The Truth About Sexual Abuse Of Athletes By Coaches: It's All About Power

Submitted by Katherine Starr on Thu, 09/26/2013 - 14:15. | comments

Since the Sandusky case, many have jumped on the bandwagon to address child sexual abuse in sports. We show videos of adolescent aged girls and boys being targeted and abused. Without a doubt, we react emotionally and with revulsion to something so horrific as the taking the innocence of a young child. Girl swimming butterfly

Yet, that isn't the whole truth when discussing coach-athlete sexual abuse. If you look at the list of banned swim coaches on the USA Swimming website, there isn't one coached banned for sexual abuse who was accused of having a relationship with a swimmer under the age of 13.

Since the Jerry Sandusky case, many have jumped on the bandwagon to address child sexual abuse in sports. The problem is that we are still not seeing the issue as the abuse of power that it is, says the founder of Safe4Athletes, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting sexual abuse of athletes.

Barbara Bleiweis

The Road to Varsity: Lessons from Little League

Submitted by Barbara Bleiweis on Mon, 09/23/2013 - 15:14. | comments

My relocation to North Carolina temporarily disrupted my officiating schedule. With membership into a new association pending, I needed to find a way to work on my game during the summer and fall without the benefit of regularly scheduled summer basketball. Tennis provided an excellent venue for physical preparation. Tennis, like basketball requires fitness, quickness, teamwork and stamina. But while tennis helped with the physical game, it was watching Little League baseball, more than anything else, that helped the most with the mental side of basketball officiating.

A high school basketball official prepares for the upcoming season by learning valuable lessons on the mental aspects of sports by watching the fun 10-year-olds have playing Little League baseball.

Hal Tearse

Making Youth Sports Safer: Moms Have The Power!

Submitted by Hal Tearse on Wed, 09/18/2013 - 03:39. | comments

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.

Gretchen Rose

From Son Up to Son Down: A Middle School Football Game-Day Diary

Submitted by Gretchen Rose on Thu, 09/12/2013 - 18:50. | comments

The big day finally has arrived! Who is ready for some Tuesday night football? After a summer of workouts, drills, and tournaments, it is finally time for my son to use all the skills he has learned on the football field.

After 8 years of playing against the other neighborhood school teams, the 7th grade is finally together as one team. The first game is a big one. The schedule has 7th grade as the away team, so it comes with the added bonus of traveling on a bus with 100 + of your favorite 12- and 13-year-old boys. Just bless the coaches right now!

So here is the game-day journal of just another football mom, navigating her way through the waters of 7th grade football!

After 8 years of playing against the other neighborhood school teams, a Texas youth football player begins 7th grade football. Want to know what it's like for his mom? Well, here's her game-day journal.

Tracey Wright, D.C.

Wanderlust Festival: Seven Reasons Why It Is A Not-To-Be-Missed Experience For the Entire Family

Submitted by Tracey Wright, D.C. on Mon, 09/09/2013 - 20:59. | comments

Once again this year, I had the privilege of attending on behalf of MomsTEAM the fabulous Wanderlust Festival, a 4 day adventure combining yoga, music, nature, and inspiration. Although I am not yet a parent, I returned from Colorado more convinced than ever that Wanderlust is a not-to-be-missed experience for parents and their children.

The Wanderlust Festival is a 4-day adventure combining yoga, music, nature, and inspiration. After attending again this year, MomsTEAM blogger Tracey Wright shares her list of 7 reasons why attending the festival is a not-to-be-missed experience for the entire family.

Brooke de Lench

Improving Football Safety: Is It Up To Parents?

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Mon, 09/02/2013 - 14:48. | comments

Now that the concussion lawsuit filed by retired National Football League players has apparently been settled (remember: the judge still has to give her approval), it's time to focus on the upcoming football season, and working to make the sport safer at every level of the game. Missy Womack

Sincerest form of flattery

We could sit back and wait for the N.F.L., National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), USA Football and Pop Warner to lead the way on football safety.

Football safety is largely up to parents, argues Brooke de Lench, working with all other groups in their community with a stake in making football safer, including independent football organizations, school boards, school superintendents, athletic directors, coaches, school nurses and psychologists, and other health care providers, to improve football safety at the grassroots level.

Douglas E. Abrams, J.D.

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

Submitted by Douglas E. Abrams, J.D. on Sat, 08/31/2013 - 21:50. | comments

"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.

Gretchen Rose

Two-A-Days: Are You Ready For Some Football?

Submitted by Gretchen Rose on Thu, 08/22/2013 - 13:19. | comments

Mid-August in Texas can only mean one thing: it is time for football season, finally!

Before we can start school and focus on the upcoming schedule, we tune up with "two-a-days." In its purest form, that means teams practice in the early morning, take a break, and come back in the evening for a second practice, thus avoiding practice during the hottest part of the day. Football player hydrating

A Texas mom of two teenagers - a son in his first year of middle school football and a daughter on the high school drill team - slogs through an endless series of two-a-days in preparation for another year of school and sports.

Hal Tearse

Is Education Enough in the Battle Against Concussions?

Submitted by Hal Tearse on Wed, 08/14/2013 - 05:38. | comments

The growing knowledge and awareness about concussions in contact sports has brought this important issue to the forefront of these games. From youth all the way through professional levels brain injury continues to plague players and teams.

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that "Americans eventually will do the right thing, after they have tried everything else first." That may be true when it comes to concussion safety, says longtime Minnesota hockey coach and referee, Hal Tearse.

Brooke de Lench

NOCSAE and Helmet Sensors: An Ounce Of Prevention

Submitted by Brooke de Lench on Sun, 08/11/2013 - 14:06. | comments

There is still confusion about the recent position, or should I say positions, taken by NOCSAE over the past month, first deciding that the certification of any helmet with a third-party add-on would be viewed as automatically void, then, this past week, making a 180-degree U-turn and leaving it up to the helmet manufacturers to decide whether affixing impact sensors to the inside or outside of a helmet voided the certification. Unless you read my article on NOCSAE's original decision and Lindsay Barton's this past week on its clarification, and perhaps even if you did, you are probably scratching your head and wondering what the heck is going on!

Well, I am scratching my head, too.

With all the controversy surrounding NOCSAE's recent rulings on the effect of third-party add-ons on helmet certification, what Brooke de Lench and others are wondering is why NOCSAE isn't asking the helmet manufacturers to explain to them and the rest of us how a 2-ounce piece of plastic stuck to a 4+ pound football helmet has them so worried? Whether the NOCSAE rulings were intended to put the brakes on the market for helmet sensors to give the helmet manufacturers time to catch up, it is hard to see how it won't have exactly that effect, she says.