummeting property tax revenues for the state's schools.
The FHSAA was sued on behalf of girls who argued their Title IX rights were violated because by not touching football, the cuts overwhelmingly affected girls' participation compared with boys'. The FHSAA may well still be ready to argue in court on Friday in Jacksonville that football is a coed sport (the most recenty numbers I've seen are 40,000 boys and eight girls, up from the previous count of three.) But Nancy Hogshead-Makar, the lawyer/ex-Olympic swimmer/mother of twin daughters handling the Title IX lawsuit, says she will continue to seek an injunction against the just-rejected plan so the FHSAA can't try it again. She'll probably get it, if not Friday, then soon enough.
Coincidentally, the FHSAA's change of heart comes the day a group called the College Sports Council put out a release touting a study claiming scholarship discrimination by NCAA programs -- against men.
Bob Cook
July 16, 2009
© 2008-2009 Copyright True/Slant
Superintendent Sheldon Berman said he was "outraged" that Pleasure Ridge Park football players were told at a practice last August that they would have to continue running until one of them quit the team.
But releasing the findings of what he called the most extensive investigation in the history of Jefferson County Public Schools, Berman said Wednesday that neither then-head coach Jason Stinson nor his assistants violated state rules or district policy at the Aug. 20 practice where sophomore lineman Max Gilpin collapsed from heat exhaustion and later died.
Antoinette Konz and Andrew Wolfson
The Courier-Journal
July 1, 2009
Health Canada is warning people not to buy or consume a brand of energy drink after a utility knife blade was found in one of the vials.
Officials are recalling the Hardcore Energize Bullet liquid energy drink manufactured in the States, but sold in stores across Canada. The drink is packaged in 85.7 mL (2.9fl.oz) shots and comes in two flavours, Blue Rage and Black Rush.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports a similar blade was also found in the New Whey energy drink, but the brand is not sold in Canada.
July 5, 2009
CityNews.ca
Dan Peterson
12 June 2009
Live Science
At a recent baseball game, the 12-year-old second baseman on my son's team had a ground ball take a nasty hop, hitting him just next to his right eye. He was down on the field for several minutes and was later diagnosed at the hospital with a concussion.
Thankfully, acute baseball injuries like this are on the decline, according to a new report. However, several leading physicians say overuse injuries of young players caused by too much baseball show no signs of slowing down.
by Monte Poole
June 16, 2009
Oakland Tribune
High on the list of most obnoxious persons on earth is the mother or father who berates and cheats and manipulates, all in the name of peddling the most beautiful and talented child in the universe.
Theirs, of course.
Stage parents are regulars on competitive youth circuits, from pageants to academics to sport. We've seen them, tempers off the chain, second-guessing coaches and officials, arguing and fighting with other adults and growling at children. It's a nasty disease, uncomfortable to witness.
Well, this particular stage parent is vying to become the Father of all Stage Parents.
His name is Ron Harper, he lives in Las Vegas, and he has decided his son is too cool for high school. Why get an elemental education and experience the joys of being a boy when manhood and potential millions are beckoning?
The Cougars of Middle School 61 had a basketball game in the Bronx, but a half-hour before tipoff, six girls and Coach Bryan Mariner were still inching through traffic in Brooklyn.
A cellphone rang. It belonged to forward Tiffany Fields-Binning, who passed the phone to Mr. Mariner.
"You don't want her to go?" he said. He peered up at a street sign. "We're on Atlantic and Flatbush." He paused. "O.K. O.K. We'll wait here."
Mr. Mariner turned off the ignition. "Tiff-a-ny." He said her name slowly, like a sigh. "You didn't set this straight with your pop?"
Tiffany stared out a window.
Mr. Mariner turned and assessed the situation: "We've got five."
Five players. No substitutes.
One hundred scientists and physicians have written a letter to the Food and Drug Administration asking for more regulation of increasingly popular energy drinks because their high caffeine content puts young drinkers at possible risk for caffeine intoxication and higher rates of alcohol-related injuries.
FROM BLEACHERS overlooking the region's soccer, baseball and other fields of play, you often hear parents urging their offspring to "keep your eyes on the ball."
Pity, when it comes to youth sports, that more adults don't heed similar advice and keep their eyes on the cash.
Thievery among leagues and teams in Northeastern Pennsylvania continues to be a problem, with the disappearance of thousands of dollars in snack bar proceeds, donations and fees an all-too-routine occurrence. The Plymouth Shawnee Indians football league is the latest group to suspect money missing from its bank account; parents were informed in mid-May of a deficit. Borough police are investigating.
Expect to hear a fundraising appeal on behalf of the Plymouth Shawnee participants, which include pint-sized football players and budding cheerleaders. But if you think this emergency call for contributions sounds like an echo, you're not mistaken.
Mark Guydish
June 2, 2009
Times Leader
May 30, 2009
Connecticut Post
Move over Jose Offerman, you now have company in the Bridgeport Baseball Hall of Shame.
The former Long Island Duck's bat attack, which gave former Bluefish catcher John Nathan a concussion after Offerman charged the mound at Harbor Yard two years ago, marred the national pastime, at least in this city, forever.
But Anibal Perez's recent actions are even worse.
Perez took poor sportsmanship on the baseball diamond to an entirely new level last week when he started a melee at the Thorme Street field that ended with the 36-year-old Bridgeport resident being charged with third-degree assault, breach of peace and risk of injury to a minor.
According to the police report, Perez, who was coaching the Red Sox in the Bridgeport North End Little League, had a dispute with the mother of a player on the Cardinals during the game that led to opposing coach William Garay, who is a Stamford police officer, also getting involved.
Perez, according to police, assaulted Garay during the incident before both benches emptied and fans also poured out to the field to straighten things out. Bench-clearing brawls are unfortunately nothing new to this sport -- but now at a Little League game?!
SEATTLE -- Zackery Lystedt's cause has become Washington law.
The state now has what advocates say is the nation's toughest law regulating when high school athletes can return to games after having sustained a concussion. The legislation signed Thursday in Olympia by Gov. Chris Gregoire prohibits athletes under 18, who are suspected of sustaining a concussion, from returning to play without a licensed health care provider's written approval.
It is named after a 16-year-old in Maple Valley who suffered a life-threatening brain injury in 2006 after he returned to play football following a concussion.
"It's the first of its kind in the country which mandates that youth athletes who sustain a concussion cannot come back to play without the written consent of a doctor or provider," said Rep. Jay Rodne, R-North Bend, whom Lystedt's family contacted for help.
Gregg Bell
May 19, 2009
The Associated Press
Respect ... Aretha Franklin wanted a little of it and so do Cumberland County taxpayers.
Though they discussed the matter several months ago, the Cumberland County Board of Education was recently asked to revise its policy on community use of school facilities so the public can have adequate access to what they help support.
"I have heard from several of my constituents regarding this...and all they are asking for is that the track and tennis courts remain open," said 5th District representative Bob Scarbrough.
Last June, the BOE and its policy committee spent several hours deciding what to do with policy 3.206 -- community use of school facilities -- after receiving concerns about keeping the high schools' sport facilities open. They ultimately decided not to change the policy.
"When not in use for school purposes, school buildings and grounds thereof may be used for public, governmental, charitable, civic, recreational, cultural and other purposes as approved by the board," concerned resident Jerry Harris read from the policy.
Missy Wattenbarger
May 11, 2009
Crossville Chronicle
In a stark appeal to the Juneau School Board on Tuesday night, Juneau-Douglas High School head football coach Bill Chalmers said he'd stop coaching if action weren't taken to make drug testing a requirement of participation in school sports and activities.
Chalmers has been teaching for nearly 50 years and is in his fifth year as head coach. He sat down Thursday to talk about what led to his ultimatum, what he hopes it will accomplish and share what he's gleaned about Juneau's drug culture.
Jeremy Hsieh
May 10, 2009
Juneau Empire
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