All Articles by Donald C. Collins, J.D.

Bad Acts In Youth Sports: Fourth Quarter 2009

Bad acts in women’s soccer gained national notoriety in the fourth quarter of 2009.  An ugly brawl involving players and spectators at the Rhode Island girls’ state high school soccer championship combined with a University of New Mexico college player who was caught on film committing a series of dirty and exceedingly physical plays led the national sports media to reflect on the state of women’s sports.  It was almost as if the national media discovered that women can compete intensely, commit dirty plays and engage in bad acts … kind of like, dare I say, men.

Bad Acts In Youth Sports: Third Quarter 2009

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.

Bad Acts: April to June, 2009

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.

Combating The Shortage of Officials in Youth Sports

There's a shortage of officials. It's not surprising that this shortage filters down to the youth level.  Fortunately, youth leagues have some special tools to fight the shortage.

Bad Acts in Youth Sports: 1st Quarter 2009 Edition

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.

Indiana Drops Rule Against Girls Playing Baseball

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.

HCM and Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes

About 50 young athletes go into sudden cardiac arrest each year and die from a rare congenital heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM ).   While some parent groups advocate for routine electrocardiogram (ECG) screening for youth athletes, sports administrator Donald Collins says attacking the HCM problem through education, by forming alliances between schools, leagues and sports governing bodies with medical organizations and by the taking of detailed family history during a young athlete's pre-participation physical evaluation is a cost-effective approach to early detection.  

Sports Officials Resources and Links

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

Preparticipation Physical Exam Forms – Is Your School Administration Auditing The Athletic Department?

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.