Politics

Power of the Permit: Improving Youth Sports Safety One Municipality at a Time

 

If you are involved in a private youth sports program which plays on publicly-owned fields, diamonds, rinks, or courts, or are in local government, you have probably been hearing a lot lately about what is being dubbed the "power of the permit": the authority municipalities and towns around the country are using to condition use of their athletic facilities by private programs on compliance with state concussion safety laws from which they would otherwise be exempt, or, in an increasing number of instances, to fill gaps in their state's law.

A growing number of municipalities are using the power of the permit to require private sports programs to comply with state-mandated concussion safety laws, or impose additional conditions beyond those required by state law, but, as MomsTEAM Institute Executive Director explains, it isn't an isolated or new phenomenon. It's been a growing trend for years.

How to Improve Youth Sports Safety: Focus On Protecting The Whole Child

As a woman and mother fighting to keep kids safe playing sports for the past twenty-five years, MomsTEAM Founder, Brooke de Lench, knows that, just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes the involvement of every youth sports stakeholder to protect children at play from abuse, not just physical abuse, but emotional, psychological and sexual, and from sports injuries, many of which are preventable.

Making Youth Sports Safer: Moms Have The Power!

Another high school football player dies after a head on head collision. A young ilfe cut short way to soon. A tragedy for sure. Education, better coaching, and impact devices in helmets can only do so much. Officials can only do so much, but in many cases not enough.  Moms cheering at football game

One of our three high school hockey goalies has already gotten a concussion during "Captains Practice." The official season starts in November. Hope he recovers in time.

Unless those with all the power in youth sports intervene to demand changes, the status quo will continue, and more and more kids will be seriously injured, some lasting for a lifetime. Who has the power to make youth sports safer? Moms, says longtime hockey and lacrosse coach, Hal Tearse.

Tell Girls That Sports As Normal and Healthy For Them As For Boys, Top Female Athletes Say

The co-author of the new book, "Raising Your Game - Over 100 Accomplished Athletes Help You Guide Your Girls and Boys Through Sports," says the female elite athletes she talked to all emphasized how important it was for girls to know that it's just as normal and healthy for them to participate and compete as it has always been for boys. 

NFHS Partners with USTA to Promote No-Cut Policy for High School Tennis Teams

Three cheers to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which announced today that it is partnering with the United States Tennis Association to support and promote USTA's "no-cut" policy for high school tennis teams.

Gender Gap in High School Sports Opportunities Widening, Reversing Previous Gains, Says New Study

The gender gap in high school sports opportunities widened over the past decade while the number of schools without any interscholastic sports has doubled, finds a new study, which raises troubling questions about the future of interscholastic sports at the secondary school level.

Sports Parents Asking Tough Questions: Are They Troublemakers?

This past weekend,  the Hey Coach Tony show on a local Connecticut radio station devoted an entire hour to discussing one of MomsTeam's most popular  articles: the one listing questions to ask youth sports coaches at the pre-season meeting with parents. 

In case you don't know about Coach Tony, he is what I would call a "guy's guy": a tough-talking "shock jock"-type of radio host who tends to shoot from the hip, and with a reputation for disdaining political correctness and for using outdated terms for people he doesn't like (I cringed while listening to an earlier show when he used the word "retarded" and "retard' more than a dozen times to describe a person he did not care for). 

This past weekend,  the Hey Coach Tony show on ESPN Radio devoted an entire hour to discussing one of MomsTeam's most popular  articles: the one listing questions for parents to ask at a pre-season meeting.  Particularly instructive was the way he chose to end his show: with an email from a listener saying that parents who ask questions will be labeled as troublemakers.

Latest Title IX News: Lockers, Bands, Cheerleaders, and A Movie

The reach of Title IX into high school programs and benefits, both athletic and educational, was highlighted in two recent cases, one from California involving the size of girls' gym lockers and support by the school band and cheerleaders at athletic contests, the other involving a field trip by 5,000 boys to see a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Missing Gate Receipts A Reminder of Need for Oversight Of Youth Sports Organizations

It seems as if a week doesn't go by these days without a story coming across my desk about money being embezzled from the coffers of local sports teams or lack oversight by a board of directors.

On Friday, it was the case of $4,176 in gate receipts that mysteriously disappeared after a September 2011 high school football game in Huber Heights, Ohio.  Hundred dollar bills

It seems as if a week doesn't go by these days without a story coming across my desk about money being embezzled from the coffers of local sports teams or lack oversight by a board of directors. The latest is the case of $4,176 in gate receipts that mysteriously disappeared after a September 2010 high school football game in Huber Heights, Ohio. 

Title IX: More Sports For Girls, But Not Yet Equality

Wheelock College athletic director Diana Cutaia says that, while Title IX has increased girls' participation in sport by 800%, from 1 in 27 in 1972 to 1 in 3 today, too many girls are still denied the opportunity to play sports, and equality remains an elusive goal.
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