Proper Safety Precautions for Youth Baseball & Softball Teams

During the summer, there are plenty of youth sports opportunities, particularly for baseball and softball leagues. However, a child playing a sport (even if it is as part of an organized team) is a lot different from an adult participating in the same activity.
kid playing baseball running the bases

No matter how organized the team might be, it’s still a team of youths, who are still children physically, mentally and legally. Therefore, keeping your youth team safe and secure will require a lot of special considerations, many of which might be legally required.

On one hand, it’s important to have adequate liability insurance to protect your team in the event that one of your team members (or someone related to them) is harmed in some way. On the other, however, you still need to do all you can to avoid having to file an insurance claim in the first place. This means taking a closer look at the risk management strategies that you have in place. These will need to be far-reaching, comprehensive and very clear in outlining your responsibility to your team members.

Why Running a Youth Sports Team Can Be Risky
You really should feel as much responsibility for your youth baseball team as any pro baseball coach would have for theirs. Indeed, you probably have even more of a responsibility.

Youth sports team members frequently find themselves relying on their coaches and team organizers to keep them informed of team activities, and to keep them safe throughout all points of play. Plus, you have the added responsibility of answering to these participants’ parents or guardians when guaranteeing their safety.

This means recognizing that youth baseball participants often face unique challenges:

A youth team member is still legally a minor. Therefore, they are not empowered to make certain decisions on their own, nor should they be required to do so.
Youth participants are at a higher risk of significant injuries both during practice and play itself. Not only could these injuries be severe, but if not attended to appropriately, they could also cause permanent or disabling harm to the victim.

Youth participants (no matter how old they might be) are at a higher risk of overexertion, dehydration and stress during play. They might also not recognize these issues as they are developing. Coaches therefore have to be acutely aware of team wellness and know when to step in to mitigate developing problems.
Unfortunately, sports teams are often targets of child predators, and these threats are a lot more prevalent than most people realize. They might come from both internal bad actors and from other parties (like spectators) within the team’s orbit. You must be acutely aware of this risk, and do all you can to prevent them.

Should one of your players sustain harm as a result of any activities related to their participation in the team, you must respond to them. To do so, a variety of liability insurance policies can come to your aid. These include:

Accident Injury Coverage: Pays for injuries to players.
Participant Liability Insurance: Coverage pays for injuries sustained by others involved with the team (spectators, coaches, volunteers etc.).

General Liability Insurance: Someone might sue the team over property damage, bodily injuries or similar losses. This coverage will help you respond to the suit.
Directors & Officers Insurance: This coverage will apply following lawsuits over issues like discrimination, wrongful suspension or other breaches of team rules (or even local law).
Sex Abuse & Molestation Coverage: If someone makes an allegation of sex abuse against your team organization, this coverage will help fight the claim. However, it does not free the accused party from being answerable to the charges, and in some cases, the accused individual will not be covered at all.

Depending on the terms of your general liability insurance, you might or might not have coverage against allegations of assault & battery, sexual misconduct, player liabilities, and personal injuries like libel or slander. If these terms are not included within your general liability plan, then you might find coverage through a variety of policy endorsements and other add-ons. You should speak to your Bene-Marc agent about the best way to get this coverage to your satisfaction.

Instituting Proper Risk Management for Your Team
No matter how strong your liability insurance benefits might be, you still need to institute a risk management strategy to keep your team members as safe as possible. Steps to take include:

Properly vetting all coaches, team organizers and volunteers both to understand their qualifications and see if they have any criminal backgrounds.
Require all team members (or their guardians) to sign all appropriate waivers and participation forms before they begin play.
Enforce proper warmups, rest periods and relaxation time for the team. Participants should also know the do’s and don’ts of responsible play and understand the proper use of equipment.
Participants should not be allowed to play if they are injured, sick or not equipped with the proper safety gear.

All in all, your duty is to keep your team as safe as possible. If you fail in that duty in any way, then you are leaving your team vulnerable to both significant harm and the risk of lawsuits. It’s always better to do your due diligence from the get-go.

Proper Safety Precautions for Youth Baseball & Softball Teams

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