Donald Collins, J.D.

The worst bad act in this quarter was also the most unusual.  A player in a Chicago youth league designed to keep troubled teens off the street shot his coach.  The coach’s sin?  He removed the player from the game.  Playing time disputes have reached depths that none of us could have imagined.  While coaches are not generally shot over their substitution patterns, this is an extreme illustration of the pressures that coaches are under over playing time.

Post-game handshakes are a recurring problem in youth and high school sports.  In New Jersey, the post-game handshake became a post-game headbutt as a Little League coach allegedly headbutted a rival coach after the post-game handshake after a game in June.

The schedules are drawn. The gyms or fields are reserved. You’re happy with your child’s coach. You’re all set. Then your child’s youth league gets hit by an ugly reality: you don’t have officials. You see, sometimes it’s mighty hard to get officials for a youth league.

The Chicago Public Schools experienced a wave of gun violence in 2008-09; indeed, over 30 CPS students were murdered in the 2008-09 school year. Some of this gun violence spilled over to athletic contests. In January, Chicago had two shooting incidents at high school basketball games - bad acts don't get worse than this.

Blake Ress, the head of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), didn't let his personal bias get in the way when he dropped a rule barring girls from playing baseball that violated Title IX.

Resources and links for sports officials starting out, including information on insurance, uniforms, equipment, supplies, rulebooks and casebooks and links to state athletic associations.

Does everybody on a school sport's team really have a properly executed preparticipation evaluation form on file?  Can you really be sure?  The only way to really know is to have your school's administration periodically audit the athletic department.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that cheerleading is a "contact sport."  What does this mean for you and your child?  Have the courts gone mad or are the courts correct?

It’s the biggest fear of anybody who runs an urban athletic program, and it just happened in Chicago. A group of gang-bangers with no affiliation with your school or program decide to bring their foolishness into your gym.