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"I'm a firm believer that one can Protect oneself from liability," says Robinson, "but the over-riding con- cern must be safety. The youth coach has to remember that he or she is dealing with children and the first responsibility of a youth coach is to protect those children." GOOD FAITH EFFORT REQUIRED While no one suggests that it's pos- sible to keep youth sports leagues completely free of injury, one of the first things a court will look at in a liability case is evidence that the league and its coaches have taken reasonable precautions to limit the incidence of injury. Those precautions should in. clude established procedures for handling injuries and for purchas- ing and fitting equipment, but the critical ingredient in a safety. conscious program is a property trained coaching staff. "From a safety standpoint, the more qualified your coaches are, the fewer injuries you're going to have," says Robinson. "From a lia- 'bility standpoint, requiring your coaches to be properly trained in. dicates a good faith effort." Some recreation districts now require all youth coaches to be certified. Some recreation districts and youth sports organizations naw re- quire all youth coaches to be certi- fied through participation in training clinics such as those con. ducted by the National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA), which is based in West Palm Beach, Fla. Robinson, who is on NYSCA's board of directors, says the exis- tence of training and certification programs may place a measure of responsibility on administrators to institute certification requirements. "in a negligence suit, the court must determine whether the con- duct involved was what a reasona- ble and prudent person would have done in similar circumstances," says Robinson. "In the case of a youth sports pro- gram, the court will look at what was available and what other pro. grams have done. Certification is available and some programs have taken advantage of it. If the pro- gram in question hasn't, the court may want to know why not." On the other hand, says Robin- son, "requiring coaches to go through the certification process means you're going to get better coaches and you're going to be im. proving your program, and I think a court would be impressed by the fact that administrators were that concerned about safety." A MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATION NYSCA's certification program is based on a system of local and state chapters, usually chartered through a park district or recreation depart- ment. The association provides a train- ing program for selected profes- sionals from each chapter, who can then provide clinics to local coaches. The chapter fee also in- cludes all training materials needed to conduct the clinics. . Clinics cover the psychology of coaching children, organization of practice, teaching proper tech- niques, safety and first aid. After completing the clinic, coaches are eligible to become NYSCA members by paying a $72 annual certification fee, which also r Provides the member with $300,1 in liability insurance. Under NYSCA's chaps yste local chapter fees are waived i state chapter is establishe Statewide NYSCA chapters exist Georgia, South Carolina, Sou Dakota and Arizona. With funding from the UnitE Way and corporate sponsors lit. Gatorade, MacGregor Sportir, Goods, Puma U.S.A. and Spanjia Sportswear, NYSCA's program hr won support from the Nation, Sporting Goods Association an the National Recreation and Park Association, as well as from yout` activity branches of the U.S. arme� forces. PROVIDING A POSITIVE EXPERIENCE Physical safety and liability car cerns are not the only focuses fo NYSCA's program. just as impor taut is the emphasis on keeping r perspective on what youth sport! "The objective is not to make a Whitey Herzog .,ut of Billy Jones' father." are about and paying attention to the psychological needs of young athletes. "Cur philosophy is that many C hildren in youth sports programs are being initiated into sports for the first time in their lives and if it isn't a positive experience, many children are going to be turned off from sports for life," says Fred Engh, founder and president of NYSCA. "The objective of our certification program is not to make a Mike ❑it- ka or a Whitey Herzog out of Billy lanes' father. These parents are in. volved because they want to be with their children, and our objec- tive is to leave them with an under- standing of the important emotion- al and psychological impact they can have on their children's n+ er- ail development." 3