Announcing the First Statewide Training Network
for non-School Youth Coaches & Parents

The story of youth sports in America has entered a new chapter. For most youngsters, it’s no longer home to neighborhood games that teach life lessons through active, energetic self-governed play. With family management, safety, and skill development as its driving force, youth sport is too frequently a controlled form of adult-driven organized play. It speaks of player development, training, achievement, winnowing out the weak and specialization- words that sound like work, not play.

Yet the games children play and their physical engagement in those games, are important components of a healthy life. Magnified by a global ‘sportsmanship’ crisis and the health-challenges of childhood obesity and diabetes closer to home, the ‘organized youth sports model’ that replaced player-organized games is under increasing scrutiny for the limitations it places on children during playtime.

'Rec rage' by adults too common at youth events

Posted on May 17, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Christine Brennan- USA Today 

For those who have been distracted by the often-depressing news at the very top of the American sports pyramid, stories such as the New Orleans Saints bounty program, the vicious hits in the NHL and NBA and the Roger Clemens trial, I'd like to remind you of what youth sports have to offer:

A mother in New York has received a 60-day sentence for threatening a Little League official after her son failed to make a summer travel team. A grandfather in Alabama is facing felony charges after punching a 20-year-old umpire in the nose at his granddaughter's softball game. A Babe Ruth League coach in Pennsylvania was charged with reckless endangerment and harassment after allegedly trying to run someone over with his pickup truck. A Massachusetts man faced a charge of disturbing the peace after pointing a laser into the eyes of the opposing goalie during his daughter's high school ice hockey game. Another man in Massachusetts allegedly punched and then bit off part of the ear of the winning coach after his son's team lost a sixth-grade basketball game. 

Read more at USA Today

Public Health Group Claims Gatorade Ad Misleads Young Athletes

Posted on May 10, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Reid Cherner- Chicago Sun-Times

A health group wants to make it clear that Gatorade is not a wonder drug and Michael Jordan is not a superhero.

The Public Health Advocacy Institute is asking the U.S. government to pull a Gatorade ad that implies that Jordan overcame the flu during a 1997 playoff game with help from the energy drink. An ailing Jordan scored 38 points in Game 5 of that series

Read more at Chicago Sun-Times

Study shows NFL players live longer

Posted on May 9, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Jarrett Bell-USA Today

Do football players die younger?

A records-based study of retired players conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) concludes that they have a much lower death rate than men in the general population, contrasting the notion that football players don't live as long.

The findings, emailed Tuesday to about 3,200 former players who retired before 1993, came less than a week after former linebacker Junior Seau's suicide death at 43, and renewed concerns for the long-term health of players.

Please read more at USA Today

City May Be Liable for Uneven Softball Surface

Posted on May 8, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By John T Wolohan- Athletic Business 

Even though the assumption-of-risk defense -- which holds that an athlete who steps onto a court or field assumes or accepts all the risks that are inherent in the activity taking place -- may be legally well established, there are still a number of issues the courts need to review before determining that the injured athlete actually knew of the risk. For example, some individuals -- given their age and experience, or the presence of warnings posted around a facility -- might assume a risk of injury when others might not. One example of how the courts examine whether an injured athlete had actual knowledge of the risks associated with an activity is Michael Furnari v City of New York, Respondent [89 A.D.3d 605; 933 N.Y.S.2d 248 (2011)].

Please read more at Athletic Business

Youth sports making background checks priority for coaches

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Jeff DiVeronica Democrat and Chronicle

When Suzanne Luce sends her daughter to volleyball tournaments around the country with her Paradigm club team, she worries just like any parent whose child is traveling. But Luce has less concern about anyone crossing the line with Maggie, 18, because each coach, manager or chaperone associated with the club has undergone a background check.

"It's sad to say that in this day and age you have to do it, but it does give you more peace of mind," said Luce, a high school volleyball coach at Brighton in the mid-1980s. "It's one less thing I have to worry about in this world."

Read more at the Democrat and Chronicle

Junior Seau's death a sobering wake-up call, former NFL players say

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Daniel Brown Contra Costa Times

In reacting to the suicide of Junior Seau, one of the game's most ferocious competitors, current and former players are doing something rarely seen on the rugged NFL landscape.

Dropping the tough-guy act.

"Note to all my former teammates and opponents: Swallow macho BS + go see a doctor," former 49ers lineman Randy Cross wrote on Twitter, part of a torrent of emotional pleas. "Seeking help isn't weakness. It's for all those that love you."

Seau's death at age 43 might prove to be a tipping point for the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell, who already were facing a legal challenge from more than 1,000 former players alleging that the NFL failed to properly treat concussions and attempted to conceal possible links between football and brain injuries.

Please read more at Contra Costa Times

School, Coaches Not Responsible for Player's Elbow to Opponent's Head

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By John T. Wolohan-Athletic Business 

During the second half of a Jan. 2004 basketball game between Iowa Mennonite High School and the Winfield-Mt. Union Community School District, WMU guard Andrew McSorley struck Iowa Mennonite's Jeremy Brokaw in the head with his elbow, knocking him to the court. The referee called a technical foul on McSorley and ejected him from the game, and Brokaw quickly got up and returned to the Iowa Mennonite bench. He would later return to the game, although he played poorly.

Brokaw and his parents filed a lawsuit seeking actual and punitive damages of more than $1.5 million from McSorley and WMU. In their claim, the Brokaws claimed that McSorley had committed assault and battery against Jeremy, and that WMU was negligent in failing to control McSorley's conduct. At trial, the Brokaws introduced medical testimony that Jeremy was suffering from post-concussion syndrome, and introduced several witnesses that testified Jeremy underwent a personality and behavior change after the assault.

Read more at Athletic Business

N.Y. boy kicked off girls' field hockey team for "superior play"

Posted on May 7, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By CBS NEWS/ The Associated Press

(AP) GARDEN CITY, N.Y. - He's too good, and that's too bad.

A 13-year-old New York boy who played field hockey growing up in Ireland has been told that after two years as a member of the Southampton High School girls' team, he is now too skilled to qualify for an exemption allowing him to compete with -- and against -- girls next season.

Keeling Pilaro, whose 10 goals and eight assists earned him all-conference honors on suburban Long Island -- he was the only boy in any league -- is appealing the decision by the governing body for high school sports in Suffolk County, and a lawyer for his family suggests a court battle could ensue if the ball doesn't bounce Keeling's way.

Please read more at CBS News

A win-win situation for lacrosse

Posted on May 5, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Bob Hough- Maryland Gazette 

For a select group of athletes, playing the game they love was something they could only dream of doing.

Thanks to the Davidsonville Athletic Association, that dream has turned into a reality.

The DAA sponsors a program called Adaptive Lacrosse, which gives athletes with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to take the field instead of staying on the sidelines.

"It gives them the true lacrosse experience," said Paul Marcellino, who founded Adaptive Lacrosse and assists his wife and Adaptive Lacrosse commissioner, Nina. "They are thankful to have the chance to play."

Read More at Maryland Gazette

Tweens' Secret Lives Online

Posted on May 4, 2012 | Print | Permalink

By Katherine Rosman- The Wall Street Journal

Celina McPhail's mom wouldn't let her have a Facebook account. The 12-year-old is on Instagram instead.

Her mother, Maria McPhail, agreed to let her download the app onto her iPod Touch, because she thought she was fostering an interest in photography. But Ms. McPhail, of Austin, Texas, has learned that Celina and her friends mostly use the service to post and "like" Photoshopped photo-jokes and text messages they create on another free app called Versagram. When kids can't get on Facebook, "they're good at finding ways around that," she says.

Read More at The Wall Street Journal