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San Francisco, CA - April 20, 2009 - A South Korean Reporter Sees The Value of School Sports and The Inherent Flaws In The Club Sport Model. See Score One For Schools by Donald C. Collins, April 20, 2009.

Washington D.C. - 2006 - Follow the Washington Post's 2006 Series, The Player Chase, which examines youth basketball in the United States.

Racine, WI - March 2010 - In many places, an athletic is ineligible if they cut class on game-day. This is a pretty logical rule. After all, if you didn't go to school, why should you be allowed to show up after school to play in the big game? Monitoring this is a huge challenge, though. Teachers who coach have their own classes to run. Walk-on coaches aren't around to monitor. There are a lot of schools that find out about this problem after the absent student has already played. This leads to forfeits and bad feelings all the way around. Mike Podoll asks the key question: who is accountable? See Passing The Buck On Eligibility Issues: Who Is Ultimately Responsible For Overseeing Student-Athlete Eligibility by Mike Podoll, Coach and Athletic Director Magazine, April 2010, page 50.

Nevada - February 2010 - Western Sues To Get Forfeits Reversed, Delays State Playofs, Then Loses In First Round. Western High is reflective of a number of trends: First, Western reflects a trend of poor administrative work - some of this is caused by overworked athletic administrators (here, Western played a fifth year player); Second, an unwillingness to accept results (here, Western couldn't accept the forfeits required by their playing an illegal player); Third, Western reflects the trend toward a more litigious society (they went to court on three occasions, here - of course, Western probably views this as standing up for justice - but fighting for your right to cheat ain't justice). Western finally got two of its forfeits reversed, which put them in the playoffs where they promptly lost. There's an old schoolyard saying where a guy misses a free-throw after a disputed foul-call: yes, Western's loss is "cheater's proof." They need to be home. Cheaters don't belong on the court in the first place. For more on the Western saga see Western Files Another Appeal, Basketball Tournament Likely Delayed by Chase Keefer, Las Vegas Sun, Feb. 16, 2010; Appeal Causes High School Basketball Playoffs To Be Delayed by Case Keefer, Las Vegas Sun, Feb. 17, 2010; and Cimarron Dismisses Western, Nevadapreps.com, Feb. 20, 2010.

San Francisco, CA - June 7, 2008 - Bridgemont Suspended For One Year: CCS Takes Unprecedented Action After Small School Fails To Follow Eligibility Rules by Will Reisman, San Francisco Examiner page 29. San Francisco's Bridgemont High School (and no I do not govern this school, I only govern San Francisco's public schools) played ineligible players, and committed numerous other violations including playing students who didn't attend the school (the article mentions one of these players) and having inadequately prepared physical forms.

New York, NY - June 16, 2011. New York Public Schools invest $5 million dollars to make the Herbert Lehman High School athletic field playable. There's only one problem. The field is only 80 yards long. Lehman coaches and parents are mad. Bad publicity (like this posting) abounds, and there's even talk of a lawsuit. Talk about $5 million dollars that was not well spent. See At Bronx High School, Field Is 20 Yards Short of Being A Home by Jorge Castillo, New York Times, June 16, 2011.

Madison, NJ - August 11, 2010 - Lights Turn Neighbors Off In Jersey. People who live in places where fields are plentiful often find it hard to believe that some cities struggle to find enough field space and time to accommodate demand - especially youth demand. Recently, three New Jersey cities joined forces to bring lights to a field. They ran into an unpleasant surprise: the type of surprise that cities occasionally get when entrenched neighbors have become used to not having lots of kids playing lots of games on field. Yes, the neighbors don't want the lights, and they're putting up a fight. It happens in a lot of places, generally without a lot of publicity. In Madison, it's getting publicity. Neighbors vs. kids or outsiders getting in the way of the quiet enjoyment of one's property? It's all in how you look at it. See Madison Group Sues Chatham To Keep Light Towers Off Soccer Field by Ben Horowitz, New Jersey Star Ledger, August 11, 2010; Click here for Madison Neighbors Plea Chatham Township Ordinance, Summerduit.com, August 24, 2010.

New York, New York - June 19, 2009 - Acts That Would Be Annoying and Mildly Expensive on Grass Become a Major Expense on Synthetic Turf. Recently, Adam Heinz and Matthew Gauck, two incredibly stupid teenagers, were arrested in Long Island. Their alleged crime? Setting fire to the synthetic turf football field at New Field High School (a rather appropriate name for this story). The damages? $35,000. This was probably a graduation prank, but pranks that cost $35,000 are not funny. See Two Teenagers Accused of Setting Fire to L.I. High School Football Field, 1010 Wins, June 19, 2009.

San Francisco, CA - December 29, 2010 - Artificial Turf Safe Says A California State Study. Actually, this should be no surprise. State studies continue to find artificial turf safe. Opponents of turf continue to dispute the state findings, but have few findings of their own to rebut with. When turf opponents come up with something like hot spots or lead paint problems, it gets addressed. This most recent study found that artificial turf fields harbor fewer bacteria than grass fields, and the presence of any toxins is far too low to raise any health concerns. Humm, sounds like we should stop playing on that nasty, bacteria filled grass. See Artificial Turf Seen As Little Risk by Marisa Lagos, San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2010, page C-1. Click here for the State Report.

November 2009 - EPA Conducts Comprehensive Study To Develop Consistent Methods Of Testing Turf Fields. In conducting this study, the EPA tested a very limited number of fields. The EPA did note that "concentrations of components monitored in this study were below levels of concern" Page vi of the Study. However, the EPA noted that they were conducting a testing protocol study and did not test a sufficient number of fields in this study to draw broad conclusions of any sort. The EPA's study will, hopefully, lead to more consistent testing methods and help resolve some of the conflicting information that we often see when people discuss synthetic turf. As any of you who have followed this issue know, the modern turf fields have consistently passed safety tests, but they have also been hit by a number of technical charges from environmental groups claiming the fields are deficient in any of a number of ways. A neutral, objective person studying this issue would basically get lost in all the conflicting data and studies, and wouldn't know what the heck was going on. Hopefully, the EPA's testing protocols will help add clarity - and of course, it is worth noting that the EPA, like most formal, government testing agencies, found the fields it tested were perfectly safe. For the EPA study, see A Scoping-Level Field Monitoring Study of Synthetic Turf Fields and Playgrounds, EPA, November 2009.

New York's Latest - Synthetic Turf is Safe and We're Going To Use Some of The New Infills. See N.Y. Study Shows Artificial Fields Safe by A.J. Perez, USA Today, June 3, 2009; and Two Cities Spurn Crumb Rubber in Artificial Turf by A.J. Perez, USA Today, June 11, 2009. It's pretty clear that synthetic turf can comply with federal lead standards but some groups don't like the rubber crumb infills. This has led to a host of new non-recycled tire infills such as Eco-Fill, Flex-Sand, and Geosafe. These products are the first in a wave of more eco-friendly products in the synthetic turf industry.

Synthetic Turf Council Says - Field Turf is Safe and We're Going to Voluntarily Remove Any Trace of Lead. California Says - Not So Fast, We're Going To Sue You and Make You Do It. The U.S. CPSC did an extensive study and found that Field Turf and Other Synthetic Turfs do not put children at risk from exposure to lead. See Feds: Synthetic Turf OK by Michael McCarthy, USA Today, July 30, 2008, page C1. Shortly after the CPSC study, the Synthetic Turf Council announced voluntary steps to make synthetic turf even safer by eliminating all lead. See STC Announces Voluntary Lead Reduction Standards, athleticturf.net. Promises aren't good enough for California. The Attorney General is filing a suit to force the Turf Council to make good on their offer. See Calif. Backs Mandatory Lead Removal From Field Turf by A.J. Perez, USA Today, September 3, 2008 Page 11C.

Dispatching The Field Turf/MRSA Myth: Field Turf is Cleaner Than Grass!!! Penn State Study Shows That Field Turf Does Not Harbor MRSA. The study states, "In conclusion, there are generally lower numbers of total microbes present in the infill or fibers of the synthetic turf systems tested compared to natural turfgrass rootzones and Staphylococcus aureus bacterium were not found on any of the playing surfaces. Staphylococcus aureus bacterium were found on towels and other devices used by athletes." See A Survey of Microbial Populations in Infilled Synthetic Turf Fields by Andrew S. McNitt, Ph.D Soil Science, Dianne Petrunak, M.S. Plant Pathology, and Thomas Serensits, M.S. Candidate in Agronomy, on-line publication of Penn State University, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, 2008.

Home Carpets May Be A Bigger Problem Than Playing Fields. Lead in carpets sold at places like Ace Hardware and Home Depot may ultimately prove to be the real problem. This segment of the carpet industry is not nearly as competitive or as scrutinized as the playing fields. Standards aren't as high, and barriers to entering this segment of the carpet market are not nearly as intense. Ultimately, the real abuses in turf products may prove to be the innocuous carpet in your house. Click here for more information from the Center For Environmental Health's June 23, 2008 report, Legal Action Launched on Lead in Artificial Turf..

More Turf Wars: USA Today Follows Up On New Jersey "Astro Turf" Problems with, Artificial Turf: Health Hazard?: Concern About Lead Prompts Further Questions by Michael McCarthy and Steve Berkowitz, May 8, 2008, page C1. USA Today acknowledges the only problems so far have been found in old Astro Turf - not new Field Turf; reports on numerous studies and legislation nationwide.

Latest Field Turf Points To Remember: (1) It's old Astro Turf that has been found unsafe not new Field Turf. (2) Field Turf has passed all safety tests - everywhere.

TURF WARS: April 18, 2008 - Two turf fields in New Jersey shut down due to high lead levels. See Elevated Lead Levels Force Closing of 2 Artificial Turf Fields; Parsippany Fields OK by Angela Delli Santi, Associated Press - printed in Trenton Daily Record, April 15, 2008; and Study Looks at Lead Levels In Synthetic Fields by Michael McCarthy and Steve Berkowitz, April 18, 2008. Does this mean your field is unsafe? Probably not! The fields that shut down were old Astro Turf fields. These fields are a monofilament, nylon based product that look to the eye like a bright green carpet. Not even the Astro Turf company makes them anymore. The new turf fields use rubber (or polyethylene) fibers and look to the eye like grass blades. The most prominent manufacturer is the Field Turf, company. These new Field Turf type of products are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, which awards LEED points for its use. The older Astro Turf type products most definitely are not certified as Green products. Your field is probably safe!

More Turf Wars - The Field Turf company notes that they're being lumped in with the Astro Turf type product. See FieldTurf Given Green Light by The NJDHSS, Field Turf Press Release, April 18, 2008. The Field Turf Company is probably correct that most media isn't drawing a distinction. They're also correct that that the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Clears Field Turf Style Products. See Local Athletes on Artificial Turf Are Not on Dangerous Ground by Greg Forester, Staff Writer, Princeton Packet, April 18, 2008. Unfortunately, the truth will not get in the way of a good story. Already in California, we can see State Senator Abel Maldonado getting ready to investigate these fields. See Study Looks at Lead Levels In Synthetic Fields. While there's nothing wrong with the legislature looking at a problem, there is something wrong with a legislator claiming he knows the answer before he conducts the study. Maldonado has already said, "These fields are a problem." It appears that objective work will not be coming out of this Senator's office anytime soon. Click here for a photo of a Field Turf field and click here for a photo of an old Astro Turf field to get a graphic illustration of the difference in field appearance.

New York, N.Y. - April 1, 2007 - Some big cities are experiencing severe field shortages. This could affect your school's ability to play baseball, soccer and other outdoor sports. Click here for Too Many Men on The Fields (and Women and Children, Too) by Hiroko Masuike, New York Times, April 1, 2007. Is this happening in your city?

Premont, TX - January 18, 2012 - Premont School District Cuts Sports To Save Grades? The Superintendent of the Premont (Texas) School District just cut sports from the end of this basketball season to the start of the 2012-13 basketball season. The Superintendent says that he's cutting because cutting sports will improve academic performance. However, he gave the real reason when he said that cutting sports will save his District $150,000. Now, I'd be willing to wager that athletes perform better in school than non-athletes in the Premont District. Studies have shown that at the high school level, athletes do better than the general populace. I'd also be willing to wager that the Superintendent doesn't much care about his spring sports, and is gambling that somebody will come up with the money to bring back sports just in time for the fall when he can save his football team. Of course, this budget cut appears to be so ham-handed that the Superintendent may not be around to see whether sports is saved. The public outcry may lead to the Superintendent being the one who needs saving. In either case, the Superintendent needs to cut the hypocrisy. A person shouldn't dress his budget cuts up as academic progress. See Texas District Cancels Sports In Hopes Of Improving Grades, Fox News, January 21, 2012; Premont ISD Cancels Sports To Save Money, Focus On Academics In Effort To Stay Open by Rhiannon Meyers, Corpus Christi Caller, January 18, 2012.

Van Nuys, CA - July 18, 2011 - For years, we've heard or read about school cuts to high school athletic programs. We've heard some schools say that they'll charge participation fees or transportation fees. We've seen schools drop JV and freshman programs. We've heard of school districts that defund their athletic programs and then get a fortuitous save from a sports team, a rich person, an alumnus or the community at large.

If you followed the news on high school athletic cuts, you couldn't be blamed for thinking that maybe just maybe they're the boy who cried wolf. Well, reality struck home in the San Fernando Valley - and in a large and ugly way. Montclair Prep High School, a traditional private school sports powerhouse just dropped their entire athletic program. This isn't the kind of bluff that we see in February or March where a school says they'll drop the program in the next school year, the community panics and the program gets saved. People don't do that kind of bluffing in July. This is the real thing.

Montclair didn't just eliminate its athletic program. They eliminated their seventh and eighth grade. They used to be a middle and high school. Now, they're just a high school.

Montclair isn't a fly by night school, a small school or an impoverished school. It's a private school with a $15,000 per year tuition, and a long history of teaching the kids of wealthy Hollywood stars. They've also been an athletic powerhouse, sending numerous athletes on to the pros.

In short, when Montclair Prep drops athletics, you know the economy is bad and you know that athletic programs anywhere could be next. To see the LA Times coverage of Montclair Prep, see Van Nuys Montclair Prep Eliminates Sports Program by Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2011.

Moriarty, NM - July 6, 2011 - Moriarty Uniforms Stolen by Lee Ross, Mountain View Telegraph, July 28, 2011. Two things that drive up school costs are equipment thefts, and students not returning uniforms. In this case, multiple break-ins have cost Moriarty High School over $3,000 in stolen uniforms. This crime makes no sense since the thieves can’t re-sell or use the uniforms without revealing themselves. Senseless as the act is, it will have a strong, negative impact on Moriarty High School.

June, 2011 - Two Different Ways To Handle Tough Economic Times. Grand Rapids, Michigan Cuts Some JV Sports. Sacramento Gets A Save From A Minor League Baseball Team. Are these one year stop-gap measures? These Districts may make it through 2011-12, but what happens in 2012-13? See Budget Cuts: Some JV Sports Eliminated At Cedar Springs High School by Ron Cammel, The Grand Rapids Press, June 27, 2011; and River Cats, Sac City Unified Announce Fundraising Partnership by Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee, May 31, 2011. The big question to ask in every community is who is showing true leadership in the current economic crisis. Is it your commissioner? A parent's group? A local non-profit? A City? As state and federal governments forsake their traditional role of properly funding public schools, other entities must step forward. Those entities are the heroes of the day. Sacramento found its hero - for one year. Grand Rapids is still looking.

Lincoln, CA - May 9, 2011 - Dad goes on 24 hour fundraising run to save middle school athletic program in Lincoln, CA. See Lincoln Dad To Run 24-Hours To Save School Sports, Rocklin and Roseville Today, May 9, 2011.

Sacramento, CA - March 4, 2011 - Sacramento City Unified School District Proposes Eliminating Sports In 2011-12, Citing $22.35 million dollar deficit. We've all seen this dance before. A school district announces that it will cut sports, and leaves plenty of time for everybody to get mad, yell at the Board, and ultimately stir up enough passion to get a sports team or a rich donor to bail them out. However, this sure seems different. First, the local professional sports team, the Sacramento Kings, look like they're leaving town. The state government doesn't look inclined to pass a tax increase. The city of Sacramento probably won't be passing an increase. The only thing left is to commercialize the schools, but the schools probably aren't going to generate all of the $22.35 million that they need to close their deficit. The most likely scenario is that somebody steps in with a temporary one year save in athletics, but Sacramento will have to reduce the scope of its athletic program. The save won't replace the $22.35 million, but the athletics portion of the deficit will receive either a donation or some other form of a bailout. Then, we'll watch Sacramento scramble in 2011-12 to find a long-term solution. Stay tuned while this plays out. See Sacramento City District Approves Budget Cuts For Worst-Case Scenario by Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee, March 4, 2011; and School Districts Propose Drastic Budget Cuts That Raise Outcry by Diana Lambert and Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee, March 10, 2011.

Sacramento City Unified School District fiscal crisis leads to logical question: Will Sacramento go to pay for play? Probably not, and if they do it'll be hard to detect after this year's big ACLU suit. The California Constitution's Free Education Clause has been construed to mean that schools can't charge fees. Of course, schools frequently do, and some schools charged in such a blatant manner (like charging on the main page of a school website) that the San Diego Union Tribune easily found a number of pay to play requirements on school websites. See Student Fees Persist Despite Law by Tanya Sierra, San Diego Union Tribune, August 2, 2010. The San Diego Union Tribune's article sparked a major ACLU investigation that found school websites with posted charges for art, home economics and music, Advanced Placement tests and many other charges. Hey, breaking the law is one thing, but an in your face violation of the law is a bit much. The ACLU ultimately sued, and the State of California created enforcement mechanisms so students who were required to pay for school services can complain and seek a refund. See Oversight Questions Fuel School Pay to Play Lawsuit by Corey G. Johnson, California Watch, September 13, 2010; and ACLU California Affiliates Announce Major Settlement In School Fees Case, ACLU of Northern California Press Release, December 9, 2010.

Sacramento, CA - February 14, 2011 - A large number of high school athletes end up playing junior college sports either to get their grades up or to establish that they're bona fide Division I college athletes. If California's legislative analyst is correct, there could be massive cuts to junior college athletics if the wrong budget contingencies occur. See Capitol Alert: Legislative Analyst Identifies Massive Cuts If Taxes Fail, The Sacramento Bee, February 14, 2011.

Charlotte, NC - January 27, 2011 - Board of Ed's Proposed Budget Cuts Eliminate Charlotte Middle School Sports Program. See Rec. Leagues Will Be Alternative For CMS Middle School Athletes, reported by Lisa Miller, WFAE Charlotte, January 27, 2011.. The headline speaks for itself. The Charlotte schools will likely cut the middle school sports. Their only alternatives are to charge increasingly high student fees or to start running stripped down middle and high school sports programs, which ultimately leads to embarrassingly bad middle and high school programs. The Charlotte schools could have tried to fashion some partnership between schools and Rec Leagues, but that ultimately wouldn't have solved the greater funding issues. They can hope for a last-second save, but funders don't generally get fired up to save middle schools. Reality will likely hit home in Charlotte.

Gresham, OR - November 11, 2010 - We've seen embezzlement and theft in youth sports before. However, this one may be the lowest blow of all. An Oregonian named Ronnie Kerr and his girlfriend are accused of stealing at a Special Olympics event. If there's ever a place where people are doing good, it's at a Special Olympics event. See Thieves Target Special Olympics In Gresham, KGW TV, Portland, OR, Nov. 11, 2010.

Pelican Rapids, MN - August 5, 2010 - 4-Day Week. Will It Help School/Sports? The down economy has led some school districts to discuss four-day work weeks. How does this impact sports? Pelican Rapids High School has just started the four-day week, and their athletic staff has some interesting observations. See 4-Day Week "Little Effect" On PR Athletics by John George, Fergus Falls (MN) Daily Journal, August 5, 2010. Click here for Minnesota Public Radio's Minnesota Today Show with Michael Caputo leading a spirited discussion on the 4-Day Week. Michael and his e-followers go into studies on the academic impact of the 4-day week (not many studies, a Louisiana study showed a drop in grades, and a New Mexico student showed an increase in grades because most of the students weren't doing much school-work on Fridays because so many students took long bus trips to Friday sports contests). See Four Day? Year Round? Early Start? When Should Kids Go To School?, Minnesota Today with Michael Caputo. MPR Radio, August 3, 2010.

San Diego, CA - August 2, 2010 - The down economy leads California schools to charge athletic participation fees. However, California has a free education clause in its Constitution. These fees don't pass constitutional muster in California. The constitutional bar doesn't stop schools from trying, though. Some Los Angeles schools tried to impose voluntary bus fees this fall. Their superintendent put the kibosh on these plans. A number of schools throughout the state charge students for pe equipment. That's a no-no, too. Of course, schools have gotten away with these practices for years, but when someone complains too loudly or hires a lawyer, the whole deck of cards comes crashing down. For San Diego's problems, see Student Fees Persist Despite Law by Tanya Sierra, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 2, 2010.

Michigan - June 9, 2010 - Down Economy Leads to Doubling Of Schools Charging Sports Participation Fees In Michigan. See Pay To Play On The Rise As So Are The Fees, Niles Star, June 9, 2010.

Springfield, Ohio – June 1, 2010 - In this economy, even success can create budget strain. The Ohio High School Athletic Association had to cut its travel reimbursement for member schools competing in state championships in individual sports. The hard times had even begun to impact track and field, the OHSAA’s most successful championship. See Track and Field Runs OHSAA Into The Red by Marc F. Pendleton, Springfield News-Sun, June 1, 2010; click here for Middletown Journal coverage; and here for AllBusiness.com coverage.

New Jersey - May 28, 2010 - What's A Poor State High School Governing Body To Do When The Government Intrudes In Its Affairs and Drives It To Financial Ruin? The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Is Finding Out The Hard Way: That's Right! An Idiot Politician Drives High School State Association To Near Bankruptcy. There's no nice way to put it. New Jersey Assemblyman John Burzichelli drove through legislation that required the New Jersey State Interscholastic Association to charge regular season prices for State High School Tournament games. Sounds good, huh? Well, maybe to a casual observer who thinks high school is like colleges or the NBA. High Schools charge pretty low prices in the regular season when they're playing in school or Rec facilities and traveling locally. However, state tournaments are massive, involve travel, facilities rentals etc.. They're also when the fans come out. Many high school governing bodies fund sports on their tournaments. When Burzichelli took away the NJSIAA's ability to charge for playoffs, the NJSIAA lost $900,000, putting them on the verge of going out of business. Their only option now is to charge higher student participation fees. Of course that won't sit well with Burzichelli either. Most people in New Jersey would tell you that the NJSIAA had no major problems until Burzichelli came up with his solution. So, while I seldom insult someone on this site, today I think we've just got to say that Assemblyman Burzichelli is an idiot. He single-handedly created an economic problem that didn't exist before. See Burzichelli May Be The Bad Guy, But No Way Can NJSIAA Cut Championships by Steve Politi, New Jersey Star-Ledger, May 28, 2010. For some background, see High School Wrestling Fans Pay Lower Ticket Prices After NJSIAA Complies With State Mandate by Jackie Friedman, New Jersey Star-Ledger, February 19, 2010. The story is on-going and not pretty. New Jersey Seeks To Save Championships by Cutting Back on Safety and Staff. That's right. Again there's no nice way to say it. New Jersey will cut staff and wrestling hydration testing in order to escape the financial ruin created by the idiot Burzichelli. Since wrestling hydration testing is a vital, national health and safety program, it is accurate to say that the NJSIAA is cutting back on safety, and allowing wrestlers to resume the danger practice of unchecked weight cutting that led to hydration testing. Bad choices all around - and the causal agent is our man, the idiot, Burzichelli. See N.J. Tournament of Champions, Individual State High School Titles May Be Saved by Jackie Friedman and Matt Stanmyre, The New Jersey Star-Ledger, June 1, 2010.

California's Elk Grove School District May Have To Cut Sports Next Year. More bad economic news. See Eliminating All Athletic Funding Proposed by John Hull, Elk Grove Citizen, October 1, 2009.

The Dark Side of Budget Reality: Sometimes You Can't Save Sports. See At Some Schools, Budget Cuts Put The Kibosh On Sports by Marlen Garcia, USA Today, September 2, 2009. South-Western City Schools cut sports, homecoming, prom and student government. Others make drastic cuts. The South-Western cuts made Sports Illustrated. See High School Lockout by Andy Staples, Sports Illustrated, September 28, 2009 page 70. For more, see The Impact of An Ohio School District's Decision To Cut Sports by Andy Staples, SI.com, September 17, 2009.

Hawaii - September 1, 2009 - Can Hawaii Survive? In Hawaii, High School Sports Are Far From Paradise by Dave Caldwell, New York Times, September 1, 2009. Without massive fund-raising, high school sports could suffer massive losses in Hawaii. One of the problems of an island region is the travel, which drives up costs in an already struggling economy.

Santa Cruz, CA - August 17, 2009 - Will Santa Cruz Coaches Work For Free? We will see. Santa Cruz's Pajaro Valley Unified School District cut all sports funds for this 2009-10 academic year, forcing individual schools to raise the funds for their sports program. Some schools may close the funding gap by not paying the coaches. See Some Local High School Coaches May Choose To Work For Free This Year by Ryan Moses, Santa Cruz Sentinel. The Pajaro District is on to something, here. I surveyed high school coaches' pay in part of Northern California two years ago, and, to make a long story short, it was clear that coaches are not in it for the money. My survey found some schools where a high school head coach made as little as $600 for coaching football. I also noted a large number of volunteer assistants. The Pajaro District may very well find that a number of coaches will work for free. It wouldn't surprise me to find that a lot of artists and musicians would do after-school instruction for free also. Many of these people are motivated by something other than money. Still, in the long run, this is poor public policy even though it may be a short term solution for Santa Cruz.

Florida - July 15, 2009 - Whoopsee. Florida has to rescind high school sports cuts. They cut without counting and ended up violating Title IX. See State Rescinds High School Sports Schedule Cuts After Lawsuit Over Impact on Girls' Teams by Ben Volin, Palm Beach Post, July 15, 2009. Times continue to be bad in Florida in 2010, but maybe not as bad as expected. When can you celebrate a $10 million budget cut? When you thought you were going to have a $30 million cut a month ago. See Brevard Schools Could Lose $10 Million by Megan Downs, Florida Today, March 30, 2010. Fewer cuts means a greater chance that sports programs will survive.

When schools say they're going to charge a sport fee, do you ever wonder exactly what that fee is? Well, here are the fees for Sacramento's Colfax High School. See Sports Fees Spread At Capital-Area Schools by Melody Gutierrez, Sacramento Bee, June 21, 2009.

San Francisco, May 11, 2009 - The high price of golf combined with the struggling economy has led to a reduction of play on many golf courses. This has led to economic pressure to convert the courses to other use. This economic pressure becomes magnified when combined with other pressures. In San Francisco, environmental pressure has combined with the economic pressure, leading to a face-off between golfers and environmentalists. The long-term effect of this will be a reduction in opportunities for youth from areas that already struggle to fund golf - of course, groups that seek to convert golf courses would say this is a small price to pay. See Sharp Elbows by Curt Sampson, Sports Illustrated - Golf Plus Section, page G3, May 11, 2009.

Seattle, WA - May 1, 2009 - Sports Cuts Don't Just Hit High Schools; Colleges Are Losing Money, Cutting Sports, Too. See University of Washington Drops Men's, Women's Swim Programs by Greg Lamm, Puget Sound Business Journal, May 1, 2009.

Los Angeles, CA - April 6, 2009. L.A. Budget Cuts – These Could Be The Biggest Yet. But Maybe Not. L.A. Unified just passed massive budget cuts. However, the L.A. Unified's deficit is so big that sports is but a small piece. In other words, massive sports cuts won’t help L.A. balance its District budget. Still, though, cuts are coming. How deep and where isn’t clear, but you can see how uncertainty leads to trauma, worry and yes, efficiency. See LAUSD Budget Crunch: Interview with District Athletic Director Barbara Fiege by Mark Dittmer, LA High School Sports Examiner, April 6, 2009; and LAUSD Budget Crunch Interview with Barbara Fiege - Part 2 by Mark Dittmer, LA High School Sports Examiner, April 6, 2009. 2010 POSTSCRIPT: LA – Moving Forward In The Face of $1.4 Million In Athletic Cuts. See Los Angeles City Section Faces $1.4 – Million Budget Cut by Eric Sondheimer, Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2010. This $1.4 million cut comes a year after LA made $600,000 in athletic transportation cuts. As the spring progresses, we will hear of more Districts making cuts.

Lewiston, Maine - January 27, 2009 - Budget Cuts The Maine Way - The Maine Principal's Ass'n (MPA) gets out in front with limits on scrimmages, cutbacks on qualifiers to State Tournaments, and a freeze on officials' fees. Not everyone is thrilled with planning from above. Students have protested and the Maine Legislator has threatened to take away the MPA's jurisdiction over high school sports. See Funding Feud: MPA's Proposal to Cut Sports Budget Draws Mixed Reviews, Protests by Randy Whitehouse, Maine Sun Journal, January 18, 2009; and MPA Panel Rejects Most Cuts by Randy Whitehouse, Maine Sun Journal, January 27, 2009.

Sacramento, CA - January 26, 2009 - State Budget Solutions: Tax Golf Says Ca's Governor. See Schwarzenegger Wants To Tax Golf, Auto Repairs by Steve Lawrence, Associated Press Wire in San Francisco Chronicle, January 26, 2009.

San Jose, CA - December 10, 2008 - East San Jose School Chief Proposes Eliminating Sports To Save Budget. See East Side Union Chief To Propose A Budget That Eliminates All Sports by Joe Rodriguez, San Jose Mercury News, December 10, 2008. This is a classic pattern. Budgets get tight and school chiefs propose eliminating sports. As the pattern plays out, parents, students and the community complain and protest. The local, state and even national media trumpet the story. Eventually either a private sponsor steps up, the schools impose sports fees, or sports are saved but at a reduced level. The wise school chief announces the cuts well in advance to give the process time to play out. The big question is whether the pattern will play out as it did in the past now that the economy is experiencing the most severe recession in 70 years. If the pattern doesn't play out, the East San Jose School Chief's bluff may get called. Will he hold 'em or fold 'em? We'll see soon - and we'll see in a whole lot of other places. too. FOLLOW UP - East San Jose School Chief's revised proposal saves sports, imposes major cuts, and imposes student charges and mandatory fundraisers. See San Jose's East Side High Schools Consider Plans To Save Sports by Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News, February 27, 2009.

Atlanta, GA - Oct. 26, 2008 - Controversial Fees: Metro Prep Athletes Pay To Play by Todd Holcomb, Atlanta Journal-Constitution.. In tough economic times, schools are passing a lot of costs on. This is but one example.

Mt. Vernon, NY - August 11, 2008 - Mount Vernon's Basketball Program In Danger Because of School Budget, Associated Press Wire in New York Daily News, August 11, 2008; and For Many Student Athletes, Gave Over by Winnie Hu, New York Times, July 28, 2008. These stories actually understate the case. Mt. Vernon's sports budget was cut. The fall and winter sports were saved by private efforts, including a $100,000 donation by alumnus Denzell Washington. Mt. Vernon's spring sports still in jeopardy at end of December. See Mount Vernon Spring Sports Still Need $65,000 to Play On by Hannan Adely, Lower Hudson Journal News, December 29, 2008. FOLLOW UP: Mount Vernon saved its sports program. See Spring Sports Officially Back in Mount Vernon, Lower Hudson Journal News, March 14, 2009. This good news in Mount Vernon, which had the alumni and community support to sustain this effort, is not going to be replicated everywhere. The economy will cause some casualties. Note - Denzell's not the only superstar to save a sports program. Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats contributed $250,000 to save middle school sports in Charlotte, NC in 2010. See Michael Jordan Saves Middle School Sports In Charlotte by Cameron Smith, yahoo sports, August 30, 2010.

Stealing the Money - Fiscal Management Can Be A Weakness In Many Youth Programs. A Washington mom realized this and is now accused of running off with $50,000. See Soccer Mom Charged With Stealing More Than $50,000 From Fife Youth Club by Brian Everstine, Tacoma News Tribune, August 2, 2008. Don't think she's the only one. It also happened in Naples, Florida. See Play Ball: Theft of Little League Funds Won't Deter Organization by Valli Finley, Naples News, March 28, 2008; and Little League Treasurer Accused Of Embezzling Over $130,000, Mid Hudson News (N.Y.), July 9, 2009 (that's a very rich Little League Program, isn't it). Sometimes, it's not embezzlement but carelessness. In Evansville, IN., a thief stole $1,300 in team funds when an administrator briefly walked away from the registration table. See Thief Makes Off With Evansville Youth Baseball Funds by Gavin Lesnick, Evansville (IN) Courier & Press, April 26, 2009. Fiscal Mismanagement can also strike at very high level organizations. Danny Rennels, the head of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, was let go for misappropriating funds. See OSSAA's Rennels Is Fired by Barry Lewis, Tulsa World, March 10, 2009. And in 2010, we saw Little League get burned as an umpire's group absconded with over $30,000 in officials' fees. See Valley Husband and Wife Arrested in Umpire Fraud Scheme by Andrea Wilson and Mary Ellen Resendez, ABC News Phoenix, AZ, March 4, 2010; and Husband, Wife Accused of Stiffing Little League Umpires Arrested by Catherine Holland, Arizona Family, March 3, 2010. In 2011, we saw one of the biggest rip-offs of them all. William McKernan, a Norristown, Pennsylvania accountant, embezzled $57,000 from his local Little League as part of an overall theft of almost $2 million dollars from his various clients. We’ve seen youth sports leagues get swindled out of money before, but never on such a grand scale. See Man Gets Jail For Bilking Clients, Little League, ABC News Channel 6, Philadelphia, PA, June 2, 2011.

School/Community Partnerships Help Buffalo High School Athletics - May Set A Template In A Tough Economy: See Good as New by Michael Popke, Athletic Business Magazine, January 2008.

Participation Fees: 2008 - Sports Participation Fees May Be Tempting For Schools - But The National Association of Secondary School Principals Comes Out Against Them. Click Here For Details.

Participation Fees: A Tempting and Common Solution for Many High Schools. See Participation Fees - Attempts To Keep Athletic Programs Afloat by Emily Cerling and Bob Herman, High School Today, Nov. 2007, page 10 (published by NFHS). But Be Careful: Participation Fees Are Not Always Legal. See Hartzell v. Connell, 35 Cal.2d 899, 201 Cal.Rptr. 601, 679 P.2d 34 (Ca. Supreme. Ct. 1984) (athletic participation fees violate the "free education clause of the California Constitution). For news articles, see Pay to Play Is A Shutout We Can't Afford by Joan Ryan, San Francisco Chronicle, May 9, 2003. If you're in a state where participation fees are unconstitutional, you should note that there's always a lawyer waiting to sue. In California, the U.S. Justice Foundation has filed numerous class action suits. Click here for information on USJF's legal actions.

We’ve seen small regional groups challenge sports participation fees. For example, in California, the U.S. Justice Foundation has filed numerous class action suits. Click here for a reprint of a Fresno Bee article on the U.S. Justice Foundation's Fee Fights. Now, the ACLU is getting in the act, leading to the oddity of the ultraconservative U.S. Justice Foundation and the ultra liberal ACLU fighting on the same side.. my, my but sports does lead to some strange partnerships and we always said that sports brought people together. The ACLU has opposed Rhode Island’s new sports participation fee on the ground that it violates the Rhode Island Constitution. See ACLU To File Complaint Over Sports Fees, Saying They Violate State Law by John Hill, Providence Journal, December 22, 2009.

More Participation Fee Issues: For more on participation fees, see To Play Sports Many U.S. Students Must Pay by Erik Brady and Ray Glier, USA Today, July 9, 2004.

Public/Private Tensions! At the risk of greatly oversimplifying things, these issues boil down to two issues: (1) Public schools can't compete with those rich private guys and need to break off; and (2) Those strict transfer and residency rules either should or shouldn't apply to private schools because it's just not fair!!! The side of the scale a state comes down on often depends on whose winning championships, and proximity to borders. For an example of the problem, see The Great Divide by Greg Scholand, Athletic Management, May 2007.

Will Gas Prices Affect High School Sports? See Athletic Budgets: At What Cost? by Earl Vaughan, Jr, Fayetteville Observer, April 10, 2008, page 5C.

Canton, MA - August 9, 2007 - High School Sports Fees Drive Canton HS to institute a "Save Our Sports" campaign. See Groups Says Drive To Cut Sports Fees Nearing Goal by Ryan Menard, Massachusetts Patriot Ledger, August 9, 2007. Note: Many schools must engage in fundraising. We often think of fundraising to build fields or fix facilities. This story illustrates a basic reality of high school sports: that fundraising often exists just to keep the program operating at a bare bones level, and that many schools charge students to play.

Detroit, MI - April 3, 2007 - Arts, Sports Face DPS Cutbacks by Jennifer Mrozowski, Detroit News, April 3, 2007. Broke school faces $118 million deficit. Arts, sports, teachers all face cuts. Some schools will be closed. When budgets are low, arts and sports are always the first to go. Scroll down to see similar problems in Richmond, CA in 2004 and Akron, Ohio in 2006.

November/December 2006 - NFHS Survey finds 47% of students participate in high school sports, 65% of schools do not make students pay fees, the schools that charge fees tend to charge less than $100 per student, and sports costs less than two percent of a school's total budget. In short, you get a lot of bang for your buck in a high school sports program. See Survey Provides New Info On High School Athletics by Amanda Personett, The NFHS News, November/December 2006 page 1.

New York, N.Y., August 26, 2006 - Paying to Play At School by Debra Nussbaum, New York Times, August 26, 2006. Many schools are turning to charging students to participate in sports - but some states ban this. Click above for more.

Akron Ohio, June 2006 - APS Board Reinstates Junior Varsity Sports by Jeff Gorman, Akron Leader, June 29, 2006. Watch out - sports are often amongst the first things cut. Thirty years ago, many school districts eliminated middle school programs. Could this be the start of a new trend to dump JV programs, leaving only varsity sports? Probably not - but you never know.

Portsmouth, N.H., June 25, 2006 - Paying to Play At School by Emily Aronson, Portsmouth Herald, June 25, 2006.

Richmond, CA, 2004 - West Contra Costa County School District Athletic Cuts Hurt Schools in California's East Bay. See Students' Walkouts Protest Sports Cuts by Laura Counts, Oakland Tribune, March 10, 2004. School Basketball Players Travel By Foot To Final Game by Wyatt Buchannan, San Francisco Chronicle, February 19, 2005 (and strangely enough the team won its first league game of the year after their 3 mile walk to the game - hey, who needs money and buses?).

Indianapolis, IN - January 6, 2011 - Holding Back The Tide. In a vote to uphold the traditional values of high school sports, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) voted down a proposal to hold national championships in golf and cross country. At a time when schools and athletics face severe fiscal challenges, the NFHS will come under increasing annual pressure to institute national championships. Can they continue to hold out? Time will tell, but it should be noted that 50% of the States are in favor of a golf and cross country championship. A two-thirds vote is needed, and I predict that the vote will edge closer to two-thirds over the next ten to fifteen years due to the combination of younger people moving up in state athletics combined with states feeling fiscal pressure. For now, though, tradition trumps mammon. See NFHS Member State Associations Reject Proposal To Conduct National Championships, NFHS Press Release, January 6, 2011.

Los Angeles, CA - July 27, 2010 - Student Sues High School Because Coach Gave Her The Wrong Date For State Championship Tennis Match. The student is asking for $25,000 on the ground that the coaches' error cost her an opportunity for a college scholarship. While this is sheer coaching incompetence, it probably did not cost the student a chance for a college scholarship. Indeed, the student was only a junior when this occurred, and a junior who qualifies for a state championship singles tennis match in California is highly likely to get a scholarship. Further, even if the student doesn't get a college scholarship, there's likely to be little nexus between her failure and this one match. Finally, the student wasn't denied a right, but a privilege as participation in high school sports is a mere privilege. The failure to grant a privilege is not likely to result in the type of speculative damages the student seeks. However, the student certainly is going to win something. She's an incredibly sympathetic plaintiff. She also relied to her detriment on an expectation built up by a coach who was, if nothing else, charged to coach her in a competent manner. The student was the intended beneficiary of the coach's contract with the school, and will receive some damages for the emotional pain she suffered as a result of the coach's negligence in supervising her per that contract. This pain won't link to the cost of a college scholarship; it could be more and it could be less. Ultimately, it won't matter as this case is not going to court. The school district will settle and settle fast. See Azusa High School Tennis Player Sues School Board Over Forfeited Tennis Match by Thomas Himes, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 11, 2010.

Miramar, FL - June 9, 2010 - In Florida, Record $260,000 Fine For School That Played Ineligible Students and Practiced Against Non-Students. See Parkway Academy Gets Record $260,800 Fine, Lakeland (FL) Ledger, June 9, 2010 page C-1.

Our Changing World! The President is African-American, the most famous seven-footer is Chinese and now an All-Black High Inner City High School Rugby Team? Yes, they're believed to be the first all-black high school rugby team. See The Unlikely Scrum by Will Bardenwerper, New York Times. Let this be an object lesson - don't limit your students.

Ultimate Fighting: Coming Soon To A School Near You! That's right, kids are being trained in this. It's only a matter of time before those kids get older and ask for a new school sport. Most states ban combat sports so these kids will probably not succeed - but stranger things have happened. See Kids Encouraged To Punch, Kick - Associated Press (story and video) on CNN.Com, March 27, 2008. Click here for ABCNews.com coverage..

Fort Myers, FL - March 19, 2008 - School administrators occasionally have to worry about alcohol related problems. Here, a teacher/coach was arrested for DUI right after a game. Best to have a district policy of no alcohol on campus. It won't prevent the occasional flare-ups, but it will make it clear that the school/district had no role in sanctioning the problem. See Lee County Teacher and Coach Arrested For DUI, WBBH - nbc-2.com, Fort Myers, FL, March 19, 2008.

Florida, December 24, 2007 - Some Florida Cities Have Started Requiring Volunteer Coaches To Wear Badges Indicating They Have Been Fingerprinted. Fingerprinting Coaches Is Old Hat, But The ID Badge Seems To Be A New Trend. Of course, as administrators everywhere can attest, a lot of volunteer assistant coaches just seem to show up without fingerprinting and without a school, team or league's knowledge. Will this new trend spread? See Cities Require Background Checks, ID Badges For Sports Coaches by Nick C. Sortal, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Dec. 24, 2007.

Philadelphia, PA - October 12, 2007 - School moves night game to afternoon after off-campus gun incident. See Gun Incident Postpones Spring-Ford Football Game by Diane Mastrull, Philadelphia Inquirer, October 12, 2007.

Austin, TX - October 4, 2007 - School Principal Catches Heat When She Tries To Shut Down Football Because Too Many Players Were Getting Hurt. See Johnston Students Rally to Build Varsity Team Support, KXAN.com.

Scottsdale, AZ - September 15, 2007 - Strange But True - Stadium Lights Won't Start Because Somebody Stole the Copper Wire. See Game Nixed Because of Stolen Copper Wire, FoxNews.com, September 15, 2007; Copper Wire Thieves Force End To Football Game, ABC15.com, Phoenix, September 15, 2007. This problem could spread because of the value of copper wire: See Heavy Metal Mayhem by R.J. Anderson, Athletic Management, October 2007.

Portland, OR, March 7, 2007 - Castillo Steps Into High School Sports Uproar, KATU.Com. State School Superintendent seeks to reduce power of high school state athletic association after re-leaguing controversy. Two hot issues arise here. First, who should control high school sports: high school athletic associations or the state schools chief? Second, re-leaguing issues are always controversial as they impact travel, economics, and success on the field.

November, 2006 - Faculty Only by Athletic Management, October/November 2006. Schools everywhere want to increase the number of teacher coaches as walk-on coaches don't have the daily nexus with the academic environment of the school. This article details a Missouri high school that requires all coaches to be full-time teachers and discusses how they made it work.

Administrators must manage parents. Parents can create sportsmanship problems and they can get fired up over their childrens' playing time and start pressuring coaches, occasionally resulting in coaches resigning or being fired because they won't kowtow to the parent. To see problems created by parents, visit the sportsmanship page and either click on the sports parent issues bookmark or scroll down to the sports parent issues section.

Berkeley, CA - April 24, 2011 - Five guns found on Berkeley High School campus in past three months. "They are everywhere," said Berkeley student Marquis Taylor. So far, there's one place they haven't been: Berkeley's athletic contests. But will that last? Do neighboring schools and communities need to worry about this, too? Well, of course they do. Marquis Taylor is right. They're everywhere. See Berkeley's Gun Struggle: High Schools Scramble After Cluster of Weapons Incidents by Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2011 page A-1.

This Might Be The Future Of Game Security. Britain Makes Camera That "Sees" Under Clothes, Reuters News Service, March 9, 2008. There are times where an administrator has to "wand" the crowd. This is an absolute nightmare as it causes lines that are so long that spectators often miss the start of the game. Wanding is such a burden that it's avoided even in those gyms where an administrator knows that the crowd is tough. The more viable alternative is to simply hire so much security that a strong deterrent effect is created. The antiterrorism movement is slowly but surely creating devices that will do body scans without the lengthy delays. Ultimately, these devices will show up in airports, but eventually the price will come down and they may be the device that allows for crowd screening without the lengthy delays. In short, this is the wave of the future, but that future is a long way off. Right now, these experimental devices are simply too expensive. p.s. - don't worry, the device uses something called "t-rays" that can't see your "private parts." For more, click here for ThruVision.

July 2009 - New Mexico Court Rejects Baseball Rule. Screens Behind Home Plate Are Not Enough Says N.M. Court in allowing injured baseball's suit to go forward. This is highly unusual. For 100 years, screens behind home plate were definitely enough. Click here for the court's opinion.

Storm Warning by Tim Sloan, Referee Magazine, November 2006, page 27 (what do you do about fans storming the court after a win?).

Can a coach kick players off a team for criticizing him. Well ... maybe. Maybe not. Remember, public school coaches are state employees so first amendment rights may be involved. Whistle blowers probably can't be kicked off the team. People who back-talk the coach can. The problem - as always - occurs in the middle ground with those athletes who try to tell administrators or parents of their dissatisfaction. Click here for a pretty good discussion on The Sports-Law-Blog.

Click here for Kahn v. East Side Union High School District, which protects coaches from liability for risks inherent in a sport unless the coach goes well beyond ordinary negligence and enters the realm of reckless conduct. Note, Kahn squares with the standards of assumption of risk which protect players from liability for injuries to other players caused by risks inherent in a sport. See Knight v. Jewett, 3 Cal.4th 296 (1992) for a player vs. player case. Click here for the amicus brief in Kahn.

Of course, one should never get too secure as a coach. Standards of proof vary from state to state, and what one jury calls ordinary negligence could be gross negligence in the minds of another jury. In August, 2009, the New Springville Little League on Staten Island decided it was better to settle than fight a lawsuit brought by a 12-year old who injured his knee while sliding. The parent, who sued on behalf of her son, argued that the boy wasn't properly taught how to slide. This case looks like a case that the coach could have won so it seems a bit surprising that the case was settled. Nonetheless, the settlement should serve as a lesson for all coaches to not assume that only gross negligence will lose a suit. A coach can be sued at any time for any reason and the only true protection is good insurance. See Staten Island Mom Settles Suit With Little League and Coaches Over Knee Injury by Glenn Nyback, Staten Island Live - silive.com - August 3, 2009.

Over the past decade a number of schools have been unpleasantly surprised to find that they owe their coaches overtime pay under The FLSA; often, the coaches themselves were surprised. Here are a few documents that can help you figure out how to handle this difficult and expensive problem.

Working Overtime by Laura Smith, Athletic Management Magazine, August/September 2004. This article makes clear why some school districts have prevented anybody except for teachers from coaching. Click here to read about a school that only hired faculty members to coach because it's better for the school community. They got an unintended legal benefit under the FLSA.

San Diego, CA - April 22, 2011 - Under the contact sports exception, injuries that stem from the general nature of a sport will not result in legal liability. There are exceptions that range from gross negligence on somebody's part to a claim that an act was outside of the normal expectation of the sport. So, what happens when a wrestler gets body slammed, and sues his opponent, the referee, and even the sports governing body? Well, we will see. See Prep Wrestler Sues Opponent Over Body Slams by Brent Schroetenboer, San Diego Union Tribune, April 22, 2011.

Smithtown, N.Y., October 2011 - Focus on Safety Hits N.Y. Middle School Cheer Squad. You've seen middle school cheer squads. They stand on the sideline and use the same cheers that you've heard for the last 30 years, and then at halftime they'll do one big cheer and maybe do a pyramid at the local middle school. I guarantee you that a mat is seldom used, and nobody thinks anything of it. Well, a New York middle school tried to do things right. They used two mats for cheer practice. However, on occasion they'd only roll out one. When a student got injured on one of the days they used one mat, the student sued because the school had breached its standard of care -even though that school's standard of care was a lot higher than most middle school cheer squads. In the past, this type of suit would have been dismissed on the grounds of assumption of risk or under the contact sports exception (a polite legal way of saying that injuries occur in sports - don't clog up the courts suing over them). Now, there's so much focus on concussions, and improving athlete safety that when the local school district moved to dismiss the suit, the New York Supreme Court refused to dismiss and sent the case to trial; it's a brand new day. See See Ditta v. Nesaquake Middle Sch., Slip Opinion, No. 10-10230 (N.Y. Supreme Court, October 20, 2011). Coaches and parents should take note that athletes may know that there are inherent risks in a game, but if a coach takes actions that increase the inherent risk by not providing the expected safety equipment, the coach and school could be liable.

Field Trip Safety Laws Before Congress - HR 4265, introduced in December, 2007 is designed to set standards to improve safety on out of town and overnight school field trips. The bill will require background checks for chaperones, mandatory room checks and mandatory curfews on all field trips. The Bill is called "Phylicia's Law" in honor of Phylicia Moore, a New Jersey student who died on a field trip. Click here for Bill Tracking. For information on Phylicia see, Lawmaker Wants Safety Measures In Wake of Student's Death, Newark Star-Ledger, December 3, 2007.

Foul Balls - If you're worried about your legal liability toward spectators who are hit by foul balls in baseball or softball, read Williams v. Richland Sch. Dist., No. 28982-6-III (Washington State Court of Appeals, June 7, 2011).

Legal release forms where student-athletes release all legal claims against a school are usually unenforceable. See Before You Cheer...'Sign Here.' by Mark Clayton, Christian Science Monitor, March 12, 2002 for general information. Click Here for an example of how the law handles this issue in a school setting (this example is from Washington State) Click Here for an example in a non-school setting.

Schools Need To Use Informed Consent Forms, telling students and their parents what harms and risks the students can incur in sports. See Fair Warning by Dr. Richard P. Borkowski, Athletic Management June/July 2000. Click here for a sample informed consent form.

Have Your Athletic Directors Save The Informed Consent Forms Until the Student Turns 21 - Remember, some states allow injured minors to sue for as long as up to three years after the minor turns 18 even if the minor's parents chose not to sue.Click here for more information on sports medical care

Wisconsin - August 24, 2011 - WIAA Wins In Court – A Major Win For Any Sports Entity That Wants To Control Its Broadcast Rights.

For years, most broadcast entities accepted the proposition that a sports sponsor controlled its broadcast rights. If the NBA contracted with CBS, NBC and ABC accepted the decision, counter-programmed, and tried to win the NBA contract the next time it was up for bid. The same logic applied to the NCAA, to Little League Baseball on ESPN, and to State High School Associations.

Well, a few years ago the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA), and the Gannet newspaper chain decided to challenge this proposition. More specifically, a Wisconsin newspaper objected to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) extending its broadcast rights into the on-line world after WIAA signed an exclusive on-line streaming contract with a rival news outlet. The offended Wisconsin paper decided that it would stream WIAA state tournament games – the WIAA’s contract be darned.

It is likely that the offended Wisconsin newspaper was simply making a protest over a limit in what it perceived as the scope of its news coverage. The offended paper probably thought that web streaming was a good and logical means of news coverage. They probably resented being told that they could not utilize this means of coverage, and decided to take a jab at WIAA. Well, their jab became a federal case.

WIAA could not sit idly by and let its contract be breached. No respectable entity could. We would most certainly expect the NCAA, the NBA, the NFL, and even Little League baseball to sue if someone broadcast their games without their permission. Indeed, if these entities didn’t sue, then ultimately rival entities would broadcast their games without permission, and the broadcast rights would become virtually worthless. WIAA had to sue or its rights would be worthless.

Under normal circumstances, an entity making an unlicensed broadcast of a game would fold its tent, pay a settlement, and the story would be over. However, a confluence of circumstances conspired to make this a federal case – literally; as the case ended up in federal court.

The first circumstance is the downturn in the newspaper business. This downturn made web streaming a cheap means of getting a story out. Basically, Gannet and WNA were arguing that they need to be able to stream an event in order to cover it, and that to stream is, in essence, to cover. Second, WIAA is a small player in the grand scheme of things. Far better to fight a battle against WIAA than to challenge the big boys like the NCAA or NBA, so the rebel newspaper found support from the Gannet chain and the WNA. Better, after all, to duke it out against WIAA than to fight the big boys. This is a wise and time-tested legal strategy. Third, WIAA is a state actor. The NBA, and NFL are clearly not. The presence of a state actor opened the door for some constitutional claims as the constitution applies to state action but not, generally, to private conduct. The newspapers needed to be able to raise constitutional claims as newspapers tend to have more legal success fighting for their First Amendment rights than they do when they breach a contract. When you put all these considerations together, you’re going to have a federal case.

WIAA struck first, suing in state court to protect its intellectual property rights in the broadcast of high school state tournament games. Gannet and the WNA struck back, removing the case to federal court. Once in federal court, the case wound through the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, where WIAA prevailed. The case was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

The Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of WIAA on August 24, 2011. The Seventh Circuit ruled that high school state association on-line broadcast agreements do not violate news outlets’ First Amendment rights. Even though the case was limited to on-line broadcast agreements, the Seventh Circuit made it very clear that its logic extends to any type of broadcast agreement, concluding that “streaming or broadcasting an event is not the same thing as reporting on or describing it.”

This ruling is quite the big deal. If the Seventh Circuit had ruled in favor of Gannet, the next attack would have been on television and radio broadcast rights. Soon, high school state associations would have been fighting a multi-front battle. The litigation expenses would have piled up, and the state associations would have ultimately had to fold up shop and pass the costs on to the students. Then, we’d all be losers. Ultimately, the moral of this whole story is that newspapers might be having a rough go of it, but they shouldn’t be allowed to contrive phony First Amendment issues in order to solve their problems.

The NFHS's High School Today has some good tips on what your school, league or governing body should do in the wake of WIAA v. Gannett. See Friday Night Rights: Freedom of The Press and High School Broadcasts by Lee Green, High School Today, November, 2011, page 14 (published by National Federation of High Schools).

March 7, 2009 - Can State Associations Control Their Broadcast Rights? I mean, come on, if you ran a high school state association and you had a state championship game you know darn well you'd enter into contracts for tv rights, radio rights, and streaming webcast rights. But not so fast! The Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) webcast an entire football game. Now, the WIAA, the organization that runs Wisconsin high school athletics, is in court to make sure this never happens again. If the WNA wins, what's to stop a television network from just broadcasting the games? Why would any news outlet ever need to buy the game rights again? For more on this, see WIAA Says Principle At Stake In Lawsuit With Gannet Co., Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Appleton Post-Crescent, March 7, 2009. Click here for the WIAA's Statement on this.

January 29, 2009 - State Associations and Religion. Will the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) Accommodate the Jewish School That Won't Play Basketball on The Sabbath? Will the Jewish School Lose and Let Colorado Off The Hook? In 2008, the CHSAA said it would not adjust its State Basketball Tournament to accommodate Herzl/Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy, a Jewish school whose religion precludes them from playing sports from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. See Sabbath Conflict May Stop Colo. Jewish School's Playoff Run, USA Today, February 28, 2009. The CHSAA never had to address the issue, though, since Herzl lost in an early round of the tournament. See Sabbath Hoops Controversy Deflected - For Now by John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News, February 29, 2008. The CHSAA took a hard stand on this one. Their position is a strange one; there's almost no way they'd win this case. The Michigan High School Athletic Association had the exact same case in February, 2008. They, too, took a firm stand and they went down in flames. Click here for a report on the Michigan case. The Oregon School Activities Association lost this same battle in 2003 when they refused to adjust championship schedules to accommodate seventh day adventists. Click here for that story and see Basketball Roundup: Court Backs Portland Adventist by Mike Wilson, Portland Oregonian, Feb. 15, 2008 for a report on the appeal, which was also decided in favor of the Adventists. The CHSAA got off the hook last year, but Herzl is still a very good team this year. The issue may resurface and the CHSAA may not like what it's going to get.

Philadelphia, PA - January 3, 2012 - Sandusky and Bernie Fine move over. Can we add Ivan Pravilov's name to the short list of worst sex abusers in youth sports? Well, we can if the many allegations against him are true. Who's Ivan, you ask? Well, Ivan is the former head coach of the Ukranian U18 and U20 hockey national teams. He’s an internationally prominent youth coach who has coached several NHL players.

Hockey players are tough guys, right? Well, maybe so, but Ivan had access to them when they were young boys. They weren’t so tough then. Maxim Starchenko is one of Ivan’s former players. He played his college hockey in the US, and recently published a book alleging that Pravilov sexually abused his players. Well, Maxim didn’t make it to the NHL so this could be sour grapes you say. Maybe, but we know that Ivan was just arrested in January, 2012 for allegedly fondling a 14 year old hockey player in Philadelphia.

If you think Ivan’s case is unique, think again. Prominent Canadian youth coach Graham James was convicted in December, 2011 of abusing youth hockey players. Two of his victims went on to have lengthy NHL careers. One of them, Theo Fleury, was prominent enough to be recognizable to the casual hockey fan.

Fulton, NY - October, 2011 - ADA Warning! Coach Opens Mouth: Asks To Be Sued! Don't Let This Happen At Your School.

The football coach at G. Ray Bodley High School in Fulton, NY, allegedly said, “How Many Am I Supposed To Allow On The Team” when he was asked to give a tryout to Connor Aldasch, a high school student with Tourette syndrome.

Accommodating disabled students is viewed as burdensome and there are many people who share this coach's sentiment. The sentiment is compounded where we see large expenditures on seldom used items and facilities. It is likely that there will always be some tension between those who advocate for access for the disabled and those who perceive a burden in granting it. Let's face it, if the coach was referring to a racial, gender or religious group we’d have the scandal of scandals. Once we find that the coach is referring to a disability, we don't feel quite the same way.

Sentiment aside, there are some things to note here. Once you review these things, you'll realize that this coach really botched it.

First, an administrator who finds a coach who says something like this needs to take immediate action to accommodate the student - sentiment be darned. Accommodation doesn't mean you change the game of football. “Reasonable" accommodation is all that’s required under the ADA. If the accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the activity, you don't have to do it. Second, You don’t have to change the nature of the game.

Second, accommodating a Tourette syndrome student really doesn't take much. Tourette syndrome is a disorder that leads to some uncontrolled spasmodic tics and some inadvertent audible tics, which admittedly can be off putting if the inadvertent tic is a profanity. However, other than dealing with some tics, Tourette doesn’t require a whole lot of accommodating. Heck, there have been professional athletes with Tourette. Quite frankly, the coach’s alleged statement makes no sense. It just doesn’t take much effort/accommodation to let a student with Tourette syndrome tryout.

Laporte, IN - September 7, 2011 - Mandatory Reporting! Administrators must make sure that coaches understand that it is mandatory to report sexual misconduct upon a student. Teachers and coaches are the first line of defense. In Indiana, an athletic director and coach are finding out the hard way because they've been charged with a crime for their failure to report. See Laporte Coach, Athletic Director Charged For Failure To Report by Kyle Telechan, The Laporte Times, September 7, 2011.

New Jersey, April 13, 2011 - Parents and students: A school is not responsible for your child not going pro! The most recent legal action in which a student attempted to assert this claim was Crisdon v. New Jersey Dep't of Educ., 10-291 (NLH)(D.N.J. 2011).

Crisdon sued the Department of Education on the ground that its denial of a diploma caused him to fail in becoming a professional basketball player. This is, of course, a strange claim in a world where basketball players go pro straight out of high school, and one recent pro basketball draftee left high school to play pro ball overseas after his junior year because he didn't need high school in order to pursue a basketball career. The strangeness of the claim notwithstanding, there are two glaring errors in this case.

First, Crisdon didn't know how to bring this type of case. He brought it under 28 U.S.C. Section 1331. The case was dismissed on grounds of sovereign immunity as one can't sue the State (the sovereign) without either the State's consent or a clear Congressional statement to the contrary.

The second error, interestingly enough, was made by the court. The way to bring a claim of this nature in federal court is to bring a 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 claim against the individual actor who denied the plaintiff's rights and the local agency responsible for the alleged violation. In short, Crisdon should have sued the principal, superintendent, and local Board of Education. So, where did the court go wrong? The court referred to 28 U.S.C. Section 1983 in making this point. Not a big deal, you say. Well, not substantively. Crisdon was going to lose no matter what. But, this is an unfathomable citation error for a federal court as Section 1983 cases are among the most frequently filed cases in a federal court. Worse, non-lawyers rely on courts to get it right. I can assure you that there are non-lawyers who are citing 28 USC Section 1983 (LRP Publications did), and this court did them a minor disservice. Blame the judge you say? Well, maybe. The citation was likely inserted by the judge's clerk. The judge's failure was one of editing. Somebody will catch this error prior to publication and the decision will be amended. Click here for the decision.

San Francisco, CA - May 8, 2009 - Photos and Video Images Can Create All Sorts of Legal Problems - But Usually Big Companies Are More Careful Than This. EA Sports Sued For Using College Athlete's Likeness In Video Game. See Suit Targets NCAA Athletes' Likeness In Video Games by Steve Wieberg, USA Today, May 8, 2009. Remember, athletes own their marketing rights. Photographers and video game makers can't just snap and sell.

Woodland, CA - March 29, 2008 - Sacramento Parents Protect Cheerleaders From Unauthorized Photos - See Bee Writer Pleads Not Guilty In Porn Case by Hudson Sangree, Sacramento Bee, March 29, 2008. A group of vigilant cheerleading administrators kept their eyes out for people who look out of place or film more than one team. They caught Gilbert Chan, an off-duty Sacramento Bee photographer, filming the contest. Chan tried to hide his camera - to no avail. Note - Chan probably hasn't committed a pornography crime here. The cheerleaders are fully clothed normal cheerleaders. Chan may have committed trespass. One does wonder why a grown man is filming cheerleaders when he has no kids in the contest and wasn't on business for his newspaper or attempting to make sales as a commercial photographer. It may not be pornography, but in this day and age we can't have strangers videotaping kids' games. For more see Bee Reporter Pleads Not Guilty To Porn Charge, KCRA TV Sacramento, March 28, 2008. Note: This problem keeps repeating. In March, 2009, a 29 year old man went to a high school drill and dance competition and took "upskirt" photos of the female participants' "spankies." See Voyeur Suspect Reportedly Admitted Taking Photos by Jeremy Pawlowski, The (Olympia, WA) Olympian, March 3, 2009. This man reminds us of the Sacramento man. Basically, there are some people up there who want to put your kid on their website, and if your kid happens to be scantily clad, young and in shape - well all the better for these voyeuristic camera people. Since young athletes just happen to be scantily clad, young and in shape, they are an occasional target. For more on this problem, and the legal issues involved see Collins's article, Who Is Snapping Pictures of Your Child?

California, February 2008 - California Assemblyman Cameron Smyth Introduces Legislation To Ban Photos of Minors on Pornographic Websites! Smyth's AB 2104 prohibit a person from preparing, posting, or publishing a photograph or image of a minor under 18 years of age, without the minor's knowledge or consent, on an Internet Web site containing obscene matter.

There is some question regarding whether states can regulate national and international transactions, and if so, to what extent. Assemblyman Smyth is reacting to photos of high school water polo players ending up on internet porn sites, and he should be commended for protecting these children. Unfortunately, the Assemblyman and the students have stumbled into a Constitutional hotbed. States may not have full discretion to regulate the internet because a state cannot unduly restrict interstate (and international) commerce. Fortunately, Assemblyman Smyth's legislation should withstand any challenges and be found Constitutional. After all, what he's really saying is don't come into California and take a picture without the child's consent and then post it on a porno site. The State's interest in protecting minors should prevail against any burdens on interstate commerce. Of course the greater question here is why Assemblyman Smyth limited his legislation to minors. Why not go all the way and protect adults from camera phones in locker rooms? The idea of Smyth's legislation is admirable. We can tell when a site is a porn site as opposed to a non-pornographic site with cheesecake photos. Smyth is smart enough not to try to protect Allison Stokke, the pole vaulter whose photos were plastered onto non-pornographic sites due to their "sexiness." After all, protecting Stokke would pretty much close the internet to photos since every athlete and every kid looks "sexy" in someone's eyes and the Commerce Clause and First Amendment would bar such overbroad legislation. However, there's no reason not to go all the way and protect adults from porno site postings also. I don't know why Smyth has limited himself. Maybe somebody should ask him! Smyth should expand his Bill and protect us all. Even if he doesn't, we owe him for taking a stand for our kids.

Orange County, CA - Jan. 19, 2008 - Who's Taking Your Child's Photo and What Are They Doing With It? Photos of Teen Water Polo Players Show Up On Porn Sites! by Scott M. Reid and Dan Albano, Orange County Register, January 19, 2008. These kids were just competing, but water polo players wear Speedos and somebody, somewhere decided that a young athletic person in Speedos has an inherent sex appeal that we don't generally think of when we're watching a youth athletic contest. This is very similar to last year's Allison Stokke case where photos of a female pole vaulter were posted on a website and marketed as sexy pinup shots. For information on Stokke, seeTeen Tests Internet's Lewd Track Record by Eli Saslow, Washington Post, May 29, 2007 page A01. Reprinted in Charleston Daily Mail as - Internet Photos of Pretty Pole Vaulter Create Unwanted Attention, June 1, 2007. For more on the water polo matter, see: Porn Sites Post Pics of Prep Polo Players by Matt Null, North County Times (California), January 23, 2008; and Water Polo Players Are Caught In The Web, New University Newspaper (U.C. Irvine) Editorial Board, January 28, 2008.

Norwalk, CA - May 29, 2007 - Teen Tests Internet's Lewd Track Record by Eli Saslow, Washington Post, May 29, 2007 page A01. Reprinted in Charleston Daily Mail as - Internet Photos of Pretty Pole Vaulter Create Unwanted Attention, June 1, 2007. Note: The Stokke case raises some interesting questions about what rights a student-athlete has about his/her photo being posted on the internet or even placed in a newspaper. As a general rule, if a student engages in public athletic competition they won't be able to do much about their photo being taken and placed in a newspaper or on the internet. However, if that photo is sold to the public the student may have some rights on the ground that his/her name or likeness is being used for commercial gain without his/her permission (which explains why major league baseball players are considering suing some on-line fantasy baseball league providers - they claim the league couldn't function without selling their names and they haven't granted permission). Of course, if the photo is part of a newspaper or magazine, then one is not going to succeed on having one's name or likeness sold to the public without one's consent because one has entered a public forum. This explains why your local sports page can run a student's picture, but Bob the professional photographer cannot simply sell a student's photo without permission. The following article has a nice explanation of some of the legal obstacles Stokke confronts: Pole Vaulting Gets Her Lots of Internet Looks - Not All By Sports Fans by Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times, June 2, 2007. Reprinted in Concord Monitor as Web Turns High School Athlete Into Reluctant E-lebrity, June 3, 2007.

Montana - January 2005, Can Your School Be Liable for Failing To Secure Its Locker Room? Harry A v. Duncan, No. 03-13-H-DWM, 2005 WL 61414 (D. Mont. Jan. 13, 2005) sheds light on this issue. In this case, a school district was not liable where it did not provide adequate security to prevent a group of boys from surreptitiously videotaping the girls' locker room. This case was affirmed by the 9th Circuit in 2007 in Harry A. v. Powell County Sch. Dist. (9th Cir. 2007). For details see, School District, Officials Off-The-Hook For Girls' Locker Room Videotaping by Linda Coady, Esq., Privacy Litigation Reporter, Vol. 2, Issue 5, Jan. 25, 2005.

2011 Annual Report - Annual Survey of Football Injury Research - 1931 - 2010 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Chairman, American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries and Bob Colgate, Assistant Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (Note: This report is updated annually).

Chapel Hill, NC - November 21, 2011 - University of North Carolina professor Kevin Guskiewicz shows how modern researchers can work with coaches to fight concussions. Sensors in helmets, constant monitoring, and working on tackling technique where player data shows too many head impacts can make the game safer - and it won Professor Guskiewicz a MacArthur genius grant. See Concussion Researcher on Cutting Edge by Erik Brady, USA Today, November 21, 2011.

Cleveland, Ohio - November, 2011 - What if they ran a study and found that old leather football helmets were sometimes just as good as some modern ones? Unbelievable, right? Wrong! It happened. See "Leatherhead" Football Helmet Study Demonstrates Need For New Testing Standards, Greater Focus On Youth Helmets, Medical News Today, November 7, 2011. Medical News Today reports on current studies in medicine. The leather helmet study research is published in The Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine (I believe this report is subscriber protected). Now, the Medical News Today's title seems counterintuitive. After all, one most definitely should not go out and buy a circa 1900 football helmet. The study that is referenced was a study of impacts that are 75g forces or less (essentially the 95% of hits that don't seem to be all that awful). What the study shows is that football helmets have evolved to protect the skull from being damaged by impacts. The hard shell modern helmets do that quite well (although they were, strangely enough, occasionally outperformed by old leather helmets). We don't see a lot of skull fractures amongst football players these days, and the old stereotype of the toothless football player is a long-dead stereotype. The problem, though, is that the bulk of head impacts result in what in laymen's terms we could call a sloshing of the brain as it moves forward, and then stops and sloshes around after an impact ... kind of like you in a mild car accident. The helmet can't stop that sloshing, and if the sloshing is sufficiently severe, you get a concussion. The old leather helmets and the modern day helmets often perform similarly on certain hits that won't fracture your skull, but give you the sloshing effect. We reduce the problem in autos with seatbelt laws. There are no seatbelts for the brain. See Study Reveals Leather Helmets May Reduce Concussions by Erik Brady, USA Today, November 3, 2011.

Montgomery County, VA - October 19, 2011 - Can Better Helmets Reduce Concussions In Youth Football? Virginia Tech study finds that even 6, 7 and 8-year old football players can generate sufficient G-forces to cause concussions. The study is trying to help develop youth-specific helmets in an attempt to make the game safer for young players. See Head Impacts High When Kids Play Football by Zack Aldrich, Medill Reports (Northwestern University), October 18, 2011.

Homer, NY - October 14, 2011 - High School Football Player Dies From Traumatic Brain Injury. 16-year old Ridge Barden from John C. Birdlebough High School in Phoenix, NY died after suffering a head injury in a high school football game. This tragic death comes in the wake of a substantial amount of publicity over concussions the past few years. The increased focus on concussions should not cause us to forget that some helmet to helmet hits can kill. See High School Football Player Dies After Game in NY, Associated Press Article in Tri-City Herald (Washington State), October 15, 2011; and Student's Death Stuns Phoenix Community by Aaron Curtis, Palladium Times (Oswego, NY), October 17, 2011.

San Jose, CA - August 29, 2011 - As concussion risks become clearer, newspapers take a stand. The San Jose Mercury News just wrote an editorial that properly notes that concussions are an area of concern. However, they sure could have done more. The editorial then a bill that it says is watered down, without discussing exactly what is watered down about the bill. The alleged watering down may have had some valid substance to it, but the reader will never know if the watering down was due to a legitimate issue or whether it was just bad politics because the editorial doesn't provide the needed substantive analysis of the bill that it criticizes. The editorial then implies that schools use outdated hand me down helmets without advising the reader that such a practice, while it very well may occur, is difficult due to helmet reconditioning requirements that would force most schools to phase out outdated helmets. Finally, the editorial oversimplifies a very complex matter by stating that helmets aren't tested against the forces that cause concussions without telling the reader that the reason that they're not is that the helmet exists to absorb a blow while a concussion is not caused so much by the blow itself, but by the brain moving forward against the skull and then slamming back into place after the blow (this greatly oversimplifies matters, but then I'm not the guy on a soapbox in a major newspaper making half-true statements). While the Mercury-News is not always correct in the details, they continue to provide the valuable service of shining more light on concussion problems - and that makes their editorial - like so many other articles and editorials - highly valuable. We will see many more articles, opinions and editorials in the next few weeks because it's the start of football season, and that's the best time to run such stories. This piece provides good exposure to the concussion problem - even if it's not right on all the details. See Mercury News Editorial: California Parents Ignoring Risks of High School Football, San Jose Mercury News Editorial, August 29, 2011.

Illinois - July 25, 2011 - Four-Year Illinois High School Football Concussion Study Puts Sensors In Helmets, Captures Concussion Data and Gets Data On Broken Neck. Dr. Stephen Broglio from the University of Michigan conducted a four-year football impact study, placing sensors in football players' helmets at an Illinois High School. Broglio captured data on over 100,000 impacts, finding that the average player took 625 head impacts per season. Broglio also captured one spine fracture, and published on that injury in the New England Journal of Medicine. See In Vivo Biomechanical Measurements Of A Football Player's C6 Spine Fracture, Letter To The Editor by Dr. Stephen Broglio, Dr. Erik Swartz, Dr. Joseph Crisco, and Dr. Robert Cantu, New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 365, Number 3, pages 279-281, July 21, 2011; and for more see Real-Time Data Recorded On Football Player Captures Impact That Caused Broken Neck, Science Daily, July 25, 2011; and Detecting Concussions In High School Football Players by Christina Hernandez, SmartPlanet.com, August 2, 2011

July 19, 2011 - Ivy League Takes A Concussion Stand: Imposes Sharp Limits On Full-Contact Football Practices. See Ivy Football To Set Limits On Full-Contact Practices by Ken Belson, New York Times, July 20, 2011. In a move to reduce athletes' exposure to brain trauma, the Ivy League will limit its schools to two full-contact practices per week, well below the NCAA's limit of five (which really isn't much of a limit at all when you stop and think about it).

Fairfax, VA - May 25, 2011 - Do Impact Testing and concussion education help? They did for one Virginia high school student. A year ago, Fairfax High School's Shannon Parker probably would have been sent back to the field after suffering a head injury at practice. Now, she self-reported, got tested by her high school's athletic trainer, was held out of school for two weeks so her brain could rest, was held out of practice for almost a month, and was only allowed to return to competition when her Impact test matched her healthy baseline test results. See Testing Helps Change The Game On Youth Concussions by Erik Brady, USA Today, May 25, 2011.

Pittsburgh, PA - April 8, 2011 - High school football concussion lawsuit may be first - but won't be last. The concussion lawsuit brought by former NFL players has garnered a lot of publicity, and that case should scare the NFL because the damage potential could be high if the case is certified as a class-action. However, a high school case that has received far less publicity may be more scary as it could represent the beginning of a trend to sue high schools over concussions. Now, high schools probably have a lot of protection as coaches usually have to be grossly negligent to be liable, and legal theories like primary assumption of risk and the contact sports exception could make it tough for a student to win. The problem, though, is that there are a lot of concussions and somebody has to pay for the defense costs if this becomes a litigation trend. Even if you're insured, you have to pay the premium and too much litigation will drive the premiums into the stratosphere. Anyway, you can read about this story at Former High School Football Player Sues Highlands Over Head Injuries by Vivian Nereim, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 8, 2011. I'll keep my eyes open for updates on the story.

Philadelphia, PA - February 2, 2011 - New developments in concussion testing: King-Devick concussion test may provide a quick sideline tool for concussion testing. See Penn Develops 1-Minute Concussion Test, ABC Channel 6, Philadelphia, February 2, 2011. Click here for full details on the King-Devick test, including how to use it at your school. How does the King-Devick test effect ImPact Baseline testing ? Not much. The two tests work hand in hand. King-Devick is a sideline in-game test. ImPact testing is a non-sideline test. The two tests can and should work in conjunction with each other and with your medical team. To read about how to use the tests together, see King-Devick Test Helps Track Concussions by Sarah Menefee, Catholic Sports Journal, February 28, 2011.

Chicago, IL - March 9, 2011 - Chicago City Council Moving To Put Teeth Behind Concussion Laws. The new concussion laws that have gone into effect at the high school level have one big weakness. They're hard as heck to enforce. The basic national model promulgated by the National Federation of High Schools requires the removal of a student who shows a sign or a symptom of a concussion. In Illinois, this national model is part of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) bylaws. Under the IHSA's bylaws, a student with signs and/or symptoms of a concussion must be held out until cleared by a health care provider who is trained in evaluating and managing concussion. Most people comply quite willingly, but there have been schools that returned athletes to play without any clearance. There have also been schools that returned athletes to play before they met the conditions of a conditional clearance. These schools can often elude punishment. Indeed, but for what we hope is a basic human concern about a student's health, a school's incentives often line up on returning a student to play early and a sports governing body could have a devil of a time finding the bad actors who return students to soon. Anytime you've got a rules violation with a low chance of detection, and you have people with a strong incentive to violate the rule, you'd better have strong penalties. Chicago just moved one step closer to providing some muscle to the NFHS concussion rule, using the "hit 'em in the pocketbook" approach. The Chicago City Council just passed an ordinance to remove a school's water and sewer fee exemption if the school violates the NFHS concussion rule. This economic incentive will help schools crackdown even more on any coaches who are playing fast and loose with the concussion rule. For more, see Concussion Crackdown Passes Council Committees by Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun Times, March 9, 2011.

Nutley, N.J. - December 28, 2010 - The Hidden Side of Concussions. Concussions were all over the news in 2010. However, there was little coverage on their impact on students' classroom performance. USA Today's report on high school student Brianna Binowski showed the academic impacts of concussions in graphic detail. See Concussions Are No Fun: Schoolwork Taxing For Injured Athletes by Kelly Whiteside, USA Today, December 28, 2010, page C-1.

November 3, 2010 - Seattle, WA - Seattle Company's Impact Sensing Mouthpiece Is Latest Weapon In Fight Against Concussions. The X2 Impact company doesn't claim that their mouthpiece can prevent concussions. Rather, they've loaded the mouthpiece with sensors so sideline monitors can see the level of brain impact sustained by a player either during a game or on a specific play. See Seattle Company Developing High-Tech Mouthpiece, USA Today, November 3, 2010.

Sacramento, CA - September 8, 2010 - For an excellent summary of the NFHS Concussion rule and the California modifications to the rule, see California's High Schools Take Concussions More Seriously by Bobby Caina Calvan, Sacramento Bee, September 8, 2010.

Concussions - Not Just A Football Problem! As the New York Times makes quite clear, concussions happen in a lot of sports and they can and do happen to girls. See In Basketball, Danger of Head Trauma by Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times, September 13, 2010.

Concussion Update: San Jose Football Player On The Road To Recovery - A Heart-Touching Illustration of the Need for Better Concussion Care. See Teen Upbeat After Near-Fatal Football Injury by Tom Fitzgerald, San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2010.

January 4, 2010 - Detroit, MI - NFL doctor blasted at Congressional hearings on concussions. Although the focus of the hearings is on the NFL, a number of high ranking youth and high school administrators spoke, including Bob Colgate of the NFHS. See Lawmakers Grill Doctor for His Views On Concussions by Alan Schwarz, New York Times, January 4, 2010.

Washington, D.C. - January 3, 2010 - Congressional Hearings on concussions in Detroit coincide with more injuries and with NFL looking for a better helmet. See NFL To Weigh Rule Changes After Studying Helmets by Howard Fendrich, Washington Post, January 3, 2010. These injuries aren't limited to the NFL nor to football as Niki Popyer, a female basketball player, can attest. See Girl Who Sustained 11 Concussions Seeks New Law by Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press.com, December 15, 2009, and Teen's 11 Concussions Sideline Normal Life by Deborah Roberts and Lee Ferran, ABC News, December 4, 2009. The attention paid to concussions has some odd results. California's high school governing body, the California Interscholastic Federation CIF), took the lead on this issue years ago before anybody else was paying much attention to the issue. However, in the last year Washington and Oregon passed even tougher laws than California's. Now, the CIF is getting some heat after a Thanksgiving Day Concussion almost killed a San Jose athlete. See Other States, NFL Have Tougher Concussion Rules Than California by John Woolfolk, San Jose Mercury News, January 3, 2010.

Washington, D.C. - December, 2009 - Senate Chimes in With Concussion Bill. S 2840 would provide grants to local school districts for concussion care - but in a debt plagued economy can the Senate afford this? Click here for bill text.

November 1, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - NFL Concussion problem - it affects all levels of football. See Concussion Findings Keep Getting Scarier by Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle, November 1, 2009, page B1.

October 28, 2009 - Congress Asks, "Is This Sport Too Dangerous?" Rep. Conyers wants concussion data from high schools, colleges and NFL. The jury is still out on this one, but football's concussion is an extremely serious threat to the future sustainability of this sport as we know it. Of course, with Congress's involvement, it will take years - maybe decades - before bold steps are taken but we will see incremental steps in the next few years at every level of sport. See Goodell Defends NFL Efforts On Concussion To House Committee, SI.com, Oct. 28, 2009.

October 19, 2009 - Best Selling Author Malcolm Gladwell Rings In On Concussions and Football. See Offensive Play by Gladwell, The New Yorker, October 19, 2009, page 50.

New York, N.Y. - September 30, 2009 - NFL acknowledges concussion risks. Could this lead to enhanced safety at the youth, high school, and college level? Only time will tell. See Dementia Risk Seen In Players In N.F.L. Study by Alan Schwarz, New York Times, September 30, 2009 page A1.

August 13, 2009 - Rawlings' new S100 baseball helmet is latest advance in battle against concussions. The S100 has extra padding and design elements that allow it to withstand the impact of a 100 mph fastball. Click here for details. Will players accept it and will rules bodies increase their standards are the big questions. It's too early to know what rules standards may change, but David Waldstein says acceptance may be slow in his New York Times article, Safer Batting Helmet Draws Resistance From Some Players, August 13, 2009. The new S100 joins the Xenith football helmet and Schutt Ion football helmet in the vanguard of a new wave of head protection.

August 4, 2009 - Did a coach ignore a high school player's serious head injury? Concussions, helmet safety, pressure from coaches to play through head injuries, and secondary impact syndrome all in play in big East St. Louis lawsuit. See Illinois High School Football Player's Injuries Draw Lawsuit, AP Wire Service in USA Today, August 4, 2009.

May 14, 2009 - Washington Concussion Law: New Return To Play Law Is Major Step In Preventing Head Injuries. See Washington State: Tough New Sports Concussion Law by Greg Bell, Seattle Times, May 14, 2009.

February, 2011 - Annual Survey of Football Injury Research - 1931 - 2010 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Chairman, American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries and Bob Colgate, Assistant Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (Note: This report is updated annually).

February, 2011 - Annual Survey of Catastrophic Football Injuries - 1977 - 2010 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Chairman, American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries and Bob Colgate, Assistant Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (Note: This report is updated annually).

2009 Annual Report - TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT - FALL 1982 - SPRING 2008 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Director National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research and Robert C. Cantu, M.D., Medical Director, National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (THIS IS THE ANNUAL REPORT COVERING THE 2007-08 ACADEMIC YEAR)..

2008 Annual Report - TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT - FALL 1982 - SPRING 2007 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Director National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research and Robert C. Cantu, M.D., Medical Director, National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (THIS IS THE ANNUAL REPORT COVERING THE 2006-07 ACADEMIC YEAR)..

July 16, 2009 - Annual Survey of Catastrophic Football Injuries - 1977 - 2008 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Director National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research and Robert C. Cantu, M.D., Medical Director, National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (Note: This report is updated annually).

February, 2009 - Annual Survey of Football Injury Research - 1931 - 2008 by Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., Chairman, American Football Coaches Committee on Football Injuries and Bob Colgate, Assistant Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations (published by National Center For Catastrophic Sports Injury Research) (Note: This report is updated annually).

September 15, 2009 - In the past, leagues stopped post-game handshakes due to fights - as you can see on at the post-game handshake bookmark on the sportsmanship page. Now, post-game handshake problems and health have joined hands so to speak as the NCAA has recommended an end to post-game handshakes in volleyball in order to prevent the spread of the H1N1 Flu Virus. Will it work? The experts say no! See H1N1 Experts: Handshake Halt Hardly Helps: NCAA Urges Hold On Volleyball Tradition by Andy Gardiner, USA Today, September 15, 2009 page 10C. Between H1N1 and MRSA, an athlete hardly knows where to turn these days. Your best bet is to listen to your athletic trainer. That's easy to do at the college level, but at the high school level, you may be out of luck. Only Hawaii requires certified athletic trainers in high schools. A California Bill suggests that high schools get trainers, but doesn't require them. Is California being mealy mouthed, here? No. They're just acknowledging fiscal reality. Not everybody can afford the cost.

Georgia - August 4, 2011 - Wave of Heat Related Football Deaths Hits The South. Georgia's Locust Grove High School Student is The Latest Victim. See Enough's Enough: Too Many Kids Dying In The Heat by Paul Newberry, Associated Press on cbsatlanta.com, WGCL TV, August 4, 2011; After 2 Deaths Ga. Schools Commissions Heat Study, Associated Press Wire Story on WTVC News. 9, Chattanooga, TN., August 3, 2011.

The recent heat wave created quite a dilemma for sports parent advocate Brooke De Lench, who was asked to speak to youth football players on a day where they were practicing and playing while the heat index was 123 degrees. If Ms. De Lench spoke, she might appear to be tacitly supporting practicing in highi heat. If she didn't speak, she couldn't get her message out. If she spoke and was critical, she'd be an ungracious guest. What's a poor, advocate to do? See My Son's Coach Is Making Him Wear Pads In 100 Degree Heat - What Can I Do? by Brooke De Lench, July 28, 2011, Momsteam.com.

Connecticut - April 2010 - Study Shows Football Uniforms Contribute to Heat Exhaustion. Now, it didn't take a study to see the self-evident truth that on a 95 degree day all those pads and helmets can get really hot. Or, in scientific terms, "the protective equipment and clothing worn during an American football contest establish a microclimate above the skin surface that reduces heat dissipation to the environment via radiation, convection, and evaporation. From a thermoregulatory perspective, this microclimate may predispose an athlete to exertional heat exhaustion or exercise-induced hyperthermia." The American Football Uniform: Uncompensable Heat Stress and Hyperthermic Exhaustion by Lawrence E. Armstrong, PhD, FACSM; Evan C. Johnson, MA; Douglas J. Casa, PhD, ATC, FNAST, FACSM; Matthew S. Ganio, PhD; Brendon P. McDermott; PhD, ATC; Linda M. Yamamoto, MA; Rebecca M. Lopez, MS, ATC; and Holly Emmanuel, MA, ATC, Journal of Athletic Training, Volume 45, Number 2, April 2010 page117 at 117 (April 2010).

Tennessee - September 2009 - Tennessee High Schools Link Practice/Participation To Heat Index. Click here for heat index chart. How does this heat index work? The heat index factors in temperature and relative humidity. Mandatory water breaks are called for at certain temperatures, and activity is reduced at certain levels. Tennessee isn't the only place to do this. Arizona uses the heat index, too. They are undoubtedly not the only ones. For more, see High School Heat Index Policy Now In Effect, AP Wire Story in Blount County Times, August 4, 2009. Click here for Arizona's policy.

Chicago, IL - January 7, 2012 - When All Else Fails, Make Sure You Have Good Insurance. The Chicago Sun Times's Phil Kadner notes that mere medical insurance isn't enough. Some of the more severe athletic injuries are only covered by catastrophic injury coverage. Few youth athletes have this insurance, and few places mandate it. See Catastrophic Health Coverage Needed For Student Athletes by Phil Kadner, Chicago Sun Times, January 7, 2012.

Houston, TX - November 4, 2011 - 22 Students Fall Ill In Stands: Football Game Called. 22 students fell in during a Friday high school game between Austin High School and Houston's Yates High School. The game was called with Yates ahead 47-14, but the story of this game was the off-field mystery illness that beset the students. The media reports that 22 students were afflicted with illnesses ranging from nausea to dizziness and vomiting. However, the report could be an understatement. What we know is that 22 members of the band and drill teams were taken to the hospital. It is not clear that the affliction was limited to the 22 students. A firefighter attending to the students also became ill. Upcoming games at the stadium were quickly moved to another site, and authorities will have to investigate to see what the cause of this is. Until then, it's all a mystery. See Serious Health Scare In Houston, rivals.com, November 5, 2011; Austin Band Members Evacuated During Football Game, Houston Chronicle Prep Sports Blog, November 4, 2011; Two-Dozen People Sickened At Texas High School Football Game, KWTX, November 5, 2011.

Southfield, MI - December 14, 2010. Wrestlers Take Note: Overhydration Can Harm You. New wrestling weight management rules stop wrestlers from unhealthy weight cutting practices, and force wrestlers to hydrate for weight management tests. Underhydrated wrestlers fail the weight management tests, leading to wrestlers having an incentive to hydrate. Some wrestlers overhydrate to ensure they'll pass the new tests. In Detroit, DeJuan Garrett, a young wrestler, overhydrated to the extent that he almost died. It's not clear whether the young wrestler was trying to pass a weight management test, but it wouldn't surprise anyone familiar with wrestling. See Water Intoxication Nearly Kills Detroit Metro Area Teen, reported by Andrea Isom, Fox 2 News Detroit, December 14, 2010.

McMinnville, OR - August 21, 2010 - A high school team suffers one of the strangest medical incidents we've seen over the past few years. Players from McMinnville High School Caught Compartment Syndrome. Compartment syndrome is a rare soft-tissue condition that manifested in extreme swelling, and excessive creatine kinase levels in the McMinnville players' blood, a condition that could cause kidney damage. A number of McMinnville players needed surgery to reduce swelling in their triceps. The cause of the illness is a mystery, leading to speculation on everything from heat to an intense weight workout to excessive creatine use as potential causes. See Two McMinnville Players Released; Others 'Waiting For the Numbers To Drop' by Jerry Ulmer, The Oregonian, August 21, 2010; Mystery Illness Hits Oregon High School Team, by Dr. Jennifer Ashton, CBS News, August 23, 2010.

Dearborn, MI - August 15, 2010 - What do you do if your City is 30% Muslim, it's Ramadan, it's hot, and you're trying to run two-a-days to get ready for the football season? One school solved this problem by practicing at 11:00 at night. That's right, 11:00 at night. During Ramadan, Muslims can't eat or drink from sunup to sundown. So, rather than have dehydrated players, Fordson High School shifted the time of practice. See Dearborn Fordson Coach Changes Practice To Honor Ramadan by Mick McCabe, Detroit Free Press, August 15, 2010. Click here for USA Today reprint, titled Michigan Prep Team Moves To Night Practice During Ramadan.

Brooklyn, NY - August 2, 2010 - "Take It Like A Man:" The words of a coach, asking to be sued for 5 million dollars. Remember, 'tis far better to apply first aid than to disparage the athlete whose finger is broken in three places. See "Take It Like A Man" by Edmund DeMarche, New York Post, August 2, 2010.

Indianapolis, IN - July 1, 2010 - NCAA Sickle-Cell Trait Testing Gearing Up For August Start. See Lawsuit Spurred NCAA To Screen All Athletes by Brett Zarda, USA Today, July 1, 2010 page C-1.

The drive behind this recommendation was the 2006 death of Rice University athlete Dale Lloyd. Lloyd was not the only athlete to have his death linked to sickle cell trait, which is distinct from the actual disease. Approximately 10 other athletes with sickle cell trait have died during exercise over the past 10 years. Now, it is a bit odd that we will see testing for sickle cell trait, which kills approximately one athlete per year, but we don't mandate EKGs. The reason appears to be cost.

Blood testing for sickle cell trait costs $10. An EKG costs $88 according to a recent Stanford estimate (interestingly, Stanford concluded that the EKG is well worth the cost, click here for details). An echocardiogram would cost hundreds more. Also, much of the sickle cell trait expense is record-tracing since all US babies are screened for the trait already. In short, it just isn't expensive to require this.

The down-side to gathering sickle cell trait information is the question of what to do with it. Approximately ten percent of African-Americans have sickle cell trait. Do we bar them from participation? Do we make them sign waivers? Do we tell them they can't play? Let's face it, they've been playing and the cost of participation is one death per year. This could make for some interesting lawsuits.

We do know that there are some concerns about discrimination against people who show the trait. See NCAA's Sickle Cell Test Plan Raises Fears by Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, September 14, 2009. Let's hope that sickle cell trait testing doesn't work its way down to the youth and high school levels - at least not until someone can either develop medicine or figure out what to do with the information. Nonetheless, this is probably good PR for the NCAA.

June 2010 - Overuse Injuries: The Ugly Side of The New Youth Sports Culture. The modern trend toward sport specialization and year-round play has led to a rash of very serious overuse injuries among youth athletes. For a report on this new and disturbing trend, see A Children’s Crusade by Mark Hyman, Scorecard Section, Sports Illustrated, June 7, 2010, page 18.

Nashville, TN - May 28, 2010 - Vanderbilt University and Nashville Public Schools Work Together For Free Athletic Health Care. See High School Physicals Program Surges by Leslie Hast, Vanderbilt University Medical Center Reporter, May 28, 2010. The combination of tight budgets and an increased focus on athletes' health make this a model for the type of programs that will allow sports to continue to thrive.

New York, New York - May 12, 2010 - High School Pitch Counts: New York Posts Pitch Counts To Discourage Overuse. Will Others Follow? See New York High School League Is Posting Pitch Counts by Harvey Araton and Andrew Keh, New York Times, May 12, 2010.

2009 - iHydrate - Where the iphone and hydration meet! Alright, this just had to happen. iHydrate, the Apple iphone's latest application, can provide the heat index, schedule hydration reminders before, during and after an athletic activity, and tell you how much to drink based on urine color and the amount of weight you've lost while working out. Now, you can be high-tech and healthy at the same time.

May 3, 2009 - New Mexico Activities Association Suspends All Athletic Activities For a Week Due To Swine Flu. Click Here for NMAA's Press Release. For years, coaches have gotten around administrative restrictions on athletics. In some cases they did so legally and in some cases illegally. It is inevitable that somewhere some school is going to practice - and may be even play despite a shutdown from their State Governing Body. In New Mexico, it took less than a day for the inevitable exploiting of all possible loopholes. See We're Talking About Practice? Athletic Period Opens The Door For Some Prep Workouts During Swine Flu Dead Week by Jason Groves, Las Cruces Sun-News, May 5, 2009.

May, 2009 - Texas, Alabama Shut Down High School Sports Due To Swine Flu. Click Here For Details.

HCM will affect 1 in 100,000 to 200,000 high school athletes each year. Put another way, approximately 50 teenagers a year will die from HCM in America. We can screen for HCM with an EKG, but the cost is prohibitive and nobody in America requires this as it would require expenditures of hundreds of thousands of dollars to save the one person who might die in your community. Put another way, would your school district spend a six figure sum to prevent a death that will probably only occur only once every 100 to 200 years? Probably not. That's why this problem has to be attacked with broad based community support. Looked at from an economic perspective, fighting HCM makes no sense, but looked at from a social, moral and equitable perspective it's an imperative.

Phoenix, AZ – June 3, 2011 – Little Leaguer Dies After Being Hit In Chest By A Pitch. This tragedy is a fluke medical occurrence called commotion cordis. It is extremely rare, and happens when a youth takes a hard blow to the chest that disrupts the normal heart rhythm, and leads to cardiac arrest. See Little Leaguer Dies After He’s Hit By Pitch, AP Wire Service Story on espn.com, June 3, 2011.

Houston, TX - September 24, 2010 - Houston Students Screened For Cardiac Problems, Kevin Reece, KHOU - Channel 11, Houston. And the screening is of sixth graders! This is one of the most progressive moves in the very slow movement to start regular heart testing in America. Think it doesn't matter? Think again. Last year, the Houston Early Age Risk Testing and Screening program ( HEARTS), tested 94 students at one school, and found seven with undiagnosed heart conditions. Two of those sixth graders had to have surgery. That's right... think again. Testing matters. See Preventive Medicine: Sixth Graders' Heart Screenings Shock Researchers by Cindy George, Houston Chronicle, December 2, 2009.

West Orange, TX - September 17, 2010 - Tragedy Strikes Again: A High School Quarterback Dies On The Field In Texas. We don't know the cause of this death yet, but these types of deaths sure make you look at sudden heart death - usually caused by HCM. As we've mentioned before on this site, sudden heart death is statistically unlikely, but when it happens to you and yours the statistics don't matter. The expense of cardio testing is the big reason it's not part of a standard sports physical, but the publicity from the deaths that occur may one day lead to a push for testing. See TX Star Quarterback Collapses, Dies at Game, KYTX TV - CBS 19, Texas, September 18, 2010; WO-S Quarterback Reggie Garrett Dies During Friday Game by Christopher Dabe, Beaumont Enterprise, September 17, 2010.

Canby, OR - September 10, 2010 - High School Running Back Survives Heart Attack; Father Calls for Mandatory Heart Testing. We may one day see mandatory heart testing as part of an athletic physical, but it hasn't happened yet. It will probably require a multi-year cluster of heart deaths or near deaths in one state or an on-field heart death to a prominent athlete. The fact that Hayward Demison from Central Catholic (Oregon) High survived makes it unlikely that Oregon will pass mandatory heart testing, but ya never know. See Oregon RB Suffers Heart Attack After TD Run, Recovers by Cameron Smith, yahoo sports, September 14, 2010; HS Football Players Heart Stops After Game-Winning Touchdown, Fox News.com, September 14, 2010.

Toronto, Canada - May 17, 2010 - 17-Year Old Zac Herold Forced To Retire Before First Pro Match by Carter Daly, yahoosports, May 17, 2010; and Teen TFC Prospect Zac Herold Forced To Retire by Daniel Girard, Toronto Star, May 17, 2010. Using EKGs to test for HCM leads to some sad stories of athletes having to retire or undergo heart surgery. These stories strike a chord; they're emotional stories. They are a far cry better than reading about a dead athlete, though. Remember, not all heart stories have a sad ending (and let's be blunt, Zac's story is sad - it just could have been sadder if he had died). Sometimes you get a Ronny Turiaf story where an athlete comes back after heart surgery. An echocardiogram discovered that Ronny had an enlarged aortic root. Ronny returned from open heart surgery to become a successful NBA player. Click here for Ronny's story and info on his foundation.

University of Georgia's Athlete's Heartbeat program screens athletes for heart problems. Boston Scientific and a host of organizations, including the Black Coaches Association, push for program expansion with their Close The Gap Initiative. See BCA Focuses on Heart Health by Greg Johnson, NCAA News, March 11, 2008. Also, see Boston Scientific Launches Educational Initiative To Address Disparities In Cardiovascular Care, Reuters News Service, February 4, 2008. Boston Scientific's Close The Gap program is aimed at addressing disparities in
cardiovascular care for the underserved patient populations of women, black Americans and Latino Americans. According to Reuters, "Close the Gap will work to increase awareness of cardiovascular risk factors through community programs involving faith-based organizations, collegiate and professional athletic teams, and patient advocacy groups. A key focus of the campaign will be to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest as a leading cause of death among young athletes. Toward this end, Close the Gap has established a close relationship with the Black Coaches and Administrators organization, a national nonprofit whose members are mentors and leaders in their communities. Statistics reveal that in the United States, a young competitive athlete dies from sudden cardiac arrest every three or four days. The average age of those who die is 17.5 years, ninety percent of them are male, and more than half are black."

Click here for the Black Coaches & Administrators' Informational Bulletin on HCM: Sudden Death On The Athletic Field, August 28, 2008.

California - February 9, 2010 - It's pretty easy to ignore teen sudden heart death - until it strikes close to home. About 50 teenage athletes a year die from sudden heart death (HCM) per year. That's a statistically small 1 in 200,000. If you taught at a school for your entire working life, you would probably never see a death from this problem. It's pretty easy to ignore and for the most part it has been. But when it strikes an area in a cluster, that area sure notices. In the San Francisco Bay Area, a football player died. See De La Salle Student Dies During Basketball Game by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, October 13, 2009. Then a basketball player died and another one collapsed within a week of each other. In the Bay Area, the teenage heart is front page news and people are gaining awareness of the need to have an EKG as part of a sports physical. See Rare Heart Conditions A Danger To Teen Athletes by Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, February 5, 2010. Also, see Teen Basketball Player Speaks Out After Collapsing From Heart Attack, reported by John Sasaki, KTVU Channel 2, San Francisco, Feb. 8, 2010.

El Sobrante, CA - January 31, 2010 - El Sobrante School Basketball Player Dies by Joe Garafoli, San Francisco Chronicle, January 31, 2010 page C-2 (published in print under the heading, Autopsy Set For Teen Basketball Player). Another unfortunate, sudden death of a young athlete. This sounds like a heart related death - although we won't know until the autopsy. It is worth noting that this tragedy occurred at a 24 Hour Fitness Center that presumably had an AED. AEDs are extremely valuable tools, but nothing beats having an EKG with a follow up Echo if needed as part of a sports physical. Unfortunately, few places in the country offer this valuable service that can help detect a cardiac problem before an athlete begins competing.

November 25, 2005, Protecting Our Varsity Athletes, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Community Health Improvement Clerkship, Block 4 (the U of R's comprehensive study on the pros and cons of using EKGs).

September, 2003 - Sudden Death In Young Athletes by Barry J. Maron, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine, 2003; 349: 1064-75.

Jupiter, FL - July 19, 2007 - Florida School Fined and Placed on Probation For Fraudulent Pre-Participation Physical Exam Form. The State Association audit revealed that the form was not signed by the doctor, an exam was not conducted, and the box allowing the student to participate was not checked. Can schools be liable for this? Probably! The school needs to take reasonable precautions and those precautions probably include having non-athletic personnel spot checking some of the forms. See Jupiter Christian Wrestling Program Put On Probation For Four Years by Stacy Hicklin, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, July 19, 2007. Also, see FHSAA Press Release: Jupiter Christian School Reprimanded, Fined for Violations in Wrestling Program, July 18, 2007.

Londonderry, NH -December 2, 2008 - Middle School Wrestler Diagnosed With MRSA, reported by Prat Thakkar, New England Cable News. MRSA hasn't gone away. This middle school appears to have had excellent sanitation practices and they still ended up with a MRSA case.

MRSA In Wrestlers: Coaches and Officials Will Be Checking For Skin Lesions. States should only allow wrestlers with lesions to compete with a physician's release. Click here for the NFHS Skin Lesion Release Form.

April 13, 2009- Are parents a major factor in the increasing number of overuse injuries in kids? Probably! See The Kids Aren't Alright by Mark Hyman, Sports Illustrated, April 13, 2009, page 14.

November 29, 2008 - MRI Shows New Types of Injuries in Young Gymnasts, Radiological Society of North America Press Release. We hear so much about eating disorders with young gymnasts that we sometimes forget what a grueling sport they're in. The sport exacts a physical toll that has lifelong consequences including necrosis in the knuckles and an increased chance of early osteoarthritis. Click here for coverage in Science Daily, and see the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's coverage - New Twist Found In Gymnast Injuries by Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 10, 2008.

June 8, 2008 - Every So Often, It's Good To Be Reminded That Youth Pitchers Should Not Be Overused and Should Be Careful In Throwing Splitters, Screwballs and Curveballs. Many interscholastic and youth leagues guard against this with pitching limits in their rules. Some don't. The results are occasionally quite bad. For more, see Young Baseball Players Increasingly Face Injury, Surgery by Phil Galewitz, USA Today.

June 29, 2011 - Muslim Women In Sports Website Addresses Hijab Issue And Gets It Right. Under many, if not most, sports codes, athletes can't wear hijabs without getting a special exception. The rationale for this is rooted in safety. First, rules writers don't want people slipping on clothing items that come off. Second, rules writers don't want hard or metal items affixing clothing. Third, rules writers don't want clothing items flapping around, creating a potential entanglement. These rules work fine to stop athletes who wear jewelry or floppy wristbands or wedding rings that may smack into somebody's face. The rules are generally accepted, and work fine until someone comes along wearing a hijab or leggings or something else that breaches the rules code, but is mandated by someone's religion. Generally, hijab issues get resolved by a commissioner or sports sponsor writing an exemption letter since the hijab is worn for a religious reason. The person who writes the exemption letter often specifies that the hijab can't flap around and can't be affixed with a metal item. Well, that's all well and good, but as Sara Yasin points out on the muslimwomeninsports blog, athletes do sit out until these exemption letters are written. It probably wouldn't take much to have a rules interpretation or casebook play that says a hijab affixed with a non-metallic, non-sharp fastener that isn't flapping around is an exception allowed under the rules. Score one for Yasin's logic. Will it get implemented, though? Probably not. The issue doesn't come up enough to impact most rules writers. So, for now, we'll just have to link to Sara's January 25, 2011 blog, Sports' Totally Unnecessary Hijab Drama, and her June 29, 2011 blog, Debarred From Contest For Wearing Hijab in U.S.. Sara will get to write many more hijab blog postings as no rules will be forthcoming in the foreseeable future.

Cleveland, OH – February 10, 2011 – Ohio High School Basketball Coach Out Rest of Season Over Alleged Racist Comments, Fox 8, Cleveland, February 10, 2011. Of course it’s disappointing that a coach allegedly used racist comments. The coach compounded the harm by allegedly using inappropriate language and economic harassment. Or, to put it in plain english, the coach appears to be a profane, race baiting bully. The odd thing here, though, is the quote from the superintendent of the coach's school district. The superintendent is on record stating that the coach can return to his job after undergoing sensitivity training. That sounds good, but it's just not going to work. You might be able to return a teacher to a classroom after he undergoes sensitivity training, but this coach can't be returned. A group of parents complained to the school about the coach. Now, parents try to run coaches off all the time. However, when the coach plays into their hand by engaging in conduct that was sufficiently egregious that he is being accused of being a race baiting bully, and the only defense is that he should take sensitivity training, the coach can't return. The parents aren’t going to want him back, and even if they do, the coach shouldn't go back. The moment his team starts losing or he benches a player or makes a parent mad or, heaven forbid says something stupid again, he's toast. This coach needs to find a new school. To get a sense of the way the parents feel about this coach, click here.

Philadelphia, July 10, 2009 - High prices and limited access to facilities gives rich folks a real advantage in a number of sports. So what happens when black campers rented the Valley Swim Club, a private, white swim club in the Philadelphia suburbs? Well, the white members just didn't like seeing all those black folks around. So they refunded their rental fees, kicked them out and launched an ugly racial controversy. The club members say that this isn't a racial issue; they just didn't like having their pool so overcrowded. the club says it refunded rental fees to non-black camps that rented the pool also. The campers and virtually everybody who is remotely familiar with the story believe the members didn't like their pool so overcrowded ... with black folks. Putting aside allegations of race, one has to wonder what kind of organization is dumb enough to rent its pool to one or more youth summer camps and then complain that the camps bring in a lot of kids: hey, that's what camps do and it's unethical to throw the campers out after you've taken their money and they've set up their summer camp schedule. Of course, if you ran the Valley Swim Club you'd surely rather be seen as stupid and unethical than racist. But a lot of people aren't buying Valley's claims of stupidity. See Ugliness In The Water At Valley Swim Club by Annette John-Hall, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 10, 2009; Swim Club Director: "We Don't Discriminate" by Zoe Tillman, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 10, 2009; Support Pours In For Campers Kicked Out of Suburban Pool by Ronnie Polaneczky, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 10, 2009. Click here for photos of news coverage and protests. For local television coverage, see Swim Club Members: "Nothing To Do With Race" by Vince Lattanzio, NBC News, Philadelphia, July 10, 2009.

San Francisco, CA - April 23, 2007 - Why Baseball Is Now So White by C.W. Nevius, San Francisco Chronicle, April 23, 2007 page A2.

San Francisco, CA - September 23, 2009 - The economy is making schools think about may of their expenditures. The San Francisco Unified School District's Board of Education looked at their security costs. Is this a wise place to cut in light of the many bad acts and even violent acts in high school? Obviously, reasonable people disagreed, studied the matter and voted to keep police officers at their sporting events. See Police Returning To High School Sporting Events by Kamala Kelkar, San Francisco Examiner, September 23, 2009.

Greenville, N.C. - September 6, 2008 - Did East Carolina Overreact to A Spectator Celebration? Look, we all know the fans don't belong on the field. Yet, time after time we see spectators rush courts and fields. This results in field damage and the occasional injury. So, many organizations attempt to police the field. That's a good thing on the one hand. On the other hand, it does raise the possibility of an excessively physical response to what most people perceive as a benign act. To some extent the administrator is damned if they do and damned if they don't. If you don't police your field and somebody gets hurt in an excessive celebration, you're damned for not doing. If you do police your field and the police get too physical you're damned for doing. Well, East Carolina is damned for doing. See East Carolina Investigating Fan, Police Confrontation After Game by Andy Gardiner, USA Today, September 9, 2008 (this story ran on page 10 C under the Title East Carolina Looks Into Claim of Excessive Police Force). East Carolina will implement changes by using only local officers from now on, in an attempt to police the field with officers who may be more familiar with their community. See Allegations of Excessive Force Prompt Changes at ECU, AP Story on ESPN.com, September 10, 2008.

For End of Year (2007) Tips On Site Security, See Curbing Violence At Athletic Events by Jay Hammes, High School Today, December 2007 (published by NFHS). For more, see Friday Night Fights by Michael Popke, Athletic Business, January 1, 2006.

Site Administration Includes Site Security. Schools need to provide "appropriate" security or they can be liable for injuries to spectators and officials. Schools can be found liable for things that are foreseeable. So if you don't provide security for your site when you have the big game with 3,000 fans your school could pay the legal price if someone is injured. On the other hand, you probably won't be liable when you don't provide security for the JV game on Saturday morning before 30 parents - unless those parents have some history of violence. The site administrator may be enough security for that game. For more, see my Jan. 2007 article: When Security Leaves You On Your Own. Also, click here for Talaszan v. Northridge Arena Soccer League (arena was liable because previous violence made need for security foreseeable) and see McKee v. Gilg, 96 Ohio. App.3d 764, 766 (1994) (baseball team not liable where fan misconduct was not foreseeable).

Click Here For Sports Done Right, The University of Maine's comprehensive sportsmanship report that defines what a healthy sports community should look like. Many School Districts Throughout the Country Have Adopted This Model.

Coach Calls Black Kid ‘Future Welfare Recipient’. And this is the man who’s leading our kids. Derek Howard, the head basketball coach at Kansas City’s Winnetonka High School, called African-American student Marcus Williams, Jr. a future welfare recipient. This would be an incredibly inane thing to say to a student under virtually any circumstance, but one could see (if not defend) an adult having some contextual reason for it. For example, an angry coach might be warning a kid not to become a future welfare recipient or a coach could claim that he used a motivational technique that backfired. But, not this coach. He just saw a kid whom he didn’t particularly care for, and gratuitously made the comment. Coach Howard even said the comment on video when Williams asked him if he’d care to repeat the comment while Williams recorded it. The coach’s exact quote, “Future welfare recipient who? Students that don’t get good grades.” Well, I guess one could bend over backwards and say that the coach used a poor technique to try to warn Williams to get better grades. But, the facts get in the way of that. Williams wasn’t on the basketball team. He wasn’t in class; nor was he supposed to be in class. Howard wasn’t his counselor, friend, or advisor. There simply was no relationship that could give rise to the comment other than an older, white man using Williams as a personification of what he thought was wrong with younger, black kids. The most benign thing one can say for Howard is that he thought that being a teacher gave him the authority to be an amateur sociologist. Doesn’t fly. This one just stinks, and the scary thing is that this man coaches our kids (or at least he did as he probably committed career suicide here). See Bullying High School Coach Busted, KSDK TV Channel 5, St. Louis, MO, November 15, 2011.

Easton, MD - May 10, 2011 - Lacrosse Players Suspended and Arrested Under School Zero-Tolerance Policy. Easton High School officials suspended lacrosse players Graham Dennis and Casey Edsall after they found a two-inch pen knife and a cigarette lighter in their lacrosse bags. The two lacrosse players claim they used the knife and lighter for equipment repairs according to the local CBS TV affiliate. One can argue the merits of zero-tolerance policies. One can argue whether the students should have been suspended from school, and one can even point out that Graham and Casey should have had their coach hold the items if the items were used to repair equipment. However, what's highly unusual about this matter is that Graham was charged with possession of a deadly weapon, and Casey was charged with possessing an explosive device. This sure doesn't seem like a matter that a school needed to refer to the police. Two inch pen knifes and cigarette lighters are not the tools of thugs, criminals, gang bangers, or any of the other classes of people that a school needs to protect its other students from. At worse, Graham and Casey were dumb kids, and at best they're two athletes who carried their own tools. The one thing that they aren't is criminals, and to waste time and energy treating them like criminals is flat out stupid. See Controversy Over Suspension of 2 Easton High Lacrosse Players, CBS News Baltimore, May 10, 2011.

Boston, MA - May 5, 2011 - Strange But True: Westwood Track Coach Fired Over 'Shirtless' Runner Rule, WBZ TV Boston, May 5, 2011. Boston's Westwood High School has a rule requiring athletes to keep their shirts on (and yes, we're talking male athletes here). Over the course of the year, a student-athlete's going to test the rule a few times by running shirtless in hot weather. You would think that a school with a rule like this one would give the student-athlete a reminder or a penalty lap or two. If an AD thought a coach wasn't enforcing the rule, he may call him into his office. But, at Westwood, the AD caught a student-athlete running shirtless, and fired the coach right on the spot in front of the team. Rough justice? Well, it may be rough, but it doesn't sound like justice. Needless to say, the school knows this has a foul smell so they're saying that other factors were involved in the firing. But that doesn't have the ring of truth to it. This one has a foul smell to it. Also see, Westwood Coach Fired by Michael Mancinelli, Boston Globe, May 6, 2011.

Sacramento, CA - April 29, 2011 - High School Swim Coach Pulls Swimmer Out of Pool By Hair - Coach Forgets That There Are Lot's Of Cameras At Swim Meets. See Parent Accuses High School Swim Coach of Assault, KTXL-Fox40, Sacramento, CA, May 2, 2011. It is not clear why the coach was upset. Various people have claimed that some of the swimmers were misbehaving. Others claim the swimmers weren't giving it their all. We may never know. What we do know is that Geoff Capell, the assistant swim coach, won't be coaching at Roseville High anymore, and it may be a while before he's coaching anywhere. Capell may also be charged with misdemeanor battery according to some media sources. Time will tell.

Jesup, IA - April 27, 2011 - Firing a high school coach over his won/loss record is not always the right thing to do. First, high school sports is about more than winning. Second, the won/loss record may not reflect the coach's ability since high school talent can vary widely from school to school, and from year to year. Still, while firing a high school coach based on his record may not always be good policy, most people would agree that a school has the right to do it. That's what makes a recent Iowa Court of Appeals decision so shocking. The Court of Appeals ruled that the Jesup (Iowa) School Board had to reinstate its football coach, Bruce Wall, because they fired him primarily due to his won/loss record. The Jesup School Board claims that there were other reasons for the termination... but so what, if they want to fire a coach due to his won/loss record, it may be ill advised but it should be their right. The School Board shouldn't generally have to provide another reason. So, you ask, why would a court reinstate Wall. Well, it may come down to employment law. The School Board appears to have wanted to have enlightened standards so they set forth a philosophy and a series of job standards. Coach Wall clearly met the standards and abided by the philosophy. Still, the School Board probably could have fired him, but the School Board stated that it was firing Wall for not meeting the philosophy and standards that he clearly met. That's a bit too much for a court so the School Board lost. There are two lessons here. First, don't try to phony up a reason for firing somebody. Second, if you want competitiveness to be part of a coaches' job duties, tell him by adding it to the job duties. You can still put in all the other factors that make for enlightened policy as those factors and competitiveness are not mutually exclusive. The School Board may have lost this case because they were hypocrites who didn't want to look like winning mattered to them. See Update: Iowa Court of Appeals Backs Fired Jesup Football Coach by Josh Nelson, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, April 27, 2011; and Court: High School Wrong To Fire Football Coach Over Team Performance by Lynda Waddington, Iowa Independent, April 29, 2011. Click here to read the court opinion in Bd. of Directors v. Wall (Iowa District Ct., April 27, 2011)

Jackson, MS - November 10, 2010 - Strange But True: A student is suing his high school because he was kicked off of the football team for wearing pink cleats in support of breast cancer awareness month. One suspects that there must be more to this, but the school's defense gives one pause. A school official has made the ridiculous quote that "the problem isn't the color of [the student's] shoes but that the student ignored the orders of his coaches to take off the shoes." A rousing defense of the coach, this is. Oh yeah! The coach doesn't have a problem with your pink shoes as long as you don't wear them. Often, school officials have to clam up when these type of stories break so the coach may have a side of his story, but he sure needs someone better to present it than the genius school official who has just made one of the dumbest comments of the year. For details, see Student Sues After Being Cut By Coach Over Pink Cleats by Chris Joyner, USA Today, November 10, 2010.

Jackson, MS - November 1, 2010 - Marlon Dorsey, a Jacksonville, MS High School Basketball Coach Gets In Hot Water Over Use of Corporal Punishment. See Parents React To Coach Dorsey Admitting To Whipping Allegations, WJTV.com (Jackson), November 1, 2010; the story went national, generated a lawsuit, and get CNN coverage with video allegedly showing Coach Dorsey whipping a student. See Basketball Coach Caught Whipping Players, Los Angeles Times website, November 11, 2010. This is not the first time this has happened. Indeed, there was a national story about a similar incident in Chicago a few years ago. The difference between this and the Chicago incident is the parents' reaction, and the alleged coach's reaction. The Chicago coach was a veteran who had won a lot of games. He found some defenders. There was even one Chicago parent who said "hit that butt" if it helps you win. What's odd here is that this is a new coach who allegedly whipped players right in front of the parents, and whose defense of the alleged whippings had little to do with basketball. The coach allegedly has stated that he whipped the kids to combat "the destruction of self and what society has accepted." Very strange comment, if true. Of course, the casual observer simply would believe that the coach whipped the kids for running plays wrong and missing shots. The coach may be slightly full of it ... he may also need an attorney to tell him to keep his mouth tightly shut!

Bryan, TX - June 22, 2010 - Does everybody deserve a second shot? Texas High School hires former Baylor Coach Dave Bliss. Let's see, Bliss started rumors that a murdered player was a drug dealer in order to hide his violations of NCAA rules and he gets to be in charge of high school students? Where are the standards? See Disgraced Ex-Baylor Coach Bliss Gets A Shot At Redemption by Jeff Miller, USA Today, June 22, 2010. This story gets worse. Bliss finished his first season of high school coaching, leading his team to the Texas Christian Athletic League's Class 2A title. However, Bliss's success was overshadowed by a recruiting scandal that led to him being suspended for a year by the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPP). Following this suspension, Bliss's school moved to the Texas Christian Athletic League and won the title. After the problems Bliss created at Baylor, you would think he'd do everything in his power to stay out of trouble, and he clearly hasn't. While Bliss and his school challenge the TAPP penalties, Bliss concedes that he forged his school's headmaster's name on a transfer form, but justifies the act by stating, "There was no intent to deceive" according to USA Today. It seems that Bliss simply cannot coach basketball without creating a scandal. See Bliss Finds More Controversy In High School Hoops by Danny Robbins, Associated Press, published in USA Today, May 7, 2011.

Victor, N.Y. - July 16, 2009 - Youth Baseball Coach Goes Ballistic, Shoves Player. We've seen so many bad things from coaches in the last few years, that this almost doesn't register. However, anytime a 48 year-old grown man physically attacks a kid you have to wonder what's going on. This coach just lost it, screaming profanities and shoving a 13 year old boy at a baseball practice. Coaches have really gotten a bad name after the Chicago incidents a year ago, where coaches paddled kids. Those acts were intentional, thought-out attempts to motivate. They were certainly ill-advised, and not appropriate but there once was a time where people used corporal punishment. There was never a time when anybody advocated a coach simply losing it and attacking a kid. The Chicagoans were out of tune with modern standards of decency and child care. This coach is worse. He just shouldn't be around kids. See Baseball Coach Accused of Shoving Player, WHEC News 10, Rochester, N.Y.

University Heights, OH - December 17, 2008 - Hathaway Brown Assistant Coach Accused of Assaulting Player During Game by Patrick O'Donnell, Cleveland Plain Dealer. This is an interesting supervision issue. The coach allegedly grabbed the player's arm, yelled at the player and then threw her arm aside. The parent, who filed charges, acknowledges that the alleged grabbing was not sufficient to bruise or harm the player, but is disturbed (quite properly, I might add) that an adult in a position of authority would get physical with a child in front of a large (800 people) crowd. The parent has stated that if the coach feels sufficiently comfortable to grab a child and shake her arm in front of a crowd, he may feel less restrained in a private practice session. In light of the coach paddling issues in Chicago, the parent may well have a point.

New York - 2005 - Hitting that butt wasn’t such a good idea for Drew Sanders. Sanders was convicted and even forced to register as a sex offender in 2005 for spanking his basketball players. No parents leaped to Sanders’s defense. See Basketball Coach Accused of Spanking Players by Anthony Ramirez, New York Times, July 7, 2005; and Punishment Should Match The Crime, Integrity In Youth Sports, November 29, 2005.

September 2008 - The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA), and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) team up to produce new video: The Role of The Principal In Interscholastic Athletics. Click here to download.

Los Gatos, CA - September 8, 2008 - Fired Coach Arrested, Charged With Vandalism and Arson. This story explains why so many organizations use security to escort terminated employees from the premises. You never know how angry a fired employee can be - although most people don't return and try to burn the building down like Brian Butcher allegedly did after being fired as an assistant high school football coach! See Los Gatos Teacher's Aide Arrested In Vandalism, Arson Case, The Californian, September 8, 2008; Los Gatos Coach Arrested on Multiple Charges, NBC-11, September 8, 2008; Ex-Los Gatos High Teacher's Aide/Coach Charged With Intent To Commit Arson by Jesse Mangaliman, San Jose Mercury News, September 8, 2008; and Fired Coach Held In Vandalism by Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2008.

Liberal, KA - June 10, 2008 - Volunteer Coaches - Yes, They Are Your Responsibility. Volunteers can get you in trouble just as fast as your paid coaches. In C.T. v. Liberal Sch. Dist, 06-2093-JWL (D. Kan 2008), the Liberal School District avoided Title IX liability because they were unaware of their volunteer weight coach's misconduct, but they could still be subject to vicarious liability - which means the employer of the volunteer coach is financially responsible for the volunteer's negligent misconduct. Click here for an interesting take on the Title IX issues in C.T.

Indiana Court of Appeals Rules That Teacher and Coach Positions are Separate For Purposes of FMLA so A School District Is Not Required To Restore a Coach's Job After The Coach Is Out On Sick Leave Even Though The Coach Is Entitled To Restoration of His Teaching Duties. Click Here To See The Opinion in Gary Community Sch. Corp. v. Powell (2008). A school will occasionally have coaches who can't fulfill their coaching obligations because of issues they encounter as teachers. Those issues can range from allegations of wrongdoing, injuries, and a number of other issues. This creates problems if the coach returns to teaching and wants his/her job back. It creates budgetary problems when the coach also demands backpay for the time he/she was out. After all, the school does have to pay the person who filled in as coach. This is a very important economic decision for school athletic departments.

Undervalued Athletic Directors Quitting At An "Alarming" Level. See The Alarming Turnover Rate of Athletic Directors by Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, NFHS's High School Today, April 2008, Page 14. People really don't know what goes into running an athletic program. This absence of knowledge makes it hard for athletic directors to get the tools they need to do the job right. Schools don't make up for the lack of tools with a big paycheck so the inevitable occurs. Little pay plus little reward equals high turnover. Worse, some of the best people go and some of the people who stay develop coping mechanisms that may not always lead them to maximize their ability to be top notch athletic directors. In business terms, if we were in the business of finding good managers we would doomed to failure because we have a bad business model and a poor working environment.

March, 2008 - The AD: The Overlooked Factor In a Good High School Sports Program

Ripon, CA Nov. 16, 2007 - Cheerleaders Suspended From School For "Skirt Lifting" Cheer: See

Ripon Cheerleaders Suspended For Showing Bloomers, KCRA.com - Sacramento, November 16, 2007. The cheerleaders positively supported their team and were not negative toward their opponents. However, they struck a sensitive chord by writing "Indians # 1" across the back of their bloomers, and then lifting their skirts to show their words of support. The cheerleaders ultimately got suspended from school for defying administrators who told them to stop cheering. This isn't poor sportsmanship per se, but it may approach a sexual line that school administrators don't want to cross.

McKinney, TX - Jan.2, 2007 - We've Heard of Special Treatment For Athletes - But Now, We're Seeing Special Treatment For Cheerleaders! See Mean Girls by Gretel C. Kovach and Arian Campo-Flores, Newsweek On-Line, Jan. 2, 2007. Cheerleaders can be difficult to supervise. They are team supporters, but they're not the average student-spectator as they appear to be school- sanctioned since they wear uniforms; they are competitive - in fact, the better teams really do compete, and quite intensely; they are perceived as elite; and they raise issues of officially sanctioned sexuality. The combination of these qualities leads to fascinating television so it's no surprise to see the McKinney incident being made into a TV movie. See Schoolgirls Go Wild In Lifetime TV Movie, Reuters News Service, February 22, 2008.

Marin County, CA - December 2003 - Marin Independent Journal's Special Series on Off-Campus Coaches Click here for Most Prep Mentors Aren't Teachers by Geoff Lepper, December 21, 2003; Working Away From School Has Its Benefits and Drawbacks by Joe Wolfcale, December 21, 2003; Plenty of Success Stories, by Jeremy D. Malamed, December 21, 2003; Fewer Adults Willing To Coach by Derek Arild, December 22, 2003; Tradition Lives on In America's Heartland by Ryan Metcalfe, December 22, 2003; Off-Campus Coaches Have Almost No Job Security by Ryan Metcalfe, December 22, 2003; How One Marin Off-Campus Coach Juggles Work Duties With Team Responsibilities by Geoff Lepper, December 23, 2003; and That Was Then, This Is Now by Dave Albee, December 24, 2003. Click here for coverage of the MIJ's coverage.

For Advice on Transportation Scheduling and Other Travel Issues See, Who Needs Wiper Blades? by Dr. Richard P. Borkowski, Ed.D, CAA, MomentumMedia.com, February/March, 2002.

Davis, CA - August 5, 2011 - US District Court rules that UC Davis violated Title IX. The court ruled that Davis properly cut two women's sports because opposing colleges' failure to offer the sports led to a lack of competitive opportunities. However, Davis had an obligation to replace the lost opportunities by giving women opportunities in sports where competition could be found. The court also found that Davis properly cut three women from its wrestling team as the women had lost in wrestle offs against better wrestlers. Since other Universities don't offer women's wrestling, Davis had no obligation to create a women's wrestling team for these women. See UC Davis Gets Split Ruling Over Title IX by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2011, page C-2.

New York, New York - July 18, 2011 - Girls' Flag Football Continues To Make Inroads. Title IX at work as New York considers adding high school flag football. See PSAL Considers Organizing Girls Flag Football Leagues, Tries To Gauge Level Of Interest With Clinics by Julian Garcia, New York Daily News, July 18, 2011. This is great, right? It's what Title IX is supposed to do - so who could complain? Well, nobody in New York seems to be complaining, but it did take a while for people to embrace girls' flag football. A year ago, people in Florida weren't all thrilled by what has become a successful sport. The New York Times looked at girls flag football in Florida a year ago. They found that some Title IX advocates view flag football as a new sports opportunity for women in sports. Others agree (since it is a new opportunity), but contend the sport is an artificially contrived sport that exists just to help solve Title IX problems (ya think?). Florida school administrators say where the rubber hits the road, they can hardly keep up with the demand. Could it be that everybody in this argument is correct? See No Tackling, But A Girls' Sport Takes Some Hit by Katie Thomas, New York Times, May 16, 2010.

Seattle, WA - June 11, 2011 - Feds Investigate Over 100 Washington State Schools For Title IX Violations. If you're a high school administrator, it's time to take stock. Are you in compliance with Title IX? If not, your time could be running out. See Feds To Investigate Title IX Compliance by Jim Camden, Seattle Times, June 11, 2011.

April 25, 2011 - The Cheating Game! When stakes are high and money's on the line, athletes aren't the only people who cheat. A few weeks ago, we discussed the Washington, D.C. test score scandal as an example of how teachers and school administrators will cheat in high stakes testing. We've seen that happen in other cities, too. Well, sports is high stakes, too, and apparently there's a wide spread practice of cheating on Title IX numbers. Why? It helps the school win in the big time, big money sports. Cheating on Title IX allows more resources to flow to the big money (read male) sports. See College Teams, Relying On Deception, Undermine Gender Equity by Katie Thomas, New York Times, April 25, 2011.

New Haven, CT - April 4, 2011 - Title IX comes up in a sports context so often that we tend to forget that Title IX bars sex discrimination in any educational program receiving federal funding. The most recent reminder that Title IX violations can occur outside of a sports setting occurred at Yale, where female students filed a Title IX complaint, alleging that a hostile sexual environment has been allowed to exist. The female students cite a number of incidents, including a rather offensive - and stupid - frat boy incident where fraternity pledges publicly chanted, "No means yes. Yes means anal." Whether you're the parent of a girl or a boy, you have to wonder whether you're getting value for your $50,000 per year tuition when you read about garbage like this. You can pay a lot less money for this type of a campus environment. See Students, Admins React To Title IX Complaint by Jordi Gasso´, The Yale Daily News, April 4, 2011. Sports people already know they have problems with Title IX, but we usually read about proportionality and number counts in a sports context. Rest assured that sports people can be just as bad as the stupid Yale frat punks. Remember, Title IX charges against Fresno State University revealed that their sports administrators had the "Ugly Female Athlete of The Week" Award posted prominently on bulletin boards. Yes, sports mirrors life - and sometimes in ugly ways. See Fresno State Athletics Faces Another Lawsuit: Pagel Latest To Take School to Court on Discrimination and Title IX Complaints by Jeff Davis, Fresno Bee, Feb. 24, 2009. Click here for timeline of Fresno State's long string of Title IX problems.

Detroit, MI - February 15, 2011 - Three years after the Michigan High School Athletic Association got hit with a whopping $7.4 million Title IX judgment, a Michigan high school league decided that it just had to commit one of the clearest Title IX violations we've seen. Michigan's Downriver League decided it could save money by giving boys' basketball teams three officials, and girls' basketball teams two officials. Who wouldn't see the problem, here? This is an obvious Title IX violation. The DRL eventually reversed its decision under pressure from the ACLU, but they violated Title IX with this ill-advised policy for most of the 2011 basketball season and they're lucky they didn't walk away with a very large financial penalty. See ACLU Is Concerned With Prep Officiating Cuts by Tom Markowski, The Detroit News, February 15, 2011. For an ACLU-blog piece on this victory for women, officials, and common sense, see A Different Type of Basketball Fever by Jessie Rossman, ACLU of Michigan blogs, March 21, 2011. The Downriver League's actions indicate that the very large legal judgment against the MHSAA did not have a signficant deterrent effect. The DRL was not deterred, and was willing to roll the dice on a clear Title IX violation until they were directly confronted.

Washington, D.C. - April 20, 2010 - Title IX Model Survey Policy To Be Rescinded by Erik Brady, USA Today page C1, April 20, 2010. For the past decade, one way of complying with Title IX was to use an interest survey. Critics of the survey argued that non-responses were construed as lack of interest. The Office of Civil Rights, now under the direction of the Obama administration, will now require schools using the model survey to provide other indicators of a lack of interest. Examples cited in the USA Today article are "participation in club sports and tracking trends at feeder" schools. And, yes, the title of the USA Today article is misleading since the survey can still be used - but the Title does make the point that a big change occurred in how the survey can be used.

Fresno, CA - February 24, 2009 - Some Things Never Change! Another Title IX Suit at Fresno State. This one's a retaliatory discharge and gender discrimination in hiring charge from a Fresno State Track Assistant. Fresno State has already paid out over $16,000,000 from previous Title IX suits. Is this piling on? Maybe. Did Fresno State ask for it? Yes, most definitely. Fresno State's previous problems include blatant retaliation against a basketball coach and the creation of a hostile work environment that was so bad that the athletic department once posted a weekly "Ugly Female Athlete of The Week" Award on bulletin boards. This stuff wouldn't fly in any workplace. For information on the latest Title IX problem at Fresno, see Fresno State Athletics Faces Another Lawsuit: Pagel Latest To Take School to Court on Discrimination and Title IX Complaints by Jeff Davis, Fresno Bee, Feb. 24, 2009. Click here for timeline of Fresno State's long string of Title IX problems.

Oregon - June 9, 2008 - Did University Use Title IX As An Excuse To Cut Wrestling? See Wrestlers Sue Oregon: University Wants To End Program, restore Baseball by William McCall, Associated Press, published in seattlepi.com. Click here for coverage in Southern Oregon Mail Tribune. For years wrestling programs have been cut in order to strike a better gender balance in order to help schools comply with Title IX. This doesn't make the wrestling community very happy as they've become the whipping boys for Title IX compliance. Here, though, the cuts in wrestling have been offset by a University adding a men's sport that they weren't playing previously. The University used Title IX as an excuse, but a Title IX excuse won't fly since the University replaced the men in wrestling with men in baseball. Wrestlers won't be happy here. Women's groups won't be happy either as they won't like Title IX being used in a cynical manner for pretext cuts to a male sport. The University of Oregon is going to take some well deserved heat here - and the matter may end up in court under Oregon statutes that establish prerequisites for the dropping of a University program. In October, 2008 Oregon ultimately won a dismissal of a lawsuit against it for dropping wrestling. See legalnewsline.com for details.

May 27, 2008 - Let's Face It, Wrestling Programs Have Been Cut Since the Advent of Title IX. However, they may get a new lease on life as the growth of women's wrestling is beginning to penetrate high schools and even smaller universities. See Women Want To Wrestle; Small Colleges Oblige by Katie Thomas, New York Times, May 27, 2008 Page A-1.

Michigan - April 2, 2008 - Michigan's Title IX Bill Is Due - And It's A $7.4 Million Whopper!!!

The Michigan High School Athletic Association lost a decade long legal battle last year. The MHSAA was found to have violated Title IX by playing girls' basketball in the fall and boys in the winter - amongst other scheduling issues. Michigan has now joined the rest of the country in playing girls and boys' basketball in the same sports season, but the plaintiffs' lawyers' fees bill is in and the MHSAA has to pay $7.4 million. See Federal Judge: Michigan Prep Sports Group To Pay $7.4 Million by Fred Girard, The Detroit News, April 2, 2008. Click here for information on Communities for Equity, the group that brought the suit against the MHSAA. To read the fee decision click here. It is interesting to note that Hawaii confronted this issue also. Rather than fight, they opted to join America and play boys and girls' basketball at the same time. This doesn't mean that they're always happy about it, but they did it - and the world kept turning. For an example of their dissatisfaction, see Concurrent Seasons Cause Problems, Honolulu Star Bulletin, February 13, 2008. The MHSAA's $7.4 million Title IX Bill had little impact on Michigan's Downriver League. In 2011, the DRL decided that they could save money by giving boys' basketball three officials, and girls' basketball teams two officials. The DRL reversed its decision under pressure from the ACLU, but don't you wonder what the DRL was thinking in the first place? See ACLU Is Concerned With Prep Officiating Cuts by Tom Markowski, The Detroit News, February 15, 2011. For more see our 2011 stories on this page.

Long Beach, CA - March 6, 2008 - Court Finds Title IX Facilities Violation At Long Beach Wilson High School. Converting on-campus dedicated gymnastics space into a weight room discriminated against the girls' gymnastics team by showing a disregard for their practice conditions even though the District did not intend to eliminate the team. See Wilson High Broke Law On Gym Decision, Judge Rules by Kevin Butler, Long Beach Press Telegram, March 6, 2008..

January 10, 2008 - Movement to Reduce Male Practice Players Gains Traction in Division III. See Let The Women Play by Donna Ledwin, Inside Higher Education, Jan. 10, 2008.

Fresno, CA - July 4, 2007 - Problems in Women's Sports! Fewer Female Coaches Every Year. This article also details the severe problems at Fresno State that led to Lindy Vivas's successful Title IX suit. Things were so bad that male coaches staged an Ugly Women Athlete's Day, definitely creating a hostile work environment. See Female Coaches Are Leaving Collegiate Ranks by Garance Burke, Fresno Bee, July 4, 2007.

Washington, D.C. - June 25, 2007 - OCR Tells Colleges: Don't Cut Pregnant Athletes' Scholarships Or Else!! Actually, OCR is a bureaucracy enforcing Title IX and there actual language is much more dry. Stephanie Monroe, from the OCR, did make a powerful statement that, "terminating or reducing financial assistance on the basis of pregnancy or a related condition is prohibited under Title IX." Click here for OCR's letter to colleges.

San Diego, CA - April 20, 2007 - Level The Playing Field by Chris Moran, San Diego Union Tribune, April 20, 2007 page B1 (Girls' softball facilities significantly worse than boys' baseball - school allegedly fires coach for complaining about it).

Harrisonburg, VA - April 19, 2007 - One common approach to solving Title IX issues is to cut men's sports. James Madison University has stirred up controversy by cutting 10 sports - 7 men's and 3 women's. The great number of sports has stirred up debates and legal action over how to achieve equity. See One School's Title IX Debate by Erik Brady, USA Today, April 19, 2007 page C1.

Detroit, MI. April 3, 2007 - Scheduling Equity In High School Sports! Huge Change For Girls' Sports by Fred Girard, Detroit News, April 3, 2007. MHSAA loses lawsuit over inequities in sports seasons. Michigan was one of the few, if not the only, states to play girls' basketball in the fall and boys in the winter. They had other scheduling issues that were found to violate Title IX. Now they must adjust. How will they do it? See Changes Pose Tough Challenges For Schools by Tom Markowski, Detroit News, April 3, 2007.

New York, N.Y. - February 17, 2007 - Girls in High School wrestling have to compete against boys as there aren't enough girls in most states to have girls' teams. What's the impact of this? Click on More Girls Take Part In High School Wrestling by Tamar Lewin, New York Times, February 17, 2007 page A1. For more, Click here for Girl Wrestlers Buck Tradition (by Walter Grable, Indianapolis Star January 25, 2001), a story on Hannah Paarlberg, a girl wrestling against high school boys in Indiana. Hannah later transferred to California and became the first girl to wrestle her way to the State Tournament by defeating all of her male competition, making her the most accomplished high school female wrestler we are aware of.

February 11, 2007 - After Title IX? High School Reporting, Op. Ed. by Marci Seman published in Southwest Florida Herald-Tribune, Feb. 11, 2007 (this piece advocates the High School Sports Information Collection Act of 2003, which did not pass but was introduced as the High School Sports Information Collection Act of 2007). The 2003 Act did not pass - click here for details.

February 7, 2007 - Follow the High School Sports Information Collection Act of 2007 by clicking on the following: Bill Summary, Bill Text, Bill Status.

Hartford, CT - September 8, 2010 - Cheer groups try to find way to make cheer a sport after the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut rules that cheer is not a sport in Biediger v. Quinnipiac University. For the latest on these efforts, see Groups Competing To Make Cheer A Recognized Sport, Associated Press Wire on Yahoo.com.

July 21, 2010 - The latest in the ongoing debate about whether competitive cheer is a sport: The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) states that competitive cheer can be a sport if a team was picked primarily on athletic ability, operated like other sports teams, competed more than it supported other teams, had a defined sports season, and was run by an athletic department. The Women's Sport Foundation listed these guidelines in a Q and A. These factors were the industry standard. However, a federal court has ruled that intercollegiate competitive cheer simply doesn't meet these factors. Indeed, OCR has never found an intercollegiate competitive cheer team to be a sports team - although some lower levels of cheer have been found to be competitive sports.

The basic problem is that competitive cheer really doesn't have a set season. It goes all year and appears to be linked to apparel companies and competing sponsoring organizations' attempts to profit. There's no clear set of rules either. The rules vary from place to place. All these problems were exposed in Biediger v. Quinnipiac University, which was just decided on July 21, 2010 by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. The court refused to count competitive cheer as a competitive sport. This led the court to rule that Quinnipiac University violated Title IX by canceling its Women's Volleyball team. The cheer participants aren't countable athletes so Quinnipiac is going to have to either play volleyball or find another women's sport. The ruling doesn't mean that cheer can't be a competitive sport, but as currently structured it's unlikely to be ruled a competitive sport. Sounds like the competing organizations and apparel companies need to sit down, create a season, create some rules, and basically run a sport. They won't do it, though. It's against their economic interest.

Competitive Cheer Can Be a Sport Under Certain Circumstances. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) measures the following factors to determine whether cheer is a sport:

whether selection for the team is based upon objective factors related primarily to athletic ability;

whether the activity is limited to a defined season;

whether the team prepares for and engages in competition in the same way as other teams in the athletic program with respect to coaching, recruitment, budget, try-outs and eligibility, and length and number of practice sessions and competitive opportunities;

whether the activity is administered by the athletic department; and,

whether the primary purpose of the activity is athletic competition and not the support or promotion of other athletes.

See Talequah, OK - 2000 - Title IX Settlement Recognizes Cheer As A Competitive Sport.(remember this is not a published opinion so it is not binding upon any non-parties, but it is part of on-going recognition that competitive cheer is a sport under the right circumstances).

Q: Can cheerleading be considered a varsity sport?
A: No in the case of traditional cheerleading where cheerleaders perform at athletic events and participating in no or few cheerleading competitions each year. Yes if the cheerleading team has a coach, practices as frequently as a regular varsity team, and competes against other cheerleading teams on a regular basis and more frequently than it appears to cheer for other teams.

Cheerleaders Fight Back – Publishing Injury Survey To Show Their Sport Is Not Unsafe. See American Association of Cheerleading Coaches And Administrators’ Annual Sports Injury Study, October 2009. However, the numbers don't support the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches. Worse, anecdotal information is letting the public see the safety issues in cheer. Despite the risk of harm, cheer's occupation of a gray area between fully recognized sport and team support activity has led to youth sports administrators being hesitant to push for more forceful legislation involving safety, coaches' training, and equipment requirements. These same youth sports administrators have been very aggressive in dealing with these very same issues in fully recognized team sports. While there is a high school cheer rulebook, most cheer competitions are run by private groups who often don't use the high school book. Los Angeles’s KTLA TV has addressed the damage done to cheerleaders in its Special Report: A Cheerleader’s Story by Lu Parker, KTLA, November 3, 2010.

Cheer Is Becoming More and More Controversial As It Occupies A Gray Area Between Competition and Team Support. Injuries, Deaths, and Sexuality Add To That Controversy. For examples of the Dangers of Cheerleading see Cheerleader Death Highlights Danger of Sport by Dan Childs, ABC News, April 18, 2008. For Boston Globe coverage see Cheerleader Hurt In Contest Dies: Her Lungs Collapsed, Officials Say by Erin Ailworth, Boston Globe, April 18, 2008. For a good synopsis of the controversies surrounding cheer see Give me A 'C' For Controversy by Sharon Jayson, USA Today, August 23, 2005.

Cheer Safety: Starts With The Coach. See Cheerleading Injury Rates Being Misreported by Jim Lord, NFHS High School Today, October 2008, page 14. This article also has information on the states that require AACCA coach safety certification. At present, Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, Arizona and Florida have safety certification requirements, and Arkansas, Oregon and Maine will require safety certification by the start of the 2009-10 school year.

It's a pretty safe bet that your youth and high school program don't have any standards for transgender athletes. You may have thought about what to do when a girl wants to play on a boys' team, but what happens when that strapping young lad says, "Hey dude, I think I'm really a girl and that's who I want to play with."? Well - don't feel alone. Few if any youth leagues have thought about this. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association is the only high school state association that has regulations for this. The WIAA couldn't find any youth and high school regulations so they basically lifted the IOC's transgender regulations. The WIAA regulations hold that you play in the gender that your State classifies you. If you have sexual reassignment surgery before puberty, you can play as a member of the new gender. If you have it after puberty, you wait until you have had two years of hormonal therapy following the surgery. Click here for the Washington transgender regs and go to Section 18.15.0. See what the Women's Sports Foundation Says About the IOC Regs.

Will flash-mob attacks hit school sports this year? We’ve seen flash mob attacks this summer in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and downtown Chicago. So far they’re viewed as social protest (San Francisco) or a reflection on poor African-American youth being out of control (Philadelphia and Chicago). Indeed, Chicago sports columnist Rick Telander suggested that organized sports may be part of the answer to flash mob violence as a good sports program would give idle youth not just something to do – but something very worthwhile to do. See Hit Back At Youth Mobs With Something Stronger: Sports by Rick Telander, Chicago Sun Times, June 12, 2011.

Rick is correct. Unfortunately, building up broken inner city sports infrastructures is a long-term solution. To go further, helping anarchist protesters in San Francisco find a better way to protest is also a long-term solution. The athletic administrator has to deal with short-term problems. This year, one of the short-term problems we will see somewhere at a youth sports contest is flash mob violence.

Mark my words, flash mob violence will happen at a youth sports contest somewhere. It may happen with poor kids - and social commentators will argue that they have nothing better to do. It may happen with rich suburban kids - and social commentators will argue that they're good kids who just wanted to have some fun. It may happen because a player is gang-affiliated. There are a lot of reasons it may happen, but somewhere it's going to happen.

The worst place for it to happen may be a basketball game, where heated rivalries and crowds in close proximity to each other have already caused spectator riots in many places. Or maybe the worst place for it to happen would be a soccer game, which tend to be under-secured and are already a cesspool of poor sportsmanship from players, coaches, and spectators. Maybe the worst place will be a high school football game where crowds are large, and could be hard to control.

At the end of the day, the worst place is going to be determined by the flash mobbers. They're going to initiate something. The high school sports administrator can only hope to respond.

Washington, D.C. - Aging Facilities and Scarce Funds Tax The Very Good People Who Run This Program. See D.C. Public Schools Play Catch Up In Area Athletics by Alan Goldenbach, Washington Post, June 16, 2007, page E 01.

Los Angeles, CA - Think violence in interscholastic sports is a recent trend? Think again. There have been periodic outbreaks of gang violence at interscholastic contests for years. In this example from 1991, two L.A. schools cancelled a game due to the threat of gang violence. See Fearing Gang Violence, School Forfeits A Game by Robert Reinhold, New York Times, Sunday, November 3, 1991.