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SmartTeams™ Talk: Missouri Law Professor Doug Abrams Urges Use Of Power of Permit To Improve Youth Sports Safety

The power of the permit should be used by local government agencies to enhance reasonable concussion protection for children who play organized sports within their boundaries.

Criminal Prosecution for Players' Game Violence Should Remain Rare

In the wake of criminal charges being filed in California against a high school water polo player for assaulting an opponent, a law professor argues that such prosecutions are rare, and should remain rare, as long as sports organizations are proactive in preventing violent conduct by enforcing the rules and promoting good sportsmanship.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Sophia and Elizabeth Glazer (Wellesley, Mass.)


The American Medical Association calls domestic violence a "public health problem that has reached epidemic proportions." Most victims are vulnerable women and children assaulted by male perpetrators. Most victims emerge physically battered or emotionally scarred. An alarming number end up being murdered.

"It's Not Right"

Sophia and Elizabeth Glazer have a game plan that uses youth sports to help stem domestic violence in their community. Their efforts in the local youth football league this past autumn set an example which will hopefully prompt students elsewhere -- athletes and non-athletes alike -- to help make their own communities better places to live and raise families.

Disturbed by the national epidemic of domestic violence, two sisters started a group called Youth Football Cares, which not only holds bake sales to benefit local battered women's shelters but is trying to use youth sports to instill healthy relationship behaviors among children and adolescents which they can carry into adulthood.

Using the "Power of the Permit" To Promote Concussion Safety in Youth Sports

The power of the permit is the acknowledged legal authority of local governments to set reasonable terms and conditions under which private applicants may use public property, including public athletic facilities. That power, argues University of Missouri Law Professor, Doug Abrams, should be used by local government agencies to enhance reasonable concussion protection for children who play organized sports within their boundaries.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Plainfield (Conn.) High School Athletes


"Sports does not build character. Sports reveals character," said journalist Heywood Broun more than half a century ago. He meant that athletic competition can bring out either the best or the worst in an athlete, depending on the inner strengths or weaknesses that the athlete brings to the game. Sports can be noble or ignoble, depending on who is playing and how they play.

On the night of September 26, 2014, fans displayed the ignoble side of sports at a high school football game in Plainfield, Connecticut. Within hours, however, the noble side prevailed as Plainfield student-athletes confronted a wrong that had reportedly festered in their town's sports programs for years.

Sports can be noble or ignoble, depending on who is playing and how they play. On the night of September 26, 2014, fans displayed the ignoble side of sports at a high school football game in Plainfield, Connecticut. Within hours, however, the noble side prevailed as Plainfield student-athletes confronted a wrong that had reportedly festered in their town's sports programs for years.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Alex Norwood (Conyers, Ga.) and Schuyler LaRue (Maryville, Tenn.)


Sixteen-year-old Atlanta-area first baseman Alex Norwood hit a dramatic grand slam in a winning cause on March 21, but his truly game-changing hit was none that never appeared on the scoreboard.

In a junior varsity game at Newtown High, the Rockdale County High junior came through in the clutch in a way that mattered even more when, between the second and third innings, home plate umpire Woody Reagin suffered a massive heart attack and collapsed. Alex Norwood and coach Jerrid Harris

This month's Youth Sports Heroes honors two high school students - one a wrestler, one a baseball player - who were in the right place at the right time to save the lives of an umpire and fan who, but for their training and quick thinking, might have died.

Youth Sports Heroes of the Month: Overland High School (Aurora, Colo.) Girls Soccer Team

 

When the Overland High School Trailblazers opened their varsity soccer season against the Fairview High School Knights on March 12, the girls were short one player. The referees sidelined Trailblazer Samah Aidah as a result of a pre-game ruling that her hijab, a headscarf worn by Muslim women as a sign of modesty and devotion, created an alleged "danger." Aurora Colorado girls soccer team wearing hajibs

When a referee sidelined Overland High School soccer player Samah Aidah because her hijab allegedly created a "danger," her teammates expressed their solidarity at their next game by all wearing hajibs. 

Disciplining Youth Sports Coaches: Lots of Factors To Consider

My March "Youth Sports Hero of the Month" column honored 12-year-old Matthew Marotta for his sportsmanship at the end of a hard-fought pee wee hockey tournament game in Winnipeg, Manitoba on February 16.

For readers who might not have read that blog entry yet, the Nanaimo Clippers edged Matthew's Prince George Cougars, 3-2, on a hotly disputed goal in the final moments of double overtime.Youth hockey player watching action from bench

In his March Youth Sports Hero of the Month blog, Doug Abrams honored 12-year-old Matthew Marotta for his sportsmanship at the end of a hard-fought pee wee hockey tournament game in Winnipeg, Manitoba.   In this post, the former youth hockey coach focuses on the factors sports leagues should weigh in considering disciplinary measures against a coach, using the Marotta incident as a jumping off point.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Terrance Washington (Louisville, Ky.)

For West End Yellow Jackets football coach Terrance Washington, practice at Russell Lee Park in Louisville, Kentucky on the night of September 12 seemed just like any other practice. Then, as he was putting the Mighty Mite Division team through its paces, he heard parents yelling that a two-year-old girl had just fallen 15 feet into a dark abandoned well 50 yards from the field.

"We were scared, we were screaming, we couldn't get it together," the little girl's cousin said later. "Fortunately . . . , Washington didn't hesitate."

It started out like any other practice for Lexington, KY youth football coach Terrance Washington. But then, as he was putting his team through its paces, he heard parents yelling that a two-year-old girl had just fallen about 15 feet into a dark abandoned well about 50 yards from the field, and he didn't hesitate.

Youth Sports Hero of the Month: Pierre Garcon (Washington Redskins)


"I'm ready for a sports hero who doesn't treat the world like his spittoon," Golf Digest columnist Tom Callahan told the New York Times two years ago.

I think that Callahan was off-base in his blanket dismissal of professional athletes and their better instincts. Most pros recognize the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. Pros make headlines when they stray, but most do not stray. Pierre Garcon with team that won uniforms

Most professional athletes recognize the responsibilities that come with being in the public spotlight; most obey the law, and many devote time and energy to community betterment. But few pros likely serve their community as earnestly as Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garcon.

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