Donald Collins, J.D.

In July 2015, a federal court in San Francisco threw out a suit by youth soccer players challenging the way FIFA and a group of U.S.-based soccer organizations deal with head injuries. A state court in Illinois appears poised to do the same in a suit by football players against the Illinois High School Association saying it hasn't done enough to protect them against the risk of concussions. Two attorneys say the cases may show the limits of litigation as a way to improve concussion safety.

A longtime high school sports administrator argues that the Illinois high school concussion class action lawsuit raises many questions that shouldn't be decided by the first lawyer to get to the courthouse but only after careful consideration by state legislatures and high school sports administrators of all the issues arising from concussions and other aspects of athlete safety.

In the wake of the tragic death of Ricardo Portillo in Utah, a longtime high school sports administrator suggests at least six ways to make sports safer for game officials.

US Soccer's new rule banning players on its Development Academy teams from playing high school soccer is designed to strengthen our national teams, but, says one veteran interscholastic sports administrator, the move raises questions about the integrity of the sport's national governing body.

California Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi is known best for her sponsorship of the state's youth sports concussion safety laws, but her voice in the legislature may be silenced by a shoplifting scandal.

While it is clear that officials and coaches could resolve religious head-wear media dustups by taking care of the issue early in a sports season, it is equally true that the sports governing bodies could take that burden off of them.  There are certain items that are worn with sufficient frequency to merit a permanent exemption.  Hijabs and yarmulkes both fall in that category. 

Trash talking via social media has been a factor in a number of fights at youth sports contests around the country, but, there hasn't been a flash mob incident, at least so far.  But the year isn't even half over.

When fans misbehave at sports contests in the U.S. we tend to blame individuals. When things get out of hand at sports contests in foreign countries, large groups of fans start fighting and, as in Egypt last week, people end up dying. What makes bad sportsmanship in America different?

The Penn State scandal didn’t occur in youth sports.  Yet, it is one of the rare occasions that sex abuse by coaches, which is a major problem in youth sports, got the type of national publicity that allowed the problem to penetrate the public consciousness.  The big question is whether we as a sports society are up to the task of doing to more to prevent future abuse.

 

One should not taunt an opponent - even by invoking Jesus.  Yet, that's exactly what one all-boy's Catholic school recently did, prompting an unfortunate reaction from the coach of their co-ed public school opponent.