Tuesday Takedown: Lawsuits Over Life Lessons

Gavel Feature

There is a disturbing trend that is showing no signs of slowing down: The rise of lawsuits in youth sports. Rather than focus on the important life lessons their children are learning, parents are focusing on who's to blame. Their targets are numerous: It's the referee or official not foreseeing potential player injury risks on the field; the coach that is not playing their child or is making poor decisions that are hurting the team; the league for not providing the type of venue and services expected… The list goes on and on. 

Yesterday on our site, we ran this story about a 12-year-old girl breaking her leg sliding into home plate. Rather than focus on their child's rehabilitation and focusing on teaching her how valuable it is to pick herself up in life after falling down, the parents chose to show their child what you should do when something goes wrong. It's become as much of an American tradition as apple pie and baseball: You sue somebody. In this case, they sued the township and the league. Quite frankly, I'm surprised they didn't sue the coach for not teaching the player proper sliding technique. Among the complaints justifying their compensation demands in the lawsuit, they list limiting her "earning potential" as a reason. While I'm not judging the merits of this specific lawsuit and whether or not monetary compensation is justified, I am using it as the latest example of how parents are using litigation to hurt youth sports.

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