WHERE’S THE WILL TO ENFORCE CHILD AND YOUTH ATHLETE ABUSE LAWS AND JUSTICE AND THE WILL TO PREVENT THE RISKS TO BOTH ATHLETES AND COACHES?

Let’s be clear. Teachers and Coaches have no immunity for Criminal Child/Youth Abuse. No one on any square inch of earth is exempt and/or excused from Child/Youth Abuse Crimes and Cruelty to Young Athletes.
____________________________________________________________

“A tort is a civil wrong–a violation of a duty–that causes harm.

“In the U.S. judicial system, an individual who is injured by a breach of duty can sue the other person to collect compensation for that injury. There are basically three types of civil wrongs.”

• Intentional torts include trespass, assault, battery and defamation.
• Unintentional torts include negligence and strict liability. Strict liability is when someone is held liable, even though they are not at fault. It is often used when an individual is engaged in an ultrahazardous activity.
• Constitutional torts occur when a government agent has violated an individual’s constitutional rights.

“Some intentional torts also can be crimes, and a tort-feasor can be required by a civil court to pay money damages to compensate the injured person and also be required by a criminal court to pay a fine or suffer imprisonment.

“Negligence differs from these in that it is an unintentional tort. It occurs when one person unintentionally causes an injury to another through a breach of a duty or violation of a general standard of care.

“The general standard of conduct is conduct that reasonable people may expect others to observe as they go about their daily lives. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care when carrying out a duty or subjecting another to a risk that causes harm. A negligent tort is a tort that, although not intended, was committed in disregard of the rights or reasonable expectations of another person. This is the area of tort law that has given rise to the most litigation.

“The money a tort-feasor must pay to compensate the accuser for the harm the accuser has sustained is called damages. Factors for which money damages are awarded in a tort case include property damage, medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages. If the conduct of the tort-feasor is a particularly outrageous or offensive violation of the reasonable standard of conduct expected, the civil court will add to its award of regular damages to the injured person and amount of money known as exemplary, or punitive, damages. The damages constitute a civil, or private, fine against the tort-feasor and are analogous to the fines imposed by a criminal court.

“The sixth edition of Black’s Law Dictionary defines negligence as “the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those ordinary considerations which ordinarily regulate human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a reasonable or prudent man would not do.”

“Schools and their employees are not automatically responsible for every injury that may occur within the school. In order to be held liable for negligence, the following four questions must be answered in the affirmative:

1. Did the defendant owe a duty to the plaintiff?
2. Did the defendant breach that duty?
3. Was the plaintiff injured?
4. Was the breach the proximate cause of the injuries?

“Further, there can be no defenses to the action. Generally speaking, to recover damages, it must be shown that the defendant owes a duty to the injured person, that the behavior fell short of that required, that this caused a real injury to the person, and that the injured person was not responsible for causing the injury.
Duty

“There is a duty of due care that the law recognizes one person owes to another. This duty may arise from a contract, a statute, common sense, or a special relationship the parties have to one another. Regarding students, the courts have found that schools and their employees have the duty to supervise students, provide adequate and appropriate instruction prior to commencing an activity that may pose a risk of harm, and provide a safe environment. Usually, that duty extends to students while they are in the custody or control of the school. Schools may have a duty to supervise students off school grounds when they have caused them to be there such as while on field trips or extracurricular events.

“Schools may have a duty to supervise students on school grounds before and after school when they have caused them to be there, for example, when the bus drops them off. A duty can be extended if a person assumes additional responsibilities, such as assuming the duty to supervise students before and after school. (Extracurricular Sports) Schools may acquire a duty to supervise when they have, by their previous actions, assumed the duty to supervise at this time such as when some staff has supervised intermittently or consistently before official time to arrive.

“Schools also have a duty to warn of known dangers even when they do not have a duty to supervise. In the general workforce, a supervisor, and ultimately the company, is responsible for the negligent acts of employees under the doctrine of respondeat superior. However, in education, generally no one is automatically responsible for the acts of another. School administrators are not automatically responsible for the negligent acts of teachers. In school situations, usually a plaintiff must find a separate duty on the part of each defendant.

Breach of Duty
“Once a duty has been established, the injured individual must show that the duty was breached. The duty has been breached when the individual unreasonably fails to carry out the duty.

“In carrying out duties, one is expected to act as an ordinary, prudent, and reasonable person considering all of the circumstances involved. The court or jury makes a determination of how the reasonable person would have acted; if the individual did less, he or she is found negligent.

“The standard varies for professionals; for example, a reasonable teacher or principal. Defendants who are professionals will be held to a standard based on the skills or training they should have acquired for that position. Thus, the question to be answered is: What would the reasonable professional have done under the same or similar circumstances?

“The standard varies also with the individual circumstances of the situation. Each situation gives rise to a unique set of circumstances. Some of the factors which may be considered in determining the standard of care include the following:

• Age and maturity
• Nature of the risk
• Precautions taken to avoid injury
• Environment and context (including characteristics of students, location, physical characteristics, and so forth)
• Type of activity
• Previous practice and experience

“In determining negligence, children are not held to the same standard of care as adults; instead their actions must be reasonable for a child of similar age, maturity, intelligence, and experience. Some states further classify children according to a presumption of capabilities. In those states, children under seven are not held responsible for negligence or unreasonable acts. The noted exception, however, is that a child may be held to an adult standard of care when engaged in an adult activity, for example, driving a car or handling a weapon.

Injury
“The plaintiff must show an actual loss or real damage, for instance a physical bodily injury or a real loss. Compensation may include direct monetary damages for medical expenses, replacement of property, lost wages, and so forth.

“The plaintiff may recover also for intangible injuries, such as pain and suffering, and emotional distress. In some situations an intangible injury is sufficient for recovery. However, there are states that require at least a physical manifestation of an injury if there are no tangible injuries. [Liability of School Districts and School Personnel for Negligence - Duty, Breach of Duty, Injury, Causation, Defenses,"

Malpractice, “http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2178/Liability-School-Districts-School-Personnel-Negligence.html#ixzz1cU6IQf1C
______________________________________________________________

All states have statutes for Criminal Behavior. The definition Recklessness In Kentucky for example:

(4) "Recklessly" -- A person acts recklessly with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute defining an offense when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. [KRS 501.020 Effective: January 1, 1975]
.
The reasonable person doctrine (historically reasonable man) is an objective standard against which any individual’s conduct can be measured. It is used to determine if a breach of the standard of care has occurred, provided a duty of care can be proven.
The reasonable person standard holds: each person owes a duty to behave as a reasonable person would under the same or similar circumstances.[1][2] [1. Brown v. Kendall, 60 Mass. 292 (1850)]

“In certain professions, the standard of care is determined by the standard that would be exercised by the reasonably prudent professional in that line of work.

“Medical standard of care is a standard of care is a medical or psychological treatment guideline, and can be general or specific. It specifies appropriate treatment based on scientific evidence and collaboration between medical and/or psychological professionals involved in the treatment of a given condition.

“In tort law, a duty of care is a legal obligation imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others.

“It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The claimant must be able to show a duty of care imposed by law which the defendant has breached. In turn, breaching a duty may subject an individual to liability.

“The duty of care may be imposed by operation of law between individuals with no current direct relationship (familial or contractual or otherwise), but eventually become related in some manner, as defined by common law (meaning case law).

“Duty of care may be considered a formalization of the social contract, the implicit responsibilities held by individuals towards others within society. It is not a requirement that a duty of care be defined by law, though it will often develop through the jurisprudence of common law. [Wikipedia]

“While athletes may consent to undertake a wide variety of risks inherent to their particular sport, there are certain risks which they may not necessarily assume.”

Non-Accidental, Preventable Sports Injury are Injury and/or Death from Risks, Mistreatment, harm, abuse and Human Rights violations that are NOT Inherent or Natural to the Games Athletes Play

• PEMISSION TO PARTICIPATE IS NOT GRANTED by the Parent or Guardian for Children FOR THESE RISKS that are NOT Inherent to the games they PLAY

• PEMISSION TO PARTICIPATE IS NOT GRANTED by the Youth and Adult Athlete FOR THESE RISKS that are NOT Inherent to the games they PLAY

• The Parent, Guardian and Participant do not waive or release claims based upon unlawful endangerment, maltreatment and abusive misconduct by the Coach

Preventable, Non-Accidental Injuries are Injuries, Deaths, Human Rights Viloations and Sexual Abuse not inherrent or natural to the games that were/are played.

“the duty owed athletes takes the form of giving adequate instruction in the activity, supplying proper equipment, making a reasonable selection or matching of participants, providing non-negligent supervision of the particular contest, and taking proper post-injury procedures to guard against aggravation of injuries. [Leahy v. School Board, 450 So.2nd 883, (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1984)]”

“Several other courts have defined the duty of care owed by coaches and high schools to student-athletes. In Kahn v. East Side Union High School District, 75 P.3rd 30, (Cal. 2003), the court stated that a coach will breach his duty to a student-athlete if the coach “intentionally injures the student or engages in conduct that is reckless in the sense that it is ‘totally outside the range of the ordinary activity’ involved in teaching or coaching the sport.”

“Coaches must provide proper supervision, training, and instruction. Coaches should take measures to ensure that players follow the rules of the game in an effort to avoid injuries. Coaches must warn against all known dangers or dangers that should have or could have been discovered in the exercise of reasonable care. In addition, coaches must supervise their players in proportion to how dangerous the activity is. The more dangerous the sport, the greater the responsibility the coach bears.”

“In addition, coaches may be found liable if an injured player was not provided with the proper protective and safety equipment and, even further, the coach must see to it that the athlete was properly instructed as to the appropriate use of this equipment. A coach must also see that the equipment is properly maintained so that its effectiveness is maximized.”

“A coach may never be free from all potential theories of liability, but a coach can protect himself or herself by using reasonable care and ensuring that athletes under his or her supervision are fully prepared, and protected, before stepping foot on the field or court” [Assessing a Coach's Liability for Injury to the Student-Athlete By Robert J. Romano, Esq.]
_______________________________________________________________

• Unfortunately, both Athletes and Coaches are at Risk following reckless, negligent Coaching Behavior because Athletes can be seriously injured, suffer fatality, sustain Human Rights violations or are sexually abused and Coaches are at Risk for Criminal anc Civil Litigation.

• Crossing the line by pushing and punishing Athletes beyond their Physical and Emotional limits and Abusing Athletes are abnormal behaviors, unnecessary and preventable in Competitive Sports. These activities are not inherrent or natural to the games that are played.

• Sadly, when Coaches cannot restrain themselves from Criminal Behaviors, Criminal Prosecution with or without conviction of Offenders or the threat thereof, is the most effective deterrent to endangerment, maltreatment, neglect and abuse and human rights disorders of Child and Youth Athletes.

• Education of the Coach and Athletic Community about the likelihood, probability and chance of Criminal Prosecution of the Coach or other Offenders following abnormal Coaching Behaviors causing Harm to Athletes is the most effective deterrent to the Risk of Criminal Prosecution and Civil Suit and Litigation of even the Coach.

• “General Deterrence Theory: People will engage in criminal and deviant activities if they do not fear apprehension and punishment. General deterrence theory focuses on reducing the probability of deviance in the general population. Examples: Drunk-driving crackdowns, special gang-related crime task forces and police units, publication and highly visible notices of laws and policies (Notice: Shoplifters will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law), and the death penalty.” [Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory, Sociology of Deviant Behavior, Sociology 200-Robert Keel, Instructor, The Evolution of Classical Theory]

At Issue:

• The only gauge of justice that citizens have to protect their children, loved ones or themselves are the Rules of Law.
• All Citizens serve the Rule of Law.
• All Citizens are entitled to Equal Justice Under the Law, coined by Chief Justice Melville Fuller. [In the case of Caldwell v. Texas in 1891] Fuller wrote about the Fourteenth Amendment as follows: “By the Fourteenth Amendment the powers of the States in dealing with crime within their borders are not limited, but no State can deprive particular persons or classes of persons of equal and impartial justice under the law. [1. Peccarelli, Anthony. "The Meaning of Justice", DuPage County Bar Association Brief (March 2000)] [2.Caldwell v. Texas, 137 U.S. 692 (1891)]
• National Center for Athlete Safety Medical-Legal Partnership (NCASM-LP) promotes, advocates and targets change of current Government and Public Health inaccurate administrative policies concerning Child and Youth Athlete Safety.
• Child and Youth Athlete Protective Laws must be reaffirmed, validated and enforced, by those who have ignored and overlooked them in the past, as the Supreme Rule. The opportunity for Justice is in the Will to Enforce Equal Protection for Child and Youth Athletes.
• NCASM-LP will pursue legislative change by starting the discussion between constituents and members of the general assembly about Child and Youth Athlete Safety 1st
• The lawful changes targeted include enforcement of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 1974 most recently amended and reauthorized as the KEEPING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES SAFE ACT OF 2003 PUBLIC LAW 108–36 that has ignored, overlooked and omitted Child and Youth Athlete Maltreatments, Endangerments and Abuse.
• Government should enforce already existing current law for all vulnerable, violated, at risk populations, including Athletes.
• Stop the “Socially Approved Athletic Child Abuse” and
“Battered-Child-Athlete-Syndrome described by Dr. Edwin R. Guise and Dr. Richard M. Ball, respectively, who coined the terms in 1981.
• NCASM-LP aims to influence improvement in public health policy and government resource and response allocations within government, public health, political, economic and social systems and institutions.

CHARGES OF CRIMINAL ABUSE AND NEGLECT AND PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN COURT

 There must be an elimination of the Justice Systems’ jurisdictional confusion that allows parallel jurisdiction exclusively for Child Athlete Abuse Syndrome in Adult Criminal Court
 There must be Intervention by Juvenile and Family Court Systems asserting Child Athletes witness and defendants Rights.
 There must be Administration of Justice for Abused and Negligently Supervised Child and Youth Athletes, even if, as the law provides, charges have been pursued in Adult Criminal Court. That is not Double Jeopardy.

JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURTS SERVE A DUAL PURPOSE

1. Punish Juveniles when they commit a Crime
2. Punish Adult offenders who commit Crimes against Children and Youth

 Juvenile and Family Courts have exclusive jurisdiction for all types of Child Abuse and Neglect:
 the Juvenile session of the District Court or the Family division of the Circuit Court Shall have exclusive jurisdiction for Children OR Youth less than 18 years and who allegedly are neglected, or abused; KRS 610.010
 The Burden of Proof for Criminal Child Abuse is less than charges in Adult Criminal Court.
 The County Attorney or Prosecutor can file charges of Criminal Child Abuse in Juvenile and Family Court.
 In Adult Criminal Court, the County Attorney or Prosecutor must bring the case to the Grand Jury for an Indictment.
 “In cases where criminal charges arising out of the same transaction or occurrence are filed against an adult alleged to be the perpetrator of child abuse or neglect, such charges shall be tried separately from the adjudicatory hearing held pursuant to this chapter.” KRS 620.120.
 In other words there can be collateral or parrallel Court Cases in Juvenile or Family Court and Adult Criminal Court.
 Adjudication did not occur in Family or Juvenile Court independent of the other criminal adjudication in Jefferson Criminal District Court in the Death case of Max Gilpin.
 Attorneys did not prosecute the case in Jefferson Juvenile Court.
 Children have special needs during court proceedings. Thus the concept for Child Protection and Human Right of the Child in Juvenile and Family Courts.
 An example is the Coach Stinson Criminal Case: Children witnesses were paraded across the witness stand in a trial that was open to the public and video streamed by the Courier Journal newspaper over the Internet. Children’s testimonies appeared hesitant, altered and absent by their inappropriate examination and their public display.
 Children Witnesses public exposure and spectacle were unfortunate.
 That is the reason all types of Child Abuse and Neglect are the exclusive jurisdiction of Juvenile and Family Court. These Courts are not open to the public; No TV or publications. The Human Rights of all Children are protected.
 All Children have Rights in Court i.e. Defendants, Plaintiffs, Witnesses, every Child
 Juvenile and Family Courts have been created to take care of the special needs of All Children and protect Children’s Rights during a Child Abuse proceeding.
 Child Victims, Offenders and Witnesses’ Rights are protected.

EXAMPLE

 If a 15 year old High School Football Athlete with Exertional Heat Stroke and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ARDS from Ozone, is examined and treated in the Emergency Department, because of the nature of the Injury and the Extreme Weather Conditions, the hospital notifies the CPS Child Protective Services.
 CPS, in turn, notifies the police. The agency initiates and investigation that results in proceedings in Juvenile/Family Court.
 It can be that at the same time after a criminal investigation by the County Attorney or Criminal Prosecutor initiates felony proceedings in Adult Criminal Court.
 In such cases there are often two separate, simultaneous court proceedings involving the same victim, the same alleged Adult Offender, and to a large extent, the same incidents of maltreatment.
 Unless there is coordination between these two proceedings, there are duplications of effort, inconsistent decisions, wasted resources, and needless trauma to child victims and child witnesses. Coordination is needed at all stages: investigation, case preparation, and litigation. Currently, proceedings for Criminal Child Abuse in any setting, including Sports and Athletes, are sometimes a rat maze.
[Coordination of Juvenile and Criminal court Child Abuse and Neglect Proceedings, by Marcia Sprague and Mark Hardin, University of Louisville Journal of Family Law Volume:35 Issue:2 Dated:(Spring 1996) Pages:239-324]

 Doctors and others with knowledge concerning the incident, in good faith, are mandatet to Properly Report Serious Injuries and/or Deaths Resulting from suspected Child Athlete Abuse or Neglect to the County Attorney and Child Protective Services.
 Detailed Investigation of Injuries and/or Death by Child Protective Services, [CPS], County Attorney, others depending on the state.
 Statutory Adjudication of Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect in the JUVENILE/FAMILY COURT SYSTEMS or collaterally in both Juvenile/Family Court and Adult Criminal Court.

THE COACH IS AT THE CENTER OF PREVENTABLE, NON-ACCIDENTAL CHILD AND YOUTH ATHLETE INJURIES AND DEATHS.

SIMPLY PUT, THESE ARE INJURIES AND DEATHS THAT ARE NOT INHERRENT OR NATURAL TO THE GAME THAT THE ATHLETE WAS PLAYING WHEN INJURED.

Physical and Psychological Injuries can discourage Sports Participation. “Millions of children enter organized sports programs athletically unprepared every year, often with disastrous results..…. children suffer when they are unable to meet the expectations of coaches, parents and especially themselves. [Start Smart: sports development is a Start Smart for children – April, 1996 by Greg Bach, BNET]

“Children’s importance for society is reflected in an old adage ‘children are our future.’ Everything in society depends on what becomes of children. The quality of children’s lives determines the quality of society’s future, its people, culture, politics, and economics.…… One would assume that because of this, society is to give primary consideration to the situation and welfare of children today”….

“However, our children don’t appear, from our behaviors, to be our primary concern. Children remain a low-priority issue for governments……”. The magnitude of Child Abuse and Neglect and Child Sports Preventable, Non-Accidental Injuries supports the grim issue, currently demanding attention.

Children, under 18, constitute about one quarter (25% imagine) of the world population. Yet, “CHILDREN LINGER IN THE BACKYARD OF SOCIETY. The most authoritative international documents confirm this.” [Electronic Journal of Sociology (2004), ISSN: 1198 3655 Children's Suffrage as a Key Way of Improvement of Children's Well-being in an Age of Globalization, Leo Semashko]

Some unfortunate Child Athletes, under 18, linger even beyond the Backyard of Society. When it comes to Child Athlete Protective Custody and Proper Child Athlete Supervision, rather than being Protected and Properly Supervised, about 20% of Child Athletes seemingly are tethered like rented mules to the Coaches Plowline in the Athletic Plow Fields of America……. The disciples of “Old Time” Plowline Coaches are the Coaches that need to be Educated, Regulated and, when that fails and they behave badly, litigated. The Child Athletes in these ill-fated circumstances are the Children with whom advocates have become worried. Prosecution is the main deterrent for Crimes Against Children.

“Sports Builds Good Character……When Good Characters are Coaching the Sport” [Plowline Coaches, Mules and 100 Yards of Cotton, Micheal B. Minix, Sr., M.D.]

Juvenile and Family Courts’ Non-existent Judgments confirm this societal problem. Physically and Psychologically (Emotionally) Abusive and Negligently Supervising Coaches have not been satisfactorily Educated and Regulated and have never been Adjudicated and Convicted in Juvenile and Family Court (where Exclusive Authority is Statutory for suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Injuries or Death). In contrast, Child Athlete Sexual Abuse has been appropriately prosecuted there, occasionally.

20% of Child Athletes are at risk for different types of abuse, neglect, violation and/or exploitation in competitive sports. [Paulo David, U.N.]

As long as Child and Youth Athletes compete and win, some Coaches will beat and treat them like rented mules. The Dysfunctional Athletic Communities that support that breed of Coach, turn a Blind Eye to the events in the Athletic Plow Field and the Maltreatment of Child Athletes. This is the heart of the Comprehensive Model of Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect.

Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Sports Injuries are Injuries and/or Deaths that are NOT due to Inherent Risks of the Game or Natural to the games that Athletes play. Accidental Injuries and/or Death ARE the result of Inherent Risks that are Natural to the games.

Preventable, Non-Accidental Injuries must cease, so that organized sports will contribute its share for Child Physical Fitness and the sustainability of Sports will continue as we should know them, once we right their course.

By age 13, many Children drop out of youth sports. The top three reasons: adults, coaches and parents. Yet, a massive number continue to participate. [ Safe Kids USA Campaign Web site. 2009]

“Youth Athletes spend an average of 326 hours of practice time per season under the supervision of their Coach, dwarfing time spent with teachers, health educators and physicians.

“Injury Prevention, in the growing Athlete, Centers on the Principles of Effective Coaching, Proper Training Habits, maintenance of flexibility and consistent use of Correct Biomechanics.”[Youth Sports: A Pediatrician's Perspective on Coaching and Injury Prevention, Michael C. Koester, MD, ATC, J Athl Train > v.35(4); Oct–Dec 2000, Good Shepherd Community Hospital, Hermiston, OR]

The Elephant in the Sports Arena, at the Center of Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Sports Injuries and Death is the Head Coach.

What Coaches do not understand is that they are at risk for Criminal Prosecution and Civil suit and litigation after Abnormal Coaching Behaviors that result in serious injuries and/or deaths and sexual abuse.

STATISTICS

There are many benefits for Children when they “Play It Safe”. However, in recent years, Sports Participation has evolved with serious costs and consequences to Children’s Human Rights in Youth Sport, They are:

o Over-training
o Physical, psychological (emotional) and sexual abuse
o Doping and medical ethics
o Deficient education
o Child labor
o Lack of accountability of governments, criminal justice, high school athletic associations, sports federations, coaches and parents [Paulo David, UN]
There are 75,200,000 children less than 18 years old in the United States in 2010. [http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp]

About 20 million American children ages 6 through 16 play organized Non-School Sports. About 25 million youth play competitive School Sports.
.
About 45 million kids ages 6 through 18 participate in at least one School or Non-School Sports. [Marianne Engle, Ph.D., sports psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor at the NYU Child Study Center, interview, 2010]

In the United States every year 9,000,000 children are at risk for different types of abuse, violation and/or exploitation in competitive sports, using the estimated (20% of 45,000,000 = 9,000,000) risk of Paulo David, Officer in Charge Human Rights Treaty Division, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, who is regarded as the International expert.

Approximately 3 million children and adolescents ages 14 and under get hurt annually playing sports or participating in recreational activities.

Although death from a sports injury is rare, the leading cause of death from a sports-related injury is a brain injury.

Sports and recreational activities contribute to approximately 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among American children and adolescents.

More than 775,000 children and adolescents ages 14 and under are treated in hospital emergency rooms for sports-related injuries each year.

EXAMPLES OF CHILD AHLETE ABUSE AND NEGLECT

100% of the following categories of Child Athlete Injuries are not inherent to the game in which the Child Athlete participates, are Non-Accidental and Preventable, are often Catastrophic Child Athlete Injuries and/or Death and usually the result of the Head Coach’s Child Athlete Abuse or Negligent Supervision:

Injuries from Required athlete doping
Exertional Heat Illness or Exertional Heat Stroke from Withholding water causing dehydration
Exercise to Exhaustion causing Rhabdomyolysis and other conditions
Strenuous Exercise during an Air Alert precipitating Asthma Attack, Ozone Toxicity or other Toxic Inhalation Disorders
Requiring practicing or participating in game while seriously injured
Improper Medical Consultation and Treatment
Failure to Recognize and Mismanagement of Concussion
Sexual Athlete Abuse
Practicing or participating in game during Dangerous Environmental Conditions i.e. Heat, Cold, Air Alert, Electrical and other Storms, dangerous playing surface
Physical Assaults
Overexercise / Over-training causing Stress Fractures and other conditions
Distribution of Faulty equipment that results in serious injuries or death
Allowing Child Athletes to participate in sports knowingly with injuries, disease or sickness

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE FROM STUDY: HOW TO RECOGNIZE CHILD ATHLETE ABUSE AND NEGLECT AND THE SIGNS OF THE ABUSIVE, NEGLIGENT COACH:

Publicly Humiliated and Embarrassed Athletes
No Positive Relationship
Screamer / Yells Continuously
Disgraced
Played Head Games
Dishonest
Not Trustworthy
Brainwashed to Play Out of Fear of the Coach
Brainwashed not to Play Out of Love of the Game
No or Improper Medical Treatment
Played while Seriously Injured
NIGYYSOB – Dr. Eric Berne, Games People Play
Never Good Enough
Win-At-All-Costs
Always Negative
Self-Centered
Delusions of Grandeur. Thought he was Bear Bryant.
Interested in only His Needs and Accomplishment
Totalitarian / Commando / Total Sport
Manipulated / Micromanaged
Excessive Training as Punishment
Closed Minded / Not Open to Suggestion by Superiors and Colleagues
Physically and Psychologically (Emotionally) Abusive
Negligent Supervision
Paid No Attention and Ignored
Bullied
Coached Creating Fear and Intimidation
Did not Communicate
No constructive Individual Attention
Master of Feel Bad Emotions, Coached Playing Out of Guilt
Bad Role Model
Insecure, Emotionally labile
Disrespected, Hated
Destroyed the Love of the Game
Called Every Athlete Derogatory Names – Turd, Shave Tail, AO
[“A Longitudinal and Retrospective Study of The Impact of Coaching Behaviors on the 1961-1962 University of Kentucky Football Wildcats”, Kay Collier McLaughlin, Ph.D., Micheal B. Minix Sr. M.D., Twila Minix, R.N., Jim Overman, Scott Brogdon]

HOW COMMON ARE ABUSE AND NEGLECT IN CHILD SPORTS?

The Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission conducted a survey in 1993 and found the following incidences of abuse in sports in Minnesota:

• 45.3% of males and females surveyed said they have been called names, yelled at or insulted while participating in sports.
• 17.5% of Athletes surveyed said they have been hit, kicked or slapped while participating in sports.
• 21% said they have been pressured to play with an injury
• 8.2% said they have been pressured to intentionally harm others while playing sports.
• 3.4% said they have been pressured into sex or sexual touching,
• 8% of all surveyed said they have been called names with sexual connotations while participating in sports.

Shakeshaft estimates that 1%-2% school coaches are sexual abusers. The percentage of Non-school coaches is much higher.

Applying that rate to the NAYS estimate of 3 million volunteer and school coaches in the United States would produce about 6,000 coaches nationwide with records of sexual abuse.

That 6,000 are only the coaches who have been convicted or are being tried. As many as 94 percent of children who are sexually molested never report the incident, according to Hofstra University education professor Charol Shakeshaft, who studied cases in New York State. No one knows how many exist, without records, who will never be caught [Violation Of Trust / When young athletes are sex-abuse victims, their coaches are often the culprits Date: 6/9/02 Author: Michael Dobie, Publication: Newsday. http://www.taasa.org/library/pdfs/TAASALibrary192.pdf]

“In the clear-cut cases of sexual abuse in schools that she studied, Shakeshaft said, the two largest groups of school abusers were coaches and band directors. Most experts believe sexual abuse by coaches is even more common in youth sports, where there is less supervision, monitoring and control, and where it is easier to cover up such allegations.

“Prevalence numbers locally are hard to come by. Shakeshaft estimates that 1 to 2 percent of teachers and, by extension, school coaches are sexual abusers

● Child sexual abuse occurs to as many as 25 percent of girls and 14 percent of boys before they reach 18 years of age. Child Athlete Sexual Abuse occurs from 16 to 40% of Athletes depending on the study referenced and those numbers are conservative because of the taboo.

“Growth plate injuries to long bones of youth athletes are often due to over use and over practice, poor coaching techniques.”[The Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

Both Accidental Injuries that are inherent to the sport and Non-Accidental Injuries that are not inherent to the sport, are often lumped together, even though their causes are profoundly nothing like the other.

• According to the CDC, more than half (>50%) of all sports injuries in children are preventable (Non-Accidental). [Keeping Kids Safe in the Game GLOVERSVILLE, NY (08/23/2010)(readMedia)-- Nathan Littauer Hospital in conjunction with STOP Sports Injuries, http://readme.readmedia.com/Keeping-Kids-Safe-and-in-the-Game/1697556]
• There is a growing epidemic of preventable youth sports injuries that are dismantling kids’ athletic hopes and dreams at an early age.
• This increase in play has led to some other startling statistics about injuries among America’s young athletes.
• Sports injuries can cause permanent damage and increase the chances of surgeries and arthritis later in life. Disability. Health Care Burden. Cost when adults.
• If an injury does occur, early identification and proper treatment is the key to a successful recovery. Armed with the correct information and tools, today’s youth athletes can remain healthy, play safe, and stay in the game for life.

During our football Reunion, 1961-1962 University of Kentucky football team, June 2008, conducted a study: see below

Additionally, Physical Abuse injuries from Abnormal Coaching Behaviors and Maltreatment are listed in the study.Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, said it was the only study of its kind from his knowledge.

The Psychological damage found was that each player who participated in the study suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD). Each Football Athlete suffered Anxiety Reactions during the past 50 years, following severe Physical and Psychological Athlete Abuse and Neglect.

The UK Football Athletes in 1961-1962 were 17 to 19 years old. “A Longitudinal and Retrospective Study of The Impact of Coaching Behaviors on the 1961-1962 University of Kentucky Football Wildcats”, Kay Collier McLaughlin, Ph.D., Micheal B. Minix Sr. M.D., Twila Minix, R.N., Jim Overman, Scott Brogdon

Garbino et al., in their extensive work in the area of emotional abuse of elite athletes, identified 8 key behaviors as being indicative of emotional abuse. These are belittling, humiliating, shouting, scapegoating, rejecting, isolating, threatening, and ignoring.

Participants reported feeling stupid, worthless, upset, less confident, humiliated, depressed, fearful and angry as a result of the behavior of their coaches.

The findings suggest that the behavior of coaches is a threat to the psychological well-being of elite child athletes.[NCJRS Abstract, National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Emotional Abuse of Elite Child Athletes by Their Coaches, Child Abuse, Volume:13 Issue:3 Dated:May-June 2004 Pages:215 to 223, Misia Gervis; Nicola Dunn, 05/2004, United Kingdom]

The above was the only report of Child Athlete Abuse in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. The Child Athlete Abuse research and information highway in the Criminal Justice System is a mere buffalo trace where Child Athletes are concerned.
In 2008: “Football sends 1,024,022 kids to doctor’s offices, emergency rooms and hospitals. (@ 50% CDC = 512,011 were Non-Accidental and Preventable)

Soccer is next on the list, with 368,726 injuries for that same age group. (@ 50% CDC = 184,363 were Preventable)

Cheerleading was the cause of 75,307 injuries.(@ 50% CDC = 37,653 were Preventable)

Data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission shows that rates of injuries from cheerleading accidents were 5,000 in 1980. [Miller Bohn]

In addition, the leading cause of catastrophic injuries in female athletes is cheerleading, according to The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research.They account for approximately 65 to 66 percent of all female catastrophic injuries in either high school or college.

Gymnastics injuries numbered 67,542.” [University of Michigan Health System reported that in 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reported the following statistics on injuries to youth under age 18]

Concussion: From 1997 to 2007, emergency department visits for concussion in kids aged 8 to 13 playing organized sports doubled, and the number of visits increased by more than 200 percent in older teens, according to the report. From 2001 to 2005, there were an estimated 251,000 emergency department visits for concussion among U.S. kids aged 8 to 19 which were sports-related. [Dr. Lisa Bakhos and colleagues at Brown University, September, Pediatrics, Dr. Mark Halstead, orthopaedics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis]

“The annual incidence of football-related concussion in the United States is estimated at 300,000, and nearly 45,000 football-related head injuries were serious enough to be treated at U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2009,” Dr. Gail Rosseau, a Chicago-area neurosurgeon, said in an AANS news release [Medlline, Surgeons' Group Weighs In on Football Injury Prevention By Robert Preidt, August 6, 2010]

The CDC reported: 2005-2009 data from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study that Football was the sport associated with the most heat related illnesses. August was the most common month for them to occur, were most likely to occur during practice, not game time, and more likely to occur among overweight athletes.

Heat-related illnesses included heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Since 1995, 31 high school football players have died from heat stroke, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. Michael McGeehin, director of CDC’s Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects. “Heat related illness is Preventable. Crimes were committed against these Children and no one was held accountable.

“Among athletes ages 5 to 14, 28 percent of percent of football players, 25 percent of baseball players, 22 percent of soccer players, 15 percent of basketball players, and 12 percent of softball players were injured while playing their respective sports
Since 2000 there has been a fivefold increase in the number of serious shoulder and elbow injuries among youth baseball and softball players.”[ Preserving the Future of Sport: From Prevention to Treatment of Youth Overuse Sports Injuries. AOSSM 2009 Annual Meeting Pre-Conference Program. Keystone, Colorado.]

Pounding on the Rule of Law in the Sports Arena

Sports Injuries in Children Requiring Hospital Emergency Care

Sports-related injuries accounted for 22.0 percent of the 1.4 million visits to the Emergency Department (ED) for injuries among children ages 5 to 17 in the 25 states included in this study.

Children were treated and released from the ED in 98.7 percent of sports-related ED visits; whereas, in 1.3 percent of cases children were admitted to the hospital for further care.

Superficial injury (contusion) was the single most common treat-and-release ED condition related to sports injury for boys and girls (51,700 and 20,000 visits, respectively).

Leg and arm fractures were the most common reasons for sports-related ED visits in children to result in hospital admission, collectively accounting for 1,900 admissions from the ED.

The rate of ED visits for sports injuries in children was about three times greater among boys than girls

Top 5 most common reasons for Emergency Department visits that resulted in a hospital stay for sports injuries in children†, in 25 study states in 2006. Because 50% of Child Sports Related Injuries are Non-Accidental and Preventable, 41,700 Child Athletes were admitted to the hospital for the following injuries that were caused or allowed to be caused by Child Athlete Abuse and / or Neglect, in the 25 states included in this study.

Injury Boys Girls Total 50% are Non-Accidental
Fractures lower limb 9300 + 2300 = 11,600 X 50% = 5800
Fractures upper limb 42,000 + 10,900 = 52,900 X 50% = 26,000
Intracranial injury 10.200 + 2,500 = 12,700 X 50% = 6,350
Skull / face fractures 5,200 + 1,900 = 7,100 X 50% = 3,550

Total hospitalization: 41,700 Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Athlete Injuries.
Because, both Accidental and Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Athlete Injuries are lumped togeather and the CDC declared that 50% of Child Athlete Injuries are Non-Accidental and Preventable, in the above 25 state 2006 survey, there were potentially 41,700 Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Athlete Abuse and/or Neglect Injuries that required Hospital Admission.

[June 2009. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Sports Injuries in Children Requiring Hospital Emergency Care, 2006, Lauren Wier, M.P.H, Adela Miller, and Claudia Steiner M.D., M.P.H ]

CHILD PROTECTIVE CUSTODY AND PROPER SUPERVISION

The Child is a very special creation. Child, a minor less than 18 years of age, is the defining label that alerts those who have the duty for Child Protection and Supervision.

Until the age of 18, the entwinement of the Child and their Care-Giving Supervisor, primordially the parent, is meant to be wound and fused as tightly together biologically as the mother and her fetus. They are kindred biologically.

The Child and Parent virtually are inseparable. The Child, akin to the unweaned suckling, is hungry, dependent and vulnerable.

The Parent, who is the first entwined Child Protection Supervisor, is intended to be an altruistic entity that has the fundamental effect of promoting the health and welfare of that special entity, the Child. They are biologically predetermined. [The Challenge of Biological Determinism, Rosemary Rodd, 1987 Royal Institute of Philosophy.]

Athletic Teams are described by Coaches as Family, an accurate description. Coaches have the exact same duty to the Child as the Parent. The chain of Care-Giving Supervision and Custodial Child Protection is transferred to the Coach. The Child is the Coach’s Protective kindred.

Children are mandated to attend school. The Protective Custody and Care-Giving Supervision are transferred to the Teacher for curricular activities and the Coach during extracurricular school activities. They both have a Duty to Protect the Child.
The premise for this duty is that a Child is compelled to attend school and must be separated from the Parent. [McLeod v. Grant County School Dist. No. 128,255 P.2d 360,362 (Wash. 1953.

The Protective Custody and Care Giving Supervision of Teachers and Coaches is mandatorily substituted for that of the Parent.

Teachers and Coaches assigned to Protect and Supervise children during school sponsored curricular or extracurricular activities have a duty to exercise that degree of care that ordinarily prudent Teachers or Coaches engaged in the supervision of Students or Athletes of like age would exercise under similar circumstances.
It is the same for non-school Coaches. Parents and Guardians do not sign-up their Children for Non-Inherent Risks, Maltreatment, Endangerment by Coaches for the game they play.

National and State High School Athletic Federations and Associations are Not granted the Privilege and Duty of Child Protective Custody and Care Giving Supervision. They have a Duty to protect Children, as everyone does, but not the Custody. They are not in the Chain of Child Care Giving Supervision and Protective Custody. Their Rules, Regulations and By-Laws are not Child Protective Laws. There Rules are only for Interscholastic Games and Competitions. They have no authority for High School Sports Practices or JV or Middle School Sports Activities.

THE RULE OF LAW IN THE SPORTS ARENA

Maintaining the Rule of Law and the Enforcement of the Criminal Codes of Conduct and Child Protective Laws are the basic responsibilities of Government.

CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, 1974) is Federal Child Protection Legislation and Laws that support the States’ Duty and Power to act on behalf of Child Protection.

All states have Child Protective Laws.

Depending on the state, Juvenile and Family Courts have exclusive jurisdiction over Child (Athlete) Abuse and Negligent Child Athlete Supervision Adjudications for:
o Child Athlete Physical, Psychological (Emotional) Maltreatment and Endangerment that Result in Serious Injuries and/or Death (Child Athlete Abuse)

o Child Athlete Sexual Abuse
o Negligent Coaching Supervision of Child Athletes that Result in Serious Injuries and/or Death.
o The above are the categories of Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Sports Injuries and/or Death

In some states “in cases where criminal charges arising out of the same transaction or occurrence are filed against an adult alleged to be the perpetrator of child abuse or neglect, such charges shall be tried separately from the adjudicatory hearing held pursuant to this chapter”

The Surgeon General of the United States Workshop revealed that the following systems are in crisis when it comes to Child Abuse and Neglect. ” The full scale of Child maltreatment is masked by secrecy and denial. There is a crisis in the:

o Public Health Services
o Social /Child Welfare Systems
o Criminal Justice Departments
o Education-Awareness Groups
Research reveals that others are in crisis, as well:
o Federal High School Athletic Federations
o State High School Athletic Associations
o Non-School Leagues and Associations

The Surgeon General of the United States Workshop included Coaches among potential targeted perpetrators of Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect. [Surgeon General's Workshop on Making Prevention of Child Maltreatment a National Priority: Implementing Innovations of a Public Health Approach, Surgeon General's Workshop Proceedings Lister Hill Auditorium, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland March 30–31, 2005]

Juvenile and Family Court Judges are the “Gatekeepers of our nation’s Child (Athlete) Abuse Systems.” Gate keeping involves both permitting entry and disallowing entry to the Juvenile and Family Court Systems. Child Abuse and Neglect Misconduct and Malfeasance are unlawful.

Children have special needs during court proceedings. The concept for Child Protection and Human Right of the Child in Juvenile and Family Courts.

Child (Athletes) require additional procedural safeguards, compared to Adults, to offset the disadvantages of youth in the justice system. [Focus on Law Studies, FALL 2000 Volume XVI, Number 1, The Juvenile Court: Changes and Challenges by Barry C. Feld

An example when Children witnesses are paraded across the witness stand in a trial, open to the public, video streamed by a newspaper over the Internet. Children’s testimonies have, in the past, appeared hesitant and altered by their inappropriate examination and their public display. Their public exposure and spectacle has been unfortunate. That is an example for the reason all types of Child Abuse and Neglect are the exclusive jurisdiction of Juvenile and Family Courts

Juvenile and Family Courts are not open to the public; No TV or publications. The Human Rights and Protection of all Children victims and witnesses are protected.
Doctors should be the“Eyes and Ears of Child Welfare”

Doctors are mandated to report Serious Injuries and/or Death to the County Attorney or Child Protective Services after their examination and treatment.
A Report is not accusation, but a call for further investigation.

Doctors are guaranteed anonymity and immunity after a report.

Dr. Steven Kairys, a professor of pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., and director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said a major concern of pediatricians with reporting abuse is the judges. One of the most powerful mechanisms for protecting children from abuse is a law that designates school teachers, day care operators, doctors, nurses, and others "mandatory reporters" of child abuse and neglect."

Kairys said abuse cases are inadequately reported by pediatricians and inadequately investigated, because of untrained social workers, fear of the doctor for disruption of the parent-doctor relationships, paper work, poor communication, and mistrust between Child Protective Services (CPS) and the medical community and unqualified judges.

Doctor Kairys said, some doctors felt that CPS were incompetent and their reports were a waste of time because CPS often failed to follow up sufficiently on the cases that doctors and hospitals report.

The doctors who are most likely to observe physical abuse only account for two to three percent of abuse reports filed. The majority comes from school teachers and other mandatory reporters.[ Parental Rights Under Microscope as Accusations of Child Abuse Mount, Thursday, February 07, 2002, By Robin Wallace Fox News]

According to a reliable source, a Public Health Official, during Sports Injury Prevention discussion during a requested meeting by concerned advocates with state Cabinet For Health and Family Services, said. “Its like the fox watching the hen house.” Doctors are reluctant to report Sports Injuries caused or allowed to be caused by Coaches, because the gravy train. Their referrals of injured Athletes by Coaches will cease, if they report Coaching Athlete Abuse and Neglect.

Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies were first established in response to the 1974 CAPTA which mandated that all states establish procedures to investigate suspected incidents of child maltreatment. This program provides specialized welfare services that seek to prevent abuse and neglect of children. The Child Protective Services program receives, screens and investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect.

Participating states are to have “in effect” certain laws and procedures regarding child abuse and neglect. The participating state has satisfied its duty so long as it has actually enacted the necessary law or created the necessary procedure.

For instance in KY, Kentucky Revised Statutes Sec. 620.040 provides: (1) Upon receipt of a report alleging abuse or neglect by a parent, guardian, or person exercising custodial control or supervision, pursuant to KRS 620.030(1) or (2), the recipient of the report shall forthwith notify the Cabinet for Health and Family Services or its designated representative, CPS, the local law enforcement agency or Kentucky State Police, and the Commonwealth’s or county attorney of the receipt of the report unless they are the reporting source.

A reliable source reported that after the Death of a 15 year old high school Football Athlete, CPS refused to investigate the Death, because the case had already been adjudicated in District Criminal Court. That was unlawful. The Death was never adjudicated in Juvenile Court.

The County Attorney has the final decision as to whether formal charges will be filed for Child Athlete Abuse and/or Negligent Supervision of Child Athletes.

A complete autopsy with internal examination is mandated by law when the death of a child appears to indicate child abuse prior to the death, occurs as a result of an accident, occurs under the age of 40 and there is not past medical history to explain the death, is sudden and not explained, when the death of a human being and the decedent is not receiving treatment by a licensed physician and there is no ascertainable medical history to indicate the cause of death.

HSAAs often do a magnificent job doing what they are contracted to do and what they have authority to do, managing and administrating Interscholastic Games and Competitions, playoffs and tournaments. Most do not include sports practices or JV Games.

High School Athletic Association Rules, Regulations and By-Laws are not and should not be an assumed part of the Government or an imaginary part of the Criminal Justice System.

• This imagination would be and is a Phony Masquerade of Legal Interpretation using Assumed Legal Authority. For example, KHSAA Rules, Regulations and By-Laws are not part of the Kentucky Criminal Code. Adjudications using that pretense are way out of bounds.
• The KHSAA has no Legal Authority governing Catastrophic Child Athlete Injuries and Death during football or any other practice. Adjudication for any type Criminal Conduct is not carried out in the KHSAA hearing room, but in a Court of Law.
• For example: The Kentucky Unified Juvenile Code, Child Protection Laws, KRS 600-645 are the Criminal Code governing Catastrophic Child Athlete Injuries and Death.
• Adjudication for Catastrophic Child Athlete Injury and/or Death requires establishing the facts of the case, defining the Law and interpreting the applicable Law.
Example: “The monster question is if the Florida High School Activities Association, the self-governing, self-righteous, self-appointed, all-knowing autocracy of Florida sports.” [Michael Batchelder, FHSAA Is The New High School Bully, The Tampa Tribune, Published: November 15, 2008]

The News is that High School Athletic Associations are not above the Law. ” Senate President Pro Tem Katie Stine , R-Southgate, KY said Tuesday. She has introduced legislation that would allow high-school athletes and their schools to obey court orders without fear of punishment from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. “An agency such as the KHSAA is not above the law.” She also said Kentucky high schools should be encouraged to follow the law, not ignore it [http://www.kentucky.com/2009/03/11/721477_amendment-would-limit-khsaas-authority.html - Lexington Herald Leader, Mar. 11, 2009]

When Children are endangered, maltreated, harmed and damaged by abnormal Coaching behaviors or anyone, who fails their Child Protective Custody or fails to Properly Supervise Child Athletes, as any other Reasonable Coach or person would supervise athletes in similar coaching situations, these incidents are mandated to be properly Reported, Investigated and Adjudicated by the Criminal Codes of Child Protection, in Juvenile or Family Court. That has not been the case except occasional Child Athlete Sexual Abuse.

The Rat Maze for Justice for Abused and Neglected Child Athletes leading-up-to and including Juvenile and Family Court Systems is a complex journey in the United States.
When Child Protective Laws are reaffirmed, validated and enforced, by those who have ignored and overlooked them in the past, as the Supreme Rule to be adjudicated in Juvenile and Family Court Systems for Child Athletes, the additional systems that have shared the Complex Justice Journey and battered Justice for Child Athletes with Obstacles, for Abused and Neglected Child Athletes, will realize their responsibility.

Public Health Services, Social and Child Welfare Systems, Education and Awareness Groups, Federal and State High School Athletic Associations will toe the line. They will adhere to the standard of Care for Child Athletes i.e: Duty to conform to the legitimate Rules and Standards of Children’s Human Rights, Child Protection, Proper Supervision, Care and Welfare during Sports Participation.

CONCLUSION

Coaches can dramatically influence the lives of Child Athletes. Most of our Coaches are mentors, leaders and role models. Great Coaches teach their Athletes the values of life and living, in addition to Athletic play and performance. A Great Coach mentors a player into a star, role model and a hero for a lifetime and many generations afterward.

80% to 90% of Coaches do a tremendous job Coaching our Child Athletes. But 10% to 20% “don’t know any better”, cannot be educated and manifest abnormal Coaching Behaviors. Sadly, as within all professions and trades, they necessitate Regulation and Litigation.

Coaches are victims too, because they are blindsided by ignorance of the Laws of Child Protection and supervision. As any profession, a few bad apples can spoil the lot and several can spoil the orchard.

Many Amateur Coaches and Athletes are shocked to learn that they can be liable Criminally and Civilly for injuries they inflict, cause, create or allow to be inflicted, caused or created, directly or indirectly on Their Athletes or Opponent Athletes during practice or play, even in contact sports though they comply with High School Association rules, regulations and by-laws.

Why? Becuase they Maltreated, Endangered, Abused and / or Neglected and Damaged, Serioulsy Injured or Death to Child Athletes and violated Child Protection Laws. High School Athletic Association Rules, Regulations and By-laws are not Legal Authority.

In Kentucky, after a recent Football Athlete Death in 2008, advocates for Child Sports Safety found that the Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect Laws and Procedures were properly enacted in the state. However, the Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect Laws and Procedures were not Enforced following his Death.

Unfortunately, Enforcement of Child Protection Laws with proper Reporting by Doctors, Through Investigations and Statutory Adjudications in Juvenile or Family Courts are the ultimate deterrent for unlawful Coaching Behaviors that cause or allowed to be caused Maltreatment, Endangerment, Abuse and / or Neglect, Damage, Serious Injury or Death to Child Athletes.

Juvenile and Family Court Justice will facilitate the Prevention of Non-Accidental, Preventable Child Sports Injuries and Promote Child Athlete Safety.

Criminal Prosecution with or without conviction is the most effective deterrent to endangerment, maltreatment, neglect and abuse of Athletes.

The likelihood, probability and chance of Criminal Prosecution of the Coach is the most effective deterrent to the Risk of Criminal Prosecution and Civil Suit and Litigation of the Coach.

Because 45,000,000 Children Participate in Competitive Sports in the United States every year and with popularity of Sports rapidly growing and because Child Athlete Abuse and Neglect are the exclusive jurisdiction of Juvenile and Family Courts, these Courts “will need more time, staff expertise, and resources to perform the necessary administrative functions necessary for Justice” for the Abused and Neglected Child Athlete in Juvenile and Family Court Systems.

In response to an increasing demand to provide judicial leadership to improve the legal system and the administration of justice relating to juvenile and family court issues in their communities, states and the nation, the membership of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ) at it’s annual conference in San Antonio, on July 23, 2003, endorsed the NCJFCJ Recommendations for Modification of the ABA Canons of Judicial Ethics. [National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges Recommends Modification of Canons of Judicial Ethics
http://www.abanet.org/judicialethics/resources/comm_code_ncjfcj_051904.pdf ]

• 100% of all Catastrophic Child Athlete Injuries and/or Death that are Non-Accidental and Preventable, that are not inherent or natural to the game in which the Child Athlete participates, are the result of Child Athlete Abuse or Negligent Supervision by the Head Coach.
• This is an urgent call for Intervention by Juvenile and Family Court Systems for the Administration of Justice for the Abused and Negligently Supervised Child Athletes who have sustained Catastrophic Child Athlete Injuries and Death and Sexual Abuse.
• Lawmakers have ignored, overlooked and omitted Child and Youth Athlete Maltreatments, Endangerments and Abuse and have failed to enforce current law for all vulnerable, violated, at risk populations, including our Athletes which are additionally a “Health Disparity Population”.
• Laws on the Books: TITLE I—CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION AND TREATMENT ACT Sec. 101. Lawmakers have Failed Subtitle A. General Program that has not included Athletes and Sec. 111. Child Abuse Information Exchange that has not included Athletes. This is a Simple Solution.

[Preventing Child Abuse in Judo by Mike Buckle
http://judoinfo.com/Preventing%20Child%20Abuse%20in%20Judo.htm

ATHLETE MENTAL TOUGHNESS, SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY

Champions have a competitive advantage. How does an athlete develop a competitive advantage rather than the weakness of a mental Achilles’ Heel?
Mental Athlete Toughness is the competitive advantage.

Mental Athlete Toughness is derived from the love, passion, soul and spirit for the game. MAT is inspired by a mentor, credible, truthful, and trustworthy coach who coaches by the 4 R’s of Coaching. Trust is the Core of Coaching.

The mentor doesn’t have to be an employed athletic coach but a parent, friend, minister or another confidant. Naturally it is better if the mentor is the designated athletic coach.

The 4 R’s of Coaching are the backbone of Trust because they are the key of Positive Motivation.

Not all athletes have Mental Toughness. Authentic, genuine Mental Athlete Toughness is multidimensional. First the athlete is gifted with athletic intelligence and ability. The athlete also has a “5 star Will To Win.”

At the same time, the athlete has passion for the game. This passion is an extreme emotional feeling for the game. The athlete plays for the love of the game and enjoys the aggressive play and self-denying physicality of the game. The athlete studies the game and is focused with his or her destination in sight without distracting obstacles while playing the game. Nothing impedes that focus.

The athlete is dedicated, self-sacrificing, determined, plays aggressively, maintains strict conditioning and stays in excellent shape year round. They never dissipate and seize every moment to stay in top condition. The athlete desires to be a player in something bigger than self, part of a successful team. The athlete places the team victory first before personal achievement.

The nucleus of Mental Toughness is a Mentor Coach of the athlete and his or her Coaching Philosophy. The Coach must cultivate respect in themselves and then EARN respect from the athletes and others around them. Trust must be established and earned by the coach over time. A coach cannot lead without enthusiastic followers.

Athletes trust, respect and follow the coach who Coaches with the 4 R’s of Coaching i.e. Respect, Responsibility, coach-player Relationship, Recognition.

The Coach must have the best interest of the athlete at heart to prevail in the mind of the athlete and their mental state, “toughness”.

Some coaches, who are not in step with the prevailing concept of Mental Athletic Toughness, and, conversely, practice physical and psychological athlete maltreatment, give Mental Athletic Toughness lip service and profess the awareness of its importance. These negatively motivating coaches are convinced that Mental Athletic Toughness is achieved by over working, over practicing and physically and psychologically abusing their athletes.

They often cross the line and push and punish their Athletes beyond their physical and mental limits. More is not better and is extremely counter productive.

Out of step, that coach will demand and command respect and mistreat their athletes in the process. They will play head games verbally, physically and emotionally for admiration, approval, esteem, prominence, success and winning. But, pushing athletes too far will waste some athletes physically and emotionally and, at the same time, waste their careers. That coach will loose many games, because they lack athletes accepting their misdirection, which negates teamwork. Teamwork is the key to success; not brainwashing brutality that emphasizes tearing down and remolding elite athletes.

The athlete develops a belief based on absolute certainty that he or she is better than their opponent. The mentally tough athlete “really wants it” more than their opponent and is not distracted by their own or their teammates mistakes. The mentally tough athlete wants the pressure and never is critically negative about themselves. A negative mind set is not in them. They always want the ball or the challenge and are confident when they are the center of the action.

The negative, mental Achilles heel will impair the proper movement coordination and restrict athletic performance. Mental Athlete Toughness allows the fluidity of muscle synergy during practice and during competitions, because the muscle agonists and antagonists are moving the extremities and athletic body parts as they should be moved in sink together for successful athletic coordination and performance.

The mentally tough athlete always comes with their game, every game, because their mind set is developed supported by a trustworthy mentor coach.

YOUTH, DIESEL FUEL, COAL, FOOTBALL

God knows we need Coal and School Buses in Kentucky and we love football. Let’s help them work together.

“Kentucky is an energy intensive state because of its historically low energy costs. Nationally, Kentucky is ranked third in energy intensity (kWh per customer), about 55 percent higher than the national average, and this is principally driven by our industrial sector. Kentucky’s industrial sector energy intensity is 427 percent higher than the national average. Because of Kentucky’s low energy prices, we tend to attract large, energy-intensive industries (e.g. fewer customers using lots of power”
91% of Kentucky’s electricity comes form Coal Fired Power Plants. Kentucky has the lowest electricity rate in the United States.

But how do we protect our School Football Athletes from Air Pollution during Heat Waves when Kentucky has Coal Fired Power Plants and 9,800 diesel powered school buses that operate near school football fields for contests and practice? Both emit harmful Air Pollutants that cause serious injury and potential death to Football Athletes.

Coal Fired Power Plants cause Air Pollution and the Air Quality Index becomes dangerously high. School Buses create “Hot Spots” that have an additive effect around schools, bus depots and football fields. Heat waves then brew the pollution emissions from both. The consequence is a dangerous breathing environmental soup.
Activity School Buses often idle near football practice fields keeping the buses’ cabins cool waiting for football practices to end while adding pollutants, including ozone, to the area. These are called “Hot Spots”.

What makes the Louisville Metro Area very dangerous for Football Athletes practicing outdoors during Heat Waves in summer is that it is an ”Urban Island”. Located in a sometimes wind-static river valley region allows polluted air to become stationary while contaminating the area by not blowing away from the “Island”.

‘April 2007: Jefferson County Public School District in Louisville, Kentucky, is the 19th-largest school district in the United States. With approximately 97,000 students, the district operates 1,100 school buses that travel more than 85,000 miles per day and operate 1500 total vehicles. Jefferson County Public School District is the 10th largest transportation system in the United States.”

“All these buses are now fueled with B2, a blend of 2% bio-diesel and 98% petroleum diesel fuel, which is distributed by Marathon Oil Company. Biodiesel has become a valuable blending component with diesel fuel at low percentage blends because of biodiesel’s “premium” aspects. Pure biodiesel has high lubricity, high cetane, and a high flash point.”

“Biodiesel is a renewable fuel for diesel engines. Biodiesel, defined by ASTM International (D6751), consists of long-chain fatty acid alkyl esters and is made from renewable vegetable oils, recycled cooking oils, or animal fats. It can be used at full strength, but it is typically blended with petroleum diesel.

A blend of 2 percent biodiesel and 98 percent petroleum diesel is referred to as B2. Other typical blends include B5, B10, and B20; pure biodiesel is sometimes referred to as B100. Biodiesel is safer for the environment and produces significantly less air pollution compared to petroleum diesel.” But B2 has 98% petroleum diesel.

“You don’t have to take too many deep breaths behind a vehicle using petroleum diesel to be able to appreciate that cleaner exhaust would be beneficial. The exhaust emissions of particulate matter, typically referred to as soot, are a recognized contributor to respiratory disease. When using pure biodiesel, B100, particulate matter decreases by 30 percent. In addition, the exhaust emissions of suspected carcinogenic compounds are substantially reduced for biodiesel compared to petroleum diesel.”

Studies have shown that petroleum diesel exhaust adversely affects children with asthma and bronchitis and increases the effects of some allergens. Using biodiesel would lessen these effects. Biodiesel was the first renewable fuel to successfully complete the Environmental Protection Agency required Health Effects Testing. EPA’s clinical studies, which study the toxicity of fuels, showed no adverse health effects with B100, pure Biodiesel.”

‘Kentucky school districts will benefit from $12.9 million in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to purchase new hybrid electric school buses.
Kentucky will replace about 200 diesel-powered units in school bus fleets statewide with Type C-Charge Sustaining Hybrid Electric school buses. The procurement process will begin in October, and school districts that intend to purchase new buses may choose hybrid electric vehicles at that time. There are currently more than 9,800 diesel-fueled school buses operating in Kentucky, and this project is designed to replace the oldest buses’.

‘Children do not have fully developed immune systems so are much more vulnerable to cancer causing compounds. Children respire at a rate twice that of adults, and are thus more susceptible to the toxicity of airborne diesel particles, vapors and gases.’
Sensitive groups of children appear to have a genetic predilection to Ozone Intoxication. The epithelial cells lining the lung airways cause a reaction to Ozone in this sensitive group. Once the process in the lung begins there is a cascade from initial reaction to inflammation, exudation, fibroproliferation and finally Hyaline membrane formation.

The Airways are obstructed, “wet lung” develops with pulmonary and pleural edema, infiltration and oxygenation of the blood is seriously compromised. Once the cascade begins for some it is irreversible and death ensues.

‘The Natural Resources Defense Council has estimated that school bus diesel exposures to children pose as much as 23 to 46 times the cancer risk considered significant under federal law.’

‘A recent study found that children on diesel school buses are exposed to 5 to 15 times more air toxins than the rest of the population. 24 million children travel on 454,000 school buses nationwide. Those buses travel more than four billion miles each year and these kids spend 3 billion hours on these buses. About 90 percent of these buses run on diesel fuel, annually emitting 3,000 tons of cancer-causing soot and 95,000 tons of smog-causing compounds.’

“Each year, one school bus in Texas emits the equivalent of 114 cars,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Christie Whitman at a press conference at Pin Oak Middle School in Bellaire. While school buses are the safest mode of transportation, “we want to make it the healthiest way to get to school, too,” she said.

“New statistics from the World Health Organization show that in the United States, air pollution annually kills nearly twice as many people as do traffic accidents and that deaths from air pollution equal deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined,” said Tiffany Schauer, executive director of Our Children’s Earth Foundation.

Mammoth Cave, Kentucky is an epicenter for Air Pollution. It is surrounded in Kentucky by 40 Coal Fired Power Plants.

“Mammoth Cave ranks as the fifth-most ozone-polluted park in America. Scientists are beginning to investigate whether ozone exposure in the park reduces growth of some tree and animal species.

“One of the greatest threats to Mammoth Cave National Park is mercury contamination caused by emissions from coal-fired power plants. Nationwide, coal-fired power plants contribute to more than 40 percent of mercury emissions.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is passed up the food chain. The park’s endangered Indiana bat has been found to have mercury at ten times the level considered safe for people. Ozone pollution in the park consistently exceed levels known to harm plants. The National Park Service says that hazy skies are a significant concern at the Mammoth Cave National Park.”

“Three new coal-fired power plants are under active development within 186 miles (300 kilometers) of Mammoth Cave, an area that already contains roughly 40 operating coal-fired power plants.

Each year, these new plants would emit into the Mammoth Cave area air shed more than 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, 14,724 tons of sulfur dioxide, 7,650 tons of nitrogen, and 606 pounds of toxic mercury, further endangering park wildlife and the health of park visitors.”

“Polluted caves endanger water supplies, wildlife: Examples abound, including raw sewage flowing into Shalers Brook inside Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Mammoth Cave National Park’s visibility, ozone, and acid deposition identifies it as the third most polluted national Park. Coal fired power plants built between 1962 and 1977 contribute to this designation.”

“Recently, the Department of Interior approved plans for a new coal fired power plant in western Kentucky that critics charge will increase air pollution at nearby Mammoth Cave National Park, which already suffers from some of the worst visibility in the nation.”

‘Center your protractor at Mammoth Cave and sweep it around the Kentucky map with a radius of 186 miles. The area covered includes most of Kentucky and Tennessee and parts of Southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio and tips of Northern Alabama and Georgia.’

Kentucky Football practices must be scheduled around dangerous Air Alerts and dangerous temperatures and heat indices that occur on the same day. Coaches must be vigilant and monitor daily weather conditions and not practice outside during those dangerous times.

Coaches must have a contingency plan that allows adjustment of the practice or contest time when necessary to avoid these health risks.

_________________________________________________

Open Today - First Plant to Make Pollution-Free Fuel From Raw Coal; Top Government and Industry…
Publication: Business Wire
Date: Monday, June 24 2002
Energy, Conservation & Business Editors
CHARLESTON, W. Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 24, 2002
Low Cost, Patented Process Removes 99.5% Of Toxic Ash;
Can Reduce Emissions Up To 50%

Today, in a ceremony at the Holden, West Virginia Technical Facility, executives of CENfuel FPU LTD. joined local and national leaders and actor Leslie Nielsen to announce the US commercial availability of a proprietary process for ultra-cleaning coal prior to combustion.

The rise and volatility of natural gas prices, combined with increasing energy demands and global unrest, has US policy makers and generation companies seeking alternative power plant fuels. The CENfuel(TM) process taps the US’ largest fossil fuel energy source without the environmental and operational drawbacks of today’s coal.
According to Chris Rowlands, CENfuel’s president, “CENfuel(TM) offers a next-generation fuel source that converts coal from a source of concern to an energy-efficient, environmentally smart, cost effective and price-stable solution.”

The CENfuel(TM) Process, proven in 25 years in laboratory and pilot plant testing of more than 100,000 tons in Europe, Asia and the US, is the only method for cleaning coal pre-combustion. It removes the particulates causing environmental problems and energy-efficiency losses in current generation coal-fired power stations and manufacturing plants. The resulting fuel is a cost-effective alternative to natural gas, fuel oil and raw coal in power plant applications. In addition to numerous environmental advantages, CENfuel(TM) increases coal’s versatility for energy and commercial applications; provides significant cost savings; and supports many coal-related industries through by-product recovery.

Jefferson County led Kentucky in childhood asthma hospitalizations for 2002-03 with 650 cases, followed by Graves County with 408 cases. Seven eastern Kentucky counties (Bell, Clay, Harlan, Johnson, Lawrence, Perry and Pike) had more than 100 cases as did Fayette and Daviess counties during 2002-03. However, this data does not provide the full extent of asthma prevalence in Kentucky since it only represents those cases that resulted in hospital visits.

The American Lung Association of Kentucky estimates that 70,000 children in the state may suffer from asthma.5 The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a telephone survey conducted by the CDC and the Kentucky Department for Public Health, estimates that 9.5 percent of adult Kentuckians had asthma in 2002, ranking the state third in the nation for the prevalence of asthma.6 The survey estimates asthma among high school and middle school students in Kentucky at 9.8 percent.

The Kentucky Asthma Partnership, composed of representatives of the American Lung Association of Kentucky, the Kentucky Department for Public Health, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, was created in 2003 to promote greater dialogue on asthma in Kentucky. The partnership has established workgroups to address the following areas: data and surveillance; education; treatment and management; and policy and legislation.7

2002 - 2003 Total Asthma Hospitalizations by County Ages 0-14
Indicator 2. Childhood Asthma Hospitalizations (2002-03)
Jefferson 650 Fayette 131 Graves 408 Daviess 166 Harlan 201
Lawrence166 Johnson 121 Pike 119 Perry 104 Bell 189 Clay 117
__________________________________________________
References:
Kentucky Energy WatchPublished by the Governor’s Office of Energy
Policy January 8, 2008Note
Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence. 2008. Carbon Management Report. Retrieved March 20, 2009 (http://www.energy.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DCA3F2AF-F208-4EB4-9C1E-890BE19CEE12/0/CarbonManagementReport.pdf).
Clean Air Trust, School Bus Pollution
Preserving the Park, OhRanger.com
Threat down below: Polluted caves endanger water supplies, wildlife, Environmental Health News
Kentucky National Parks, Mammoth Cave
Mammoth Cave National Park: Air Quality at Risk
Energy Information, Biofuels in Kentucky
Child’s Environmental Health Kentucky

ATHLETE VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Psychological, Emotional and Verbal Abuse.

Parents Sue hoops Coach, Mishawaka schools
[South Bend Tribune March 20, 2007 |JEFF PARROTT Tribune Staff Writer

At 6 feet 9 inches, senior Jim Ross was Mishawaka High School’s tallest basketball player this past season. But his minutes played were among the shortest. His parents, Don and Shirley Ross, are so angry at coach Robb Berger that they are suing him and School City of Mishawaka in St. Joseph Circuit Court. Their lawsuit makes no mention of playing time. Instead, they claim that beginning in 2005, Berger “harassed, berated, humiliated, intimidated and psychologically abused” the youth. In a court filing, Berger has denied the lawsuit’s substantive allegations. Examples of the verbal abuse, according to the lawsuit:

“You are eight (f——) feet tall, why can’t you make a lay up?”
“You were almost competitive and got a god(d—) rebound.”
“You can’t run, you can’t jump, you can’t play.”

And this, from a harassment complaint letter the Rosses sent to School City of Mishawaka Superintendent R. Steven Mills:

“My grandmother is faster than you and my kid has more heart.”

As a result, Jim Ross suffered emotional distress, withdrew and shut down, the lawsuit claims. After the couple complained to Mills, Berger “switched his method of abuse to ignoring Jim Ross and acting as if he did not exist, as if he were not present,” the suit claims.

“Coach Berger does not speak to Jim Ross, does not look at Jim Ross, or does not address him in any manner.” This grew so extreme that on Sept. 17, when Ross fractured his left foot during practice, Berger ignored him and failed to ask him about the injury, the suit claims. Another student helped Ross to his car, and when he arrived at home, his parents made sure he received the medical attention he needed, the suit states. Citing the pending litigation, neither the Rosses, Berger nor Mills would comment when contacted by The Tribune.

The couple initially named only Berger as a defendant but recently amended their complaint to add the school corporation. That means Shirley Ross, who works as the corporation’s director of gifted and talented education, is now suing her employer.

The corporation, added to the suit March 9 under an order by Judge Michael Gotsch, had yet to acknowledge having been served with the complaint, according to court documents on file Monday. In communications with the Rosses, School City officials have denied that Berger’s conduct was abusive and “appear to be claiming that his actions are part of his coaching style or philosophy,” the Rosses state in court documents.

They allege that the corporation is liable for “negligent supervision, training and hiring” of Berger. Don Ross, a real estate developer, has long been active in the community and schools. In the late-1990s, he headed the board of the corporation’s Education Foundation. He also is a past president of the Mishawaka Business Association. Reg Tisdale, longtime publisher of the recruiting newsletter Indiana Basketball News, said he was “shocked” to hear that Ross had played so little his senior year, while noting that a high school coach reserves the right to play whomever he wants.

“Obviously he and Jim have some problems with each other,” Tisdale said. “I would just guess, I don’t know.” Tisdale said he had seen Ross play in spring and summer camps since age 14. Initially, he was “awkward,” Tisdale said, but he had steadily improved. “He was uncoordinated when he was growing up,” Tisdale said. “Last summer when I saw him, he was much better, catching the ball, scoring, his footwork was better, he had better spring (in his legs) and touch.”

The lawsuit alleges that Berger’s harassment could hurt Ross’ chances to win a college basketball scholarship. Tisdale agreed but said Ross’ playing career is not necessarily over. “Not playing on that team certainly stifles his college career,” Tisdale said. “It makes it a longer and harder road to get there, but that’s not saying he can’t get there. “If this was a thick-legged kid with big ankles and he couldn’t move, (playing in college) would be an uphill battle,”

Tisdale said. “But he has a world of talent for college basketball, he runs well, he has long arms and a great touch.” Tisdale said Don Ross had been corresponding with him during his son’s junior year, and he advised the couple to consider transferring him to another school. But they decided against that because the student body elected him student council president for his senior year, the Rosses said in the letter to Mills, which has been included in court documents.

This year, Jim Ross was one of 16 Mishawaka High School athletes chosen to serve in the “Stay in Bounds” program. The athletes serve as mentors to teach character-development skills to fourth-graders at LaSalle, Bieger and Liberty elementary schools. Ray Craft, an associate commissioner with the Indiana High School Athletic Association, said parents suing a coach over his allegedly abusive behavior is not unheard of but is “very, very rare.”

____________________________________________________________

Apr 8, 2008 … MISHAWAKA — Robb Berger, former Marian and Wawasee coach, has resigned as boys basketball head coach at Mishawaka High School after eight years

CONSTANT YELLING AND SCREAMING NEGATIVITY TO ATHLETES CAUSES VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE

Coaches who yell, scream, berate, embarrass and bully Athletes constantly with negativity are verbally and emotionally Abusive. Under those practice and play circumstances, Athletes are conditioned to play with one eye and ear on the Coach and one eye and ear on the game. The diagnosis of PSYCHOLOGICAL (Emotional) ABUSE requires a Mental Health Care Professional’s diagnosis.

Screaming is defined as “utter a long loud piercing cry, as from pain or fear, when the Coach makes a loud piercing sound, speaking in an hysterical manner producing a startling effect.

Yelling is a shrill cry, an obnoxious noise that evokes fright and surprise.

The 1ST BIG MYTH that needs to be dispelled is that A TOUGH HARDNOSED SCREAMING INTIMIDATING COACH IS KEY TO WINNING SPORT PSYCHOLOGY

Well, that is totally Ludicrous! Negative Motivation is the most Foul, Cruel, Sadistic Method of Psychological Athlete Motivation

Playing Out of Fear of the Coach, Horror, Fright, Panic is extremely Destructive, Counter Productive and Harmful to Athlete Self-Esteem and Performance

Positive Motivation is Key to Winning and Mental Toughness. Trust is key.

VERBAL and EMOTIONAL COACHING ABUSE
• Erodes Trust of Athlete for Coach
• Core of Coaching is Trust
• Golden Rule is the First Rule of Coaching
• Yelling Intimidation Elicits the Fear Emotion
• Examples:
• Yelling For not playing well
• Screaming for losing
• You’re stupid, worthless
• Embarrassment Humiliation Athletes
• Coaches who Rarely use praise as Positive feedback are usually negative
• Demeaning Athletes is very detrimental
• Plays 4th Grade “head games” is typical

Another BIG MYTH: THE COACH YELLS and SCREAMS at YOU BECAUSE HE or SHE “CARES ABOUT YOU”

• That is totally Preposterous
• Yellers Damage Athlete:
• Self-Esteem / Confidence
• Causes Nightmares / Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Always leaves Athletes feeling badly about themselves
• Kills Athletes’ Enthusiasm Joy, Love of the Game
• Verbal Emotional Athlete Abuse Sets The Tone For:
1. Teenage Dating Violence
2. Domestic Violence

Most Negative, Loud, Noisy Coaches make vulgar loud-mouthed outcries often in protest of of an Athlete’s play and execution. Shouting vocalization is often times Coach attention-seeking.

Bellowing and hollering curse words and profanity are methods of intimidation and “tough man talk.” F….Bombs, Mother F..ker are examples.

An extravagantly loud outcry and clamoring while throwing a chair and hitting the bench with a fist. expresses more immaturity than mature Coaching.

Loud noise made to express displeasure is how Children get their way, when they don’t play well with others in the sandbox.

Verbal and Emotional Abuse are defeating, saps Athlete energy (Mental Fatigue and Exhaustion) and can result in lifelong Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, if severe enough.

All Coaches Yell and Scream to some extent; usually to be heard over the noise of the crowd or yell-out instructions. Negativity is the Key Word. Yelling or screaming positive reinforcement over the noise is Good, but continuous, berating Negativity during Practice and Games is Bad. Emotionally, Verbally Abusive Coaches:

Embarrass and humiliate of athletes
Rarely use praise or positive feedback
Demeans his/her players
Plays “head games” with his/her athletes
Creates a team environment based on fear and devoid of safety
Is never satisfied with what his/her athletes do.
Is overly negative and a pro at catching athletes doing things wrong, NYGSOAB
Is more interested in his/her needs then those of his/her players
Over-emphasizes the importance of winning
Tends to be rigid and over-controlling, defensive and angry
Ignores his/her athletes when angry or displeased
Is a bully (and therefore a real coward)
Coaches through fear and intimidation
Damages Self-Esteem and Confidence
Causes Atletes Nightmares
Consistently leaves his/her athletes feeling badly about themselves
Kills his/her athletes’ joy and enthusiasm for the sport
The Coach has mental health issues
Is emotionally unstable and insecure

Discrimination is sometimes a component of Verbal Abuse from the Coach. Discrimination in sports is when an Athlete is treated differently or less favourably because of gender, race, ethnicity, religion or disability. Often the discriminated are the ones to whom Verbal Abuse is directed.

Psalm 91:3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, [and] from the noisome, [noxious, offensive to the senses, sikley/sickness, unhealthy] pestilence.

“Help, my Coach is a Bully. What Does Verbal and Emotional Abuse Look Like in Athletics?”

“Usually, this involves a coach telling an athlete or making them feel that he or she is worthless, despised, inadequate, or valued only as a result of their athletic performance. And here’s the catch, such messages are not conveyed merely with the spoken word. They are conveyed by tone of voice, body language, facial expression and withdrawal of physical or emotional support. This is a large part of the reason why the problem of bullying in athletics is so hard to quantify – a clear definition of bullying is somewhat elusive. Even if we can define it, as above, it’s highly difficult to measure.”

“Bullying is partly defined by the subjective experience of the athlete. In other words, if the athlete feels shamed, frightened, or anxious around the coach due to his or her constant shouting, name-calling or threatening, then the label “emotional abuse” is warranted.” [3.]

Trust and Respect of an Athlete for a Coach is the Core of Coaching. Trust and Respect from Athletes is earned. Constant yelling and screaming Negativity by the Coach erodes trust and Respect of an Athlete for the Coach, causes fear and intimidation and decreases Athlete self confidence and team success; causes mental and emotional exhaustion.

Coaches have to yell simply to be heard sometimes in a packed gym. When emotions run high, so will voices. The content matters most, not the volume. There’s a big difference between yelling out a play number to break a press and screaming insults at the point guard because he picked up his dribble moments after entering the front court. [1.]

“Cheering when kids do things right or yelling out instructions is not screaming, I think the real problem is when coaches single out individuals and berate them. Sports psychologists who have researched it have proven the screamer is not the successful coach and that positive feedback is a much more powerful teacher than the screaming, says Keith Lancaster, Director of the Maine Center for Coaching Education and a former high school coach and athletic director.” [1.]

“Sure, you can intimidate your team into playing hard for a short period of time, sometimes because they’ll resent what you’re doing,” says Glenn Begley, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at William Smith College. “But I don’t think that ever carries over into anything long-term. They will either tune it out and ignore you, or they will tune it out and resent you.” [1.]

“It’s similar to using exercise as a physical punishment,” Lancaster says. “It may work for a short period, like when you make athletes do extra work because they’re not performing the way you want them to. But if a coach continues to do that, it loses that effect, and then it turns the athletes off.” [1.]

“The constant negativity and yelling can make players afraid to make a mistake,” Begley says. “And as far as I know basketball is a game of mistakes. Most people don’t even make half of their shots. So it’s not good to make your players afraid, because every one of them will make mistakes.”

“There are other pragmatic reasons for coaches to tone down the negative yelling and screaming. “Society today does not accept abuse,” Lancaster says, “and sometimes a coach can cross that line to where it is not only perceived as abuse, but it is abuse, by berating and embarrassing individual kids and putting them down.”

“There are other ways to prepare players for the rigors of competition besides exposing them to a verbal blast furnace.”

In 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged pediatricians to be aware of the risk factors of psychological maltreatment of children. The academy’s report, based on numerous studies, said that “a chronic pattern of psychological maltreatment destroys a child’s sense of self and personal safety.”

“Yelling (insults and negativity by Coaches) sets the tone for family relationships that carry over for dating relationships where you get a lot of psychological aggression,” Dr. Straus said. Coaches, who Verbally Abuse Athletes, cause Athletes to Verbally Abuse others i.e. school peers. It is particularly a set-up for Domestic Verbal Abuse and Violence.

“Yelling overpowers children, it makes them feel frustrated and angry, and what can happen is that after a while kids become immune to being yelled at. They tune it out,” said Dr. Myrna B. Shure, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, who conducted a five-year study, financed by the National Institute of Mental Health, of children from kindergarten to fourth grade. [2.]

Emotional abuse (psychological abuse, verbal abuse, mental injury) includes acts or omissions that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders.

Severe Emotional Abuse of Athletes caused by Coaches, when mental health professionals diagnose Emotional Abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is punishable by Law.

[1.] Positive Coaching Alliance, More Basketball, Less Yelling by Dennie Read Coaching Management Magazine 8/15/2003
[2.] [INFOCUS Free Newsletter]
[3.] “Help, My Coach is a Bully!” The Consequences of Verbally Abusive Coaching by By John Schinnerer, Ph.D. http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Help_My_Coach_is_a_Bully_The_Consequences_of_Verbally_Abusive_Coaching.html

CONSTANT OVER-THE-TOP YELLING AND SCREAMING AT ATHLETES CAN BE EMOTIONAL ABUSE. IT CAUSES FEAR INTIMIDATION AND ERODES TRUST FOR THE COACH

Trust and Respect of an Athlete for the Coach is the Core of Coaching. Trust and Respect are earned. Constant yelling and screaming by the Coach erodes trust and respect of an Athlete for the Coach, causes fear and intmidation and decreases Athlete self confidence and team success.

Coaches have to yell simply to be heard sometimes in a packed gym. When emotions run high, so will voices. The content matters most, not the volume. There’s a big difference between yelling out a play number to break a press and screaming insults at the point guard because he picked up his dribble moments after entering the front court. [1.]

“Cheering when kids do things right or yelling out instructions is not screaming, I think the real problem is when coaches single out individuals and berate them. Sports psychologists who have researched it have proven the screamer is not the successful coach and that positive feedback is a much more powerful teacher than the screaming, says Keith Lancaster, Director of the Maine Center for Coaching Education and a former high school coach and athletic director.” [1.]

“Sure, you can intimidate your team into playing hard for a short period of time, sometimes because they’ll resent what you’re doing,” says Glenn Begley, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at William Smith College. “But I don’t think that ever carries over into anything long-term. They will either tune it out and ignore you, or they will tune it out and resent you.” [1.]

“It’s similar to using exercise as a physical punishment,” Lancaster says. “It may work for a short period, like when you make athletes do extra work because they’re not performing the way you want them to. But if a coach continues to do that, it loses that effect, and then it turns the athletes off.” [1.]

“The constant negativity and yelling can make players afraid to make a mistake,” Begley says. “And as far as I know basketball is a game of mistakes. Most people don’t even make half of their shots. So it’s not good to make your players afraid, because every one of them will make mistakes.”

“There are other pragmatic reasons for coaches to tone down the negative yelling and screaming. “Society today does not accept abuse,” Lancaster says, “and sometimes a coach can cross that line to where it is not only perceived as abuse, but it is abuse, by berating and embarrassing individual kids and putting them down.”

But there are other ways to prepare players for the rigors of competition besides exposing them to a verbal blast furnace.

In 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged pediatricians to be aware of the risk factors of psychological maltreatment of children. The academy’s report, based on numerous studies, said that “a chronic pattern of psychological maltreatment destroys a child’s sense of self and personal safety.”

“Yelling sets the tone for family relationships that carry over for dating relationships where you get a lot of psychological aggression,” Dr. Straus said.

“Yelling overpowers children, it makes them feel frustrated and angry, and what can happen is that after a while kids become immune to being yelled at. They tune it out,” said Dr. Myrna B. Shure, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, who conducted a five-year study, financed by the National Institute of Mental Health, of children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

[2.] [INFOCUS Free Newsletter]
Emotional abuse (psychological abuse, verbal abuse, mental injury) includes acts or omissions that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders.
[1.] Positive Coaching Alliance, More Basketball, Less Yelling by Dennie Read Coaching Management Magazine
8/15/2003
[2.] [INFOCUS Free Newsletter]

________________________________________________________________

Positive Coaching Alliance, More Basketball, Less Yelling By Dennie Read, Coaching Management Magazine 8/15/2003 [1.]

It’s bad for the athletes, it’s bad for the game, and it’s bad for your heart. Plus, there are better ways to motivate your players than yelling at them.

Coaches yell and scream. They always have.

Most coaches who constantly scream do so because they believe it makes their players better. But does it? More and more coaches are finding that, no, today’s players do not respond to this type of coaching. These coaches believe that there are more effective ways to teach and motivate players than screaming at them.

Rhea Taylor learned this for himself throughout the 2002-03 season, his fourth as Head Boys’ Basketball Coach at New Roads High School in Santa Monica, Calif. After watching an offseason presentation by the Positive Coaching Alliance, he decided to adopt some of its tenets, including no screaming at his players. Previously a loud and critical coach on the sideline, he backslid occasionally during the season, but was otherwise pleased with the results as he led the team to its first playoff berth.

After posting the program’s first playoff victory, New Roads found itself in the quarterfinals, trailing a team Taylor felt his squad could beat. But some bad breaks and borderline foul calls put his team behind early. Under the pressure of a big game, Taylor felt himself reverting to old ways. “I felt myself getting into that mode of stress and frustration with things not going so well, like a missed lay-up, a turnover, or a bad call,” Taylor says. “I finally told my assistant coach that we had to not show our frustration so much and, instead, show our support and really be there for the kids. We were able to get back in the game and take the lead. We ended up losing by three and had a chance to tie it with an open three-pointer that just missed.

“Last year, there was absolutely no way we would have been able to get back into that game,” he continues. “My kids would have crumbled from not only the pressure of the situation, but also the additional pressure I put on them. Now they still battle the pressure and adversity of the game, and maybe the officials or the fans. But they definitely know, without a doubt, that my assistant coach and I stand behind them in the decisions that they’re making and what they’re doing. We don’t always agree with what they do, but we deal with that calmly at a time-out or through a substitution as opposed to ranting and raving on the sidelines.”

What’s With the Yelling

Nobody advocates that coaches sit passively like monks who have taken a vow of silence. Coaches have to yell simply to be heard over the din of a packed gym. And when emotions run high, so will voices.

The content matters most, not the volume. There’s a big difference between yelling out a play number to break a press and screaming insults at the point guard because he picked up his dribble moments after entering the front court.

“To me, cheering when kids do things right or yelling out instructions is not screaming,” says Keith Lancaster, Director of the Maine Center for Coaching Education and a former high school coach and athletic director. “I think the real problem is when coaches single out individuals and berate them.”

Charles Coles, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Miami University (Ohio), feels the same way. “When I’m talking to my players, I’m trying to teach them or encourage them,” he says. “Very, very seldom do I ever berate them.”

Most of the time when coaches carry on, they do so because they believe it helps make the message clear and will motivate players to improve. But many people question whether this really works. “Sports psychologists who have researched it have proven the screamer is not the successful coach and that positive feedback is a much more powerful teacher than the screaming,” Lancaster says. Coaches may be fooled by the short-term benefits they see after yelling and screaming at their players. Even coaches who try to avoid screaming at their players admit that it may produce a temporary positive change, but they also say that the changes won’t last.

“Sure, you can intimidate your team into playing hard for a short period of time, sometimes because they’ll resent what you’re doing,” says Glenn Begley, Head Women’s Basketball Coach at William Smith College. “But I don’t think that ever carries over into anything long-term. They will either tune it out and ignore you, or they will tune it out and resent you.”

“It’s similar to using exercise as a physical punishment,” Lancaster says. “It may work for a short period, like when you make athletes do extra work because they’re not performing the way you want them to. But if a coach continues to do that, it loses that effect, and then it turns the athletes off.”

In-game histrionics can turn players’ attention from what they’re doing on the court to what you’re doing on the bench. “The constant negativity and yelling can make players afraid to make a mistake,” Begley says. “And as far as I know basketball is a game of mistakes. Most people don’t even make half of their shots. So it’s not good to make your players afraid, because every one of them will make mistakes.”

There are other pragmatic reasons for coaches to tone down the negative yelling and screaming. “Society today does not accept abuse,” Lancaster says, “and sometimes a coach can cross that line to where it is not only perceived as abuse, but it is abuse, by berating and embarrassing individual kids and putting them down.

“Way back when I was an athlete and I first started coaching, the coach was perceived as God, especially if there was success, and administrators and others looked the other way,” he continues. “But I think sports are educational and coaches need to be good teachers, and that’s not what a good teacher is perceived to be.

There should be a carryover of value when the athlete gets out of that sport, and if that athlete learns that screaming and yelling is the way he or she should be acting, then the educational piece is lost.

In many cases, the line between what’s tolerated and what’s not shifts with the won-loss record. “If coaches are in coaching long enough,” Lancaster says, “they are going to have years that aren’t as successful as others. Then the yelling and screaming begins to catch up with them and becomes unacceptable.”

Many coaches compare the court to the classroom. “If you’re teaching calculus and someone is having trouble factoring an equation, would you go up to the student and say, ‘I can’t believe you’re so stupid! You’re holding up the class! What’s wrong with you?’” Begley says. “That wouldn’t be tolerated in a classroom setting by anyone.

First of all, it’s not the right way to treat someone, and second, it doesn’t help the student learn. If that’s the case, why isn’t the same true in athletics, where the students are volunteering to be there in the first place and doing something they think is fun and enjoyable?”

Phil Martelli, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at St. Joseph’s University, notes how the coaching role changes from practice to game day. “If you think about the best teachers you’ve had or observed, you never see them ranting and raving on the day of a test,” he says. “So I wonder why we as coaches think that is the way to go. The game is the test, and practice was the classroom. You use different methods for different days and different groups that you have, but once game-time arrives, your student-athletes are taking the test and you really should be there in a supportive role.”

Coaches also point out that red-faced rants are difficult on more than the players; they can also wear down coaches. “Yelling and screaming takes a lot out of you,” Martelli says. “Coaching, particularly game coaching, is a draining experience. If you take energy and use it in the wrong places, then you end up wearing yourself out, and not productively. I feel that being a little bit more supportive during the games is best suited for me and for the players.”

Coles learned the hard way. He was a screamer until having the type of season most coaches can only dream about. “In 1973-74, I was coaching at Saginaw High School in Michigan, and we won 25 in a row with a team that wasn’t expected to do much,” he says.

“We lost in the state semi-finals, but we had a phenomenal year and I was too dumb to realize it,” he continues. “I was so possessed by trying to make the team better that when the season was over, a friend of mine told me how worried they were about me. I hadn’t noticed anything, but it just wasn’t fun. It should have been a great year for us, but I made it a bad year because we lost one game, and I felt it was a failure.

“After that season, I said to myself, ‘I can’t possibly do this again. When I coach, I’m going to have to share everything. I’m going to have to try to make more people happy and try to get some other things that can help make our season successful rather than just wins or losses.’ So I began to change then.”

Quiet Alternatives

Some coaches can’t imagine finishing a practice or a game without being left hoarse and raspy. But coaches who rarely raise their voices in anger or frustration still find plenty of ways to motivate their players and demand excellence. A lower decibel level doesn’t necessarily mean lower expectations.

“People think I’m very positive and that I give positive reinforcement, yet I know I am very critical,” says Tom Davis, new Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Drake University. “I try to do it in a way that is not readily apparent to the person on the sideline or in the stands. It’s a matter of not showing your dissatisfaction and further compounding the pressure you’re putting on the players by hurting them in front of their peers, and their friends and family who are watching the game.

“Let’s say we’re in a practice situation and we’ve been teaching a certain skill, yet a player goes out and does it the exact wrong way,” Davis continues. “Rather than throw a fit, which I probably would have done in my younger days, now I say, ‘Hey, John. Just calm down a second. Let’s make a change here. Take a minute or two off and let Bob run that play. I know you’re probably a little tired or else you wouldn’t have done that.’

“He probably already knows what he did wrong. By removing him from the lineup and not being vocal about my criticism, I’ve made my point. It’s really pretty easy for a coach to do, yet it’s every bit effective as a launching a tirade.”

At Miami University, Coles likes to use criticism and encouragement in tandem. “I’ll get on a guy a little bit and then I’ll put something in between,” he says. “I’ll call a guy over and say, ‘We’re not playing very well, and you’re a big reason why. Now you’re better than that. You’re a good player; you’re going to be all right. And you have to believe you’re going to be all right.’ Then as he departs, I’ll say, ‘OK, get going.’ “This way he knows that there are still a lot of good things going on between me and him and that I know he can do it,” he says. “You can do a lot with your players if they know that you think they can do it.”

It’s also important to recognize that all players don’t learn the same way. One player catches onto something the first time you show it to him, while another has no clue about what you’re trying to teach. When this happens, many coaches’ initial response is to try teaching it again, but louder. And, predictably, little changes.

“I spend less time yelling and getting frustrated and more time explaining and finding ways to say things differently,” Taylor says. “In the past, I got frustrated because I thought players should all understand the one way I explained something. I was putting them on the line and making them run because of their lack of understanding, which was really my fault more than anyone else’s.

“But I’m learning that certain players need you to say things in different ways to understand,” he continues. “Trying to remain calm and figure out a different way to say something, rather than getting frustrated and throwing a tantrum, was a big change for me.”

Some coaches use screaming in practice as a crucible to toughen up their players for a game. The belief is that if you add enough pressure and drive them hard enough, then the game will seem easier by comparison.

But there are other ways to prepare players for the rigors of competition besides exposing them to a verbal blast furnace. One is to make sure that practice itself is a competitive situation.

“The drills we do in practices reflect the game,” Begley says. “Almost everyone will try hard in a game, simply because it’s a game situation. If you run the clock in practice and keep score in all the drills with a consequence for the team that loses-even a ridiculously minimal one like one sprint or crunches-it reflects more of what the players really enjoy, which is the thrill of competing in a game where something is on the line. The intensity will definitely increase, and the really competitive kids tend to drag the less competitive kids with them.”

Martelli does much the same at St. Joseph’s. “The setting in practice should be demanding, but that’s not the same as being uncomfortable,” he says. “When you talk about a situation where players are supposedly coming to do something they love to do-play basketball-and you’re doing something you love to do-teach the game of basketball-then why would you take away from that by making it an uncomfortable situation?”

There’s another way to find out the best way to reach your athletes. It’s simple, yet many coaches overlook it: Ask them.

“Coaches should ask their athletes, ‘What works for you? Why isn’t this drill working? Why are we having difficulty learning this particular skill?’” Lancaster explains. “Talk to the captains and the leaders of the team and use that feedback to make changes if necessary.”

Make sure that you are truly open to and ready for feedback. “One thing we tell coaches is ‘Listen with your eyes,’” Lancaster says. “For example, if the coach is getting feedback from an athlete, he or she should be looking at the athlete and listening actively, so the athlete knows that what he or she is saying is important. Many times, coaches will ask for feedback, but they might be looking off somewhere else, or their mind is wandering and the athlete gets tuned out very quickly.”

A Matter of Style

When coaches witness their opposite numbers winning games while carrying on or see boisterous college coaches filling the television screens, it’s easy for them to think that they have to yell and scream to succeed. But there are plenty of successful styles. The important thing is to choose one that fits you.

At New Roads, Taylor is still in transition one year after starting a conscious effort last season to take a more positive approach with his players. “I asked them more than I told them in order to see how well they understood what I was trying to get across,” he says. “When they do make a mistake, say blow a layup or turn the ball over, it really is a non-teachable moment at that point. They already know they’ve done something wrong. So we’re letting them know they need to brush it off and find another way to get that missed layup or turnover back.”

Throughout practices and games, Taylor kept a folder close to his side where he could remind himself of some positive approaches he may have overlooked in the heat of the battle. He also made notes of ways he could improve.

“I’d see something I hadn’t implemented yet and show it to my athletic director or assistant coach and say, ‘I really want to do this after this game,’” he says. “‘Whether we win or lose, I really want to have the team huddle be like this,’ for example. I always took tidbits and different things from each game, and I kept that information close to me.”

Still, Taylor says there were times last season when it wasn’t easy to keep his cool. One instance came when ESPN was on hand to shoot some footage for a piece on positive coaching for its “Outside the Lines” program.

“We were down 13 to a team we had beaten on their own court, and things were looking bleak,” he says. “Their coach was getting really animated with the refs and the game was almost to the point where I felt the sportsmanship was lost. I stood up and I started to get a little bit animated myself and then I said, ‘No. This isn’t how we’ve been winning and this isn’t the style I’ve been using all year.’ I just really supported my kids and we turned a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to a seven-point victory.”

Though Taylor would be the first to admit he’s not completely where he wants to be, he also says that other coaches should give the calm approach a shot, even if it’s in small pieces. “Whether they think they’re going to believe it or not or think it’s hokey and new age, I hope coaches will just give it a chance,” he says. “It might not change their overall coaching philosophy, but there might be one or two things that they can benefit from.”

While it has meant some extra work and effort on Taylor’s part, he says the change is something he’d do again in a minute. “The thing that keeps me going is that it’s better for the kids,” he says. “And if it’s better for the kids, then it’s better for the program.”

_______________________________________________________________

Constant yelling and screaming erodes trust between a parent and a child

While physical abuse of children has been widely studied, child development specialists have in recent years begun to focus more attention on emotional abuse, which studies suggest can be equally harmful. In 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged pediatricians to be aware of the risk factors of psychological maltreatment of children.

The academy’s report, based on numerous studies, said that “a chronic pattern of psychological maltreatment destroys a child’s sense of self and personal safety.”

study in the July 2001 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry that compared 49 subjects with depersonalization disorder with 26 emotionally healthy subjects, found that emotional abuse was the most significant predictor of mental illness, more so than sexual and physical abuse.

Dr. Straus, director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, said yelling could set a bad example for children that affects the way they handle social interactions later on.

“Yelling sets the tone for family relationships that carry over for dating relationships where you get a lot of psychological aggression,” Dr. Straus said.

“Yelling overpowers children, it makes them feel frustrated and angry, and what can happen is that after a while kids become immune to being yelled at. They tune it out,” said Dr. Myrna B. Shure, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, who conducted a five-year study, financed by the National Institute of Mental Health, of children from kindergarten to fourth grade. [INFOCUS Free Newsletter]

Emotional abuse (psychological abuse, verbal abuse, mental injury) includes acts or omissions that have caused, or could cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders. In some cases of emotional abuse, the acts of parents or other caregivers alone, without any harm evident in the child’s behavior or condition, are sufficient to warrant child protective services (CPS) intervention. For example, the parents/caregivers may use extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement of a child in a dark closet. This is usually done in the name of “discipline.”

Examples of emotional abuse include:

Belittling - Disparaging comments; making what one said as unimportant or contemptibly small
Countering and correcting - Responding in opposition and pointing out errors and mistakes
Put-downs disguised as jokes - Making critical, dismissive, or slighting remarks in a joking, often sarcastic, way
Teasing - Harassing someone ‘playfully’ and often with sexual connotations, or harassing maliciously (especially by ridicule); provoking someone with persistent annoyances NOTE: If teasing is reciprocal, it can be considered a playful bonding interaction and is not abusive. If one or both persons are already in a relationship with another, then this type of teasing is flirting and is emotionally abusive in its betrayal.
Holding out - Refusing to provide emotional support, share information, or otherwise be intimate in a relationship.
Shutting down - Changing the subject of a discussion (particularly if it is done rapidly), stopping an emotionally-uncomfortable discussion down entirely, and “forcing a discussion off-track”
Blame-shifting - Scape-goating or laying the responsibility of one’s actions on someone else (e.g., “It’s your fault,” “If only you were more/less _____,” “You’re just trying to pick a fight”)
Fault-finding - Relentless criticizing and correcting
Intimidation - Words or actions that threaten or imply harm or loss of something important; emotional blackmail
Insulting and labeling - Calling someone something pejorative; name-calling
Selective memory - Remembering only parts of an event or bringing up only negative aspects of a person; includes ‘forgetting’ and altering of facts to make himself/herself look good
Commanding - Issuing demands in a controlling or dominating way (as opposed to polite and respectful requests)
Lashing out - Angry attacks, yelling, screaming, raging, temper tantrums

Some emotional abuse, such as habitual scape-goating, belittling, or rejecting treatment, is often difficult to prove and, therefore, child protective services may not be able to intervene without evidence of harm to the child.

________________________________________________

Only one teacher really did scare me. He was not afraid to scream at his students and be a hard ass.

This particular school has issues that need to be addressed. They have a hostile and aggressive approach to get children to listen. I have heard the teachers numerous times, and the volunteers Yell at the children at the top of their lungs.

Is not just the yelling! Is the body language and facial expressions that tell me this people is not qualified to deal with young children.

As your article mentioned, we as parents feel overwhelmed sometimes and are tempted to yell at our children, but if this is considered a form of emotional abuse if parents do it at home; what laws are there to protect our children from people like this when we leave them in their care for a full day of school? By the end of the day I get children who are stressed out beyond believe, and frustrated because they have been yelled at all day!

Some of the teachers with the worst classroom discipline are the “screamers.” These are the teachers who yell at their students continuously. Eventually, this form of negative reinforcement causes the students close their ears and write off their teacher’s behavior as unreasonable. Sometimes silence speaks louder than words. Screaming rarely works and in fact often makes a class come together against the teacher.

ADULTS AND CHILDREN AGAINST VIOLENCE

Constant Yelling Can Be Just As Harmful to Children as Physical Abuse
What does the research show?

Most parents, even the most patient ones, lose their temper and yell at their children. According to a 2003 study published in The Journal of Marriage and Family, 88 percent of the 991 families interviewed admitted shouting, yelling or screaming at their children in the previous year. That percentage jumped to 98 percent in families with 7-year-old children.

While occasional yelling is common in American families, parents who constantly yell at their children are subjecting their children to emotional abuse that researchers say can be as harmful as physical abuse. A 2001 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry involving 49 people with depersonalization disorder (a mental disorder in which a person has a feeling of detachment or estrangement from one’s self) and 26 emotionally healthy people, found that yelling and other forms of emotional abuse was a more significant predictor of mental illness than sexual and physical abuse.

Besides being potentially harmful if overused, yelling is often ineffective. “Children can become immune to being yelled at and start to tune it out,” according to psychologist Myrna B. Shure, Ph.D., of Drexel University.

Dr. Shure’s research shows that parents whose only way of disciplining their children is by yelling, demanding or commanding have children that at age four or five are more likely to display physical or verbal aggression, social withdrawal, and a lack of positive/prosocial behaviors, such as sharing and empathy. She says instead of yelling, which makes children feel angry and frustrated, parents should use a problem-solving approach in which children are taught to think about their own and others’ feelings. For example, if your children will not pick up their toys, ask them to think of how you feel when they won’t pick up the toys. Then ask them to think of something they can do so you won’t feel that way.

This approach can have large and long-lasting effects on children’s behavior (see http://www.psychologymatters.org/shure.html and http://www.thinkingchild.com).

How do these findings relate to ACT?

The ACT program recommends that the best way for parents to prevent negative behaviors in their children is to support positive behaviors. Parents may be less tempted to yell at their children if they talk to their children about simple rules about behavior, and then put them into action. After setting up the rules, parents can guide children using some of the following approaches:

• Let children know what you expect, with simple statements. “Please put away your toys right now.”
• Give warnings and reminders, without threats. “When you put away your toys, then you can go outside with your friends.”
• Tell a child what to do rather than what not to do. “Please use a soft voice,” instead of “Stop yelling!”
• Follow through with praise for following instructions or consequences for disobeying.
It is normal for adults to get angry; but it is important to learn to recognize angry feelings and to learn and practice positive ways of dealing with them. For specific anger-management steps, read the ACT handout: “Helping Adults Manage Their Angry Feelings” (http://www.actagainstviolence.org/materials/handouts/FamilyAM1.pdf).
Citations:
Simeon, D., Guralnik, O., Schmeidler, J., Sirof, B., & Knutelska, M. (2001). The role of childhood interpersonal trauma in depersonalization disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 158, pp. 1027-1033.
Straus, M.A., & Field, C.J. (2003). Psychological aggression by American parents: National data on prevalence, chronicity, and severity. Journal of Marriage & Family, Vol. 65, pp. 795-808.
Shure, M.B. (2005). Thinking Parent, thinking child. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Screaming at children seldom helps, may hurt, THE NEW YORK TIMES, November 14, 2004

The thing about children is that sometimes they misbehave. They disobey. They talk back. They ignore their chores and fight with their siblings.

Even the most patient parent can end up hollering. Indeed, yelling at children is so common in American households that most parents view it as an inevitable part of childrearing.

But in some cases, researchers say, yelling can become a form of emotional abuse. And children whose parents consistently raise their voices or combine yelling with insults, criticism, ridicule or humiliation may suffer from depression, dips in self-esteem or demonstrate more aggression themselves.

While physical abuse of children has been widely studied, child development specialists have in recent years begun to focus more attention on emotional abuse, which studies suggest can be equally harmful. In 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged pediatricians to be aware of the risk factors of psychological maltreatment of children.

The academy’s report, based on numerous studies, said that “a chronic pattern of psychological maltreatment destroys a child’s sense of self and personal safety.”

Almost every parent yells at one time or another. A 2003 study by Dr. Murray A. Straus and Carolyn J. Field, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, found that 88 percent of the 991 families interviewed reported shouting, yelling or screaming at their children in the previous year. Of the families with 7-year-old children, 98 percent reported having yelled.

In another study, not yet published, Dr. George Holden at the University of Texas and his colleagues followed 132 parents and their newborn infants over four years. Thirty-five percent of the parents reported yelling at their children before they were 1. By the time the children were 4, 93 percent said they had.

Not all children suffer as a result. Researchers say that content and context matter. The tone, what is said and the frequency can mitigate or exacerbate its effects.
“The difference comes in how the yelling is used,” said Bonnie Harris, a parent educator in Peterborough, N.H., and author of “When Your Kids Push Your Buttons: And What You Can Do About It.”

“Is it blaming and shaming?” she asked. “If the child is being held responsible for the parent’s feelings and behavior, then the yelling can have a deleterious effect.

“But not if the parent is just venting without blame, saying, ‘I am really angry, I can’t stand this anymore,”‘ Harris said. “You have just as much right to your emotions as your children do.”

Researchers are trying to codify the definition of emotional abuse while, at the same time, understanding more about its effects. A study in the July 2001 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry that compared 49 subjects with depersonalization disorder with 26 emotionally healthy subjects, found that emotional abuse was the most significant predictor of mental illness, more so than sexual and physical abuse.
Straus, director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, said yelling could set a bad example for children that affects the way they handle social interactions later on.

“Yelling sets the tone for family relationships that carry over for dating relationships where you get a lot of psychological aggression,” Straus said.

Still, in the context of a supportive family environment, raised voices do not necessarily signal trouble, a study published last summer in the Journal of Emotional Abuse says.

“Other familial factors (particularly, having an emotionally warm and close relationship with at least one parent) appear to ameliorate the potential negative effects and also to play a greater role in long-term psychological outcomes than yelling or other forms of aggressive acts,” Dr. Anupama Sharma, assistant professor of psychology at Eastern Illinois University and a co-author of the study, said in an e-mail message.
Some experts even say that yelling can be useful, teaching children about failures in a safe environment.

“Children have to understand that we as parents are not perfect and every once in a while we lose it,” said Dr. Bennett Leventhal, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Chicago. “It’s far better to understand at home that sometimes people get beyond their limit.”

But as most parents can testify, screaming at children is often not effective.
“Yelling overpowers children, it makes them feel frustrated and angry, and what can happen is that after a while kids become immune to being yelled at. They tune it out,” said Dr. Myrna B. Shure, a professor of psychology at Drexel University, who conducted a five-year study, financed by the National Institute of Mental Health, of children from kindergarten to fourth grade.

The yelling can also make parents feel worse. Jen Sayre, a mother of three from Rockingham County, N.H., said she hated yelling at her children.

“I feel so sad and out of control when I’m yelling, and I’m mad at myself,” she said.
Sayre does not yell often, she said, because she and her husband took workshops with Harris to help them be more effective parents.

That was four years ago. Today, on the rare occasion that Harris raises her voice, a child pipes up and puts her in her place.

“My kids will look at me now and say, ‘Mommy, this is your issue, you need to work on that,” Sayre said. “I try everything I can do not to yell, but when I do yell, I apologize.”

RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS FOR CHILD AND YOUTH ATHLETE SPORTS AND RECREATION SAFETY, A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS

ATHLETE INJURIES. DEATHS AND SEXUAL ABUSE ARE A GLOBAL CRISIS

THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATION IS ABOUT
• GROUND RULES AND ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES FOR ATHLETE SAFETY 1ST
• RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS FOR ATHLETE INJURIES, DEATHS AND SEXUAL ABUSE

I. AMATEUR ATHLETE HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO SAFELY PLAY AND PARTICIPATE IN SPORTS AND RECREATION ARE RULES OF LAW. VIOLATIONS OF THOSE LAWS SHOULD BE REQUIRED EDUCATION.

“Human rights in the United States are legally protected by the Constitution of the United States and amendments, conferred by treaty, and enacted legislatively through Congress, state legislatures, and plebiscites (state referenda). Federal courts in the United States have jurisdiction over international human rights laws as a federal question, arising under international law, which is part of the law of the United States” [Wikipedia]

Child and Youth Protection was passed into Law by the enactment of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 1974. It has been ammended and reauthorized several times; most recently Keeping Child and Families Safe Act of 2003, Public Law 108-36.

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF SPORTS AND RECREATION PLAY AND PARTICIPATION ARE THE PREVENTION OF CHILD AND YOUTH ATHLETE

• HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
• PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL (EMOTIONAL) ENDANGERMENTS, MALTREAMENTS THAT CAUSE SERIOUS INJURIES AND/OR DEATHS
• SEXUAL ABUSE

The future development of Competitive Sports and the Positive effects of Child and Youth Sports and Recreation and positive impact on health disorders such as Childhood Obesity depend on the creation of Child-Centered Sports and Recreation Systems. This is a particular concern to Athlete Safety 1st.

Amateur Athlete Human Rights Disorders are secondary to Amateur Athlete Human Rights Violations (AAHRV). Child Athlete Abuse Syndrome is just one of the categories of AAHRV.

Child (<18) and Youth (15-24) Amateur Athletes are a Vulnerable, Global “Health Disparity Population.” Protection is mandatory from:

• Physical and Psychological (Emotional) Maltreatment and Endangerment
• Sexual Athlete Abuse
• Negligent Care Giving Supervision (Child Athlete Abuse Syndrome)
• Amateur Athlete Human Rights Disorders
• Other forms of Violence.

Children and Youth are to be Protected and properly Supervised while participating in Sports. Children are governed by Child Protection and Supervision State, National and International Laws.

“Human rights are standards that recognize and protect the dignity of all human beings. Human rights govern how individual human beings live in society and with each other, as well as their relationship with governments and the obligations that governments have towards them.”

“Human Rights Law mandates governments to accomplish missions, goals and objectives while preventing others. Individuals also have responsibilities: in using their Human Rights, they must respect the Rights of others. No government, group or individual person has the right to do anything that violates another’s Rights:

• Inherent: we are born with Human Rights
• Inalienable: individuals cannot give them up; other individuals cannot take them away
• Universal: they are held by all people, everywhere – regardless of age, sex, race, religion, nationality, income level or any other status or condition
[1989 Convention on Rights of the Child, UNICEF, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund]

The Human Rights of Children and Youth have been recognized since the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 192 countries. Human Rights in Youth Sports by Paulo David published in 2005 is our bible.

A. AMATEUR ATHLETE SPORTS AND RECREATION MORBIDITY AND MORTALILTY ARE SECONDARY TO:

• Inadequate Safety, Health, Care, Welfare
• Failed Child and Youth Custodial Protection and Negligent Coaching Care-Giving Supervision
• Breach of Fiduciary-Athlete Responsibility
• Over Training
• Exploitation
• Human Growth and Development Deprivation
• Physical, Psychological (Emotional) and Sexual Abuse
• Doping and Medical Ethics
• Lack of Awareness and Education
• Child Labor
• Discrimination
• Human Rights Violations
• Poor Accountability of Governments, Criminal Justice Systems, Health and Human Rights Departments, National and International Sports Federations and Associations, Sports Medicine Departments
• Dysfunctional Sports Community: Poor Accountability of School Boards, School Officials, Athletic Directors, Coaches, Attorneys, Doctors, Entire and Parents.
• Drastically Different Environmental Conditions, Heat Waves, Global Warming, Air Pollution
• Obese Sedentary Indoor non-Acclimated Athletes

B. CHILD AND YOUTH AMATEUR ATHLETE AND RECREATION HUMAN RIGHTS:

• Right to non-discrimination 2
• Principles of the Best Interests of the Child 3
• Right to provide appropriate direction and guidance 5
• Right of Development 6
• Right to an identity and nationality 7
• Right not to be separated from their parents 9
• Right to have their views taken into account 12
• Freedom of Expression and Association 13 15
• Protection of privacy 16
• Right to access appropriate information 17
• Protection from Abuse and Neglect and other forms of Violence 19
• Right to Health 24
• Right to Education 28 29
• Right to rest, leisure, recreation and cultural activities 31
• Right to be protected from
1. economic exploitation 32
2. illegal drugs 33
3. sexual exploitation 34
4. abduction, trafficking, and sale 35
5. other forms of exploitation 36
6. Right to benefit from Rehabilitation Care 39
7. Right to Due and Fair Process 40
[Numbers refer to the Treaty Section 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child]

C. CHILD-CENTRED SPORTS AND RECREATION SYSTEMS HAVE 10 FUNDAMENTL PRINCIPLES:

• Equity, non-discrimination, fairness
• Best interest of the child, children first
• Evolving capacities of the child
• Subject of Rights, exercise of Rights
• Consultation, the child’s opinion, informed participation
• Appropriate direction and guidance
• Mutual respect, support and responsibility
• Highest attainable standard of health
• Transparency, accountability, monitoring
• Excellence
[Human Rights in Youth Sport by Paulo David, Secretary on Rights of the Child, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nation

II. CHILD AND YOUTH SPORTS INJURY STATISTICS ARE VITAL.

Improved Child and Youth Athlete Sports Injuries, Deaths, Morbidity and Mortality Statistics in high school, college and non-school amateur leagues and organizations, are vital.

III. SPORTS PARTICIAPTION HISTORY AND PHYSICAL EXAMINITION MUST BE AN APPROVED HEALTH BENEFIT OF MEDICAL INSURANCE COVERAGE.

The Sports Pre-Participation Physical Examination must be conducted by a Doctor or other competent health care professional. Ordinarily, the Pre-Participation Examination is not an Approved Health Care Benefit of medical insurance plans and coverage.

The Examination must become an Approved Health Care Benefit for Athlete Clients with medical insurance or provided free by school for those who don't have insurance. Heart Screenings must be included when Doctor ordered. If that occurs, the athlete's family Doctor, who knows the entire history and condition of the Athlete patient can more accurately evaluate the Athlete for participation and Death from Heart Disease will be prevented.

Currently, many Athletes are examined by Doctors, who have no knowledge of the past medical and faimily histories and have never examined that Athlete prior to Sports Participation. That Doctor might not examine that Athlete again.

IV. DOCTORS MUST BE EDUCATED AND BEGIN REPORTING CHILD ATHLETE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ATHLETE MALTREATMENTS AND ENDANGERMENTS THAT CAUSE SERIOUS INJURIES AND/OR DEATHS AND ATHLETE SEXUAL ABUSE. THAT IS LAW.

Doctors and Health Care Providers Awareness, Education and Risk Management campaigns are necessary. Doctor awareness and education will lead to improved reporting and the prevention and eradication of these disorders, morbidity and mortality.

DOCTORS ARE MANDATED TO REPORT ALL ABUSE

Physicians and Health Care Personnel risk criminal charges and malpractice claims themselves if they fail to Report Child Athlete and Adult Athlete Abuse. "Mandatory reporting and screening laws are proliferating. [64. Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Emergency Department.

[Forensic Emergency Medicine, Part II Topics in Emergency Medicine. 21(3):63-72,
September 1999. Mallon, William K. MD, FACEP, FAAEM; Kassinove, Andrew JD, MD ]

V. NO PRACTICES AND SPORTS “BOOT CAMPS” SHOULD BE “CLOSED”

NO ONE CAN INTERFERE WITH AN INVESTIGATION OF CHILD AND YOUTH ABUSE IN ANY SETTING, INCLUDING SPORTS, NO VENUE IS CLOSED TO THE INVESTIGATION CONCERNING IMPROPER CHILD AND YOUTH PROTECTION AND SUPERVISION.

Because closed “boot camp” training and conditioning practices are a major venue and setting for Injury, Deaths and Abuse, from the very beginning, Governments must forbid all child and youth Sports closed practices.

No Custodial Protection and Care-Giving Supervision should be conducted behind closed doors. Coaches have Custiodial Protection and Care-Giving Supervidion Duty Most Coaches are Not Aware of the Duty.

Furthermore, what parent in his or her right mind would allow their Child to be taken behind closed doors and potentially mistreated?

VI. CHILD AND YOUTH ATHLETES PLAY, PRACTICE AND CONDITIONING WEATHER LIMITATIONS AND OTHER RESTRICTIONS

A. NEVER PLAY OR PRACTICE OUTSIDE DURING SEVERE WEATHER. RESTRICTIONS ARE:
• Thunder, Lightning and Electrical Storms
• Heat Index greater than 95
• Air Quality Index 100 and greater

B. OVERUSE INJURIES LIMITATIONS

“There appear to be increasing numbers of children who specialize in a sport at an early age. They train year-round for a sport, and/or compete on an “elite” level. Specialization is the reason for overtraining.

“To be competitive at a high level requires training regimens for children that could be considered extreme even for adults.

“Adverse consequences from intense training and competition have been reported in the lay and medical literature.

“It is important to make efforts to assist young athletes in avoiding potential risks from early excessive training and competition. The following guidelines are suggested keeping in mind

• 1. Import to assure safe and healthy sports play for children
• 2. Must provide practical and realistic guidelines
• 3) Increased guideline research

[1. Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness, 1999–2000]
[2. Ryan J. Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters. New York, NY: Warner Books; 1996]
[3. Tofler IR, Stryer BK, Micheli LJ, Herman LR. Physical and emotional problems of elite female gymnasts. N Engl J Med. 1996;25:335:281–283]

Overuse injuries can be caused and aggravated by the following. Limit and/or Omit:

• Overuse and Overtraining: because there are growth spurts, an imbalance between strength and flexibility
• Excessive activity (for example, increased intensity, duration, or Frequency of playing and/or training)
• Playing the same sport year-round or multiple sports during the same season
• Inadequate warm-up
• Improper technique (for example, overextending on a pitch)
• Bad and Faulty Equipment (for example; bad fitting helmet)
• Re-injury can be avoided by allowing an injury to completely heal.
• Once the Doctor has approved a return to the sport, make sure that your child properly warms up and cools down before and after exercise

The US Department of Health and Human Services Recommend Key Physical Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents during Sports and Recreation. Implement the following:

• Children and adolescents should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity daily.
• Aerobic: Most of the 60 or more minutes a day should be either moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, and should include vigorous-intensity physical activity at least 3 days a week.
• Muscle-strengthening: As part of their 60 or more minutes of daily physical activity, children and adolescents should include muscle-strengthening physical activity on at least 3 days of the week.
• Bone-strengthening: As part of their 60 or more minutes of daily physical activity, children and adolescents should include bone-strengthening physical activity on at least 3 days of the week.
• Children and Adolescents should participate in physical activities that are appropriate for their age

VII. BALANCED DIET, NUTRITION AND INTAKE

Centers for Disease Control [CDC]: Basic Food Groups required for a balanced Diet:
Grains
Fruits
Vegetables
Milk Products
Lean Meat, Beef, Poultry, Fish
Nuts, Seeds, Beans

Committee on Sports Medicine and Fitness, 1999–2000, Am Academy of Pediatrics

“Proper nutrition is critical for both good health and optimal sports performance. For child athletes, an adequate diet is critical because nutritional needs are increased by both training and the growth process. Young athletes and their parents are frequently unaware of the appropriate components of a training diet. The following 4 areas are of particular concern.

Total Caloric Intake

Athletic training creates a need for increased caloric intake, and requirements relative to body size are higher in growing children and adolescents than at any other time in life. In child athletes, the energy intake must be increased beyond the needs of training to maintain adequate growth. Children who engage in sports in which slenderness is considered important for optimizing performance (ie, gymnastics, ballet dancing) may be at risk for compromising their growth. A risk for pathologic eating behaviors also may be increased in children participating in sports where leanness is rewarded.

Balanced Diet

Balance, moderation, and a variety of food choices should be promoted. The Food Guide Pyramid can be used to plan a diet that is balanced and provides sufficient nutrients and calories for both growth and training needs. Athletes who focus on particular dietary constituents (such as carbohydrates) at the expense of a well-rounded diet may potentially compromise their performance as well as their health.

Iron

The body’s requirement for iron is greater during the growing years than at any other time in life. Adequate iron stores are important to the athlete to provide adequate oxygen transport (hemoglobin), muscle aerobic metabolism (Krebs’ cycle enzymes), and cognitive function. However, athletes often avoid eating red meat and other iron-containing foods. Moreover, sports training itself may increase body iron losses.

Calcium

Inadequate calcium intake is common in athletes, presumably because of their concern about the fat content in dairy foods. Normal bone growth, and possibly, prevention and healing of stress fractures, are contingent on sufficient dietary calcium.”

PRE-PARTICIPATION EXAMINATION

Most Pre-Participation Examinations are finalized when the Doctor checks the statement ☑☒ “Cleared to Play”. A Lesser number of Examinations end with ☑☒ Full & Unlimited Participation.

In either case the clearing an Athlete to Play or Participate must be qualified from this day forward.

☑☒ “Cleared to Play only during–Standard Care+Protection+Supervision.” should be the qualification. This provision should be printed (or stamped) above the Doctor’s signature on the Pre-Participation Examination Forms thereby qualifying approval to Participate in Sports after the Pre-Participation Examination only when Safety Standards are to be obeyed by the Coach and supervisor.

“On June 16, 2011 U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and members of the National Prevention Council released the first ever National Prevention Strategy at a news conference in Washington, D.C.”

“On June 10, 2010 President Obama signed an Executive Order creating the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council. The National Prevention Council, chaired by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, is charged with providing coordination and leadership at the federal level and among all executive departments and agencies with respect to prevention, wellness and health promotion practices.”

“With input from the public and interested stakeholders, the National Prevention Council is charged with developing a National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy (National Prevention Strategy).[HealthCare.gov]

After Private Sector Publilc Health Advocacy and input such as this post, U.S. Amateur Athlete Pre-Participation Examination Provisions can be recommended and enacted by congress as part of National Prevention Law by

• The Surgeon General, who directs the Office of the Surgeon General which is part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health in the Office of the Secretary, The Office is in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• And The National Prevention Council.

The Surgeon General serves as America’s Doctor by providing Americans the best scientific information available on how to improve their health and reduce the risk of illness and injury. Dr. Regina M. Benjamin is the current Surgeon General. [U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services]

Doctors, including the Surgeon General, are in the center of the Comprehensive Model of Athlete Safety, Health, Care, Protection, Supervision and Human Rights and Treatment Compliance. Without Doctors, Sports would not continue to operate.

Until such time of legal enactment of this suggested change in policy, however, every Doctor who does Pre-Participation Examinations should have a self-inking rubber stamp made-up and used for Pre-Participation Examinations stateing ☑☒ “Cleared to Play only during–Standard Care+Protection+Supervision.”

DOCTORS CAN AND SHOULD TAKE CONTROL OF THE SPORTS PRE-PARTICIPATION EXAMINATION AUTHORIZATION WHEN ATHLETES ARE “CLEARED” TO PARTICIPATE

Doctors should only approve clearance for Athlete Sports Participation and Play with the Above stipulations and provisions.

Every Doctor who does examinations should have a self-inking rubber stamp made-up for Pre-Participation Examinations that says the above to be stamped above the Doctor signature,

Following Pre-Sports-Participation Physical Examinations currently, Doctors are routinely checking the box entitled “Cleared to Play” if the Athlete passes the examination. Doctors do not detail their clearance and approval to play.

The Doctor does not perform a Pre-Particpation Examination on the Coach for his/her Coaching Conduct and Methods. Coaching Dynamics might be dangerous and unknown by the Doctor, yet the Coach’s behavior is destined for the Athletes’ encounter.

Unbeknown Doctors clear athletes to participate in Sports potentially with both proper and unsafe playing and sports participation conditions. Unprotected, exposed, vulnerable Athlete Clearance and Approval to play by Doctors with routine form completion habits about Athletes participation in potentially harmful circumstances must cease.

What’s a school to do? Lauran Neergaard of the Associated Press provided one suggestion that University of Georgia Director of Sports Medicine Ron Courson called “the most important thing”:

“The American Heart Association recommends a thorough physical exam and detailed family and personal medical history for every athlete, but not an automatic EKG. The idea is to look for red flags—like fainting episodes, a heart murmur or whether a relative died young of a heart problem—that would prompt the doctor to order further cardiac testing.”

“There’s no doubt that a detailed medical history for all student-athletes should be schools’ logical, low-cost first step……after all, ensuring student-athlete safety should be schools’ highest priority in athletics.” [Trainers: States Dragging Feet on Student-Athlete Safety Laws, By Bryan Toporek April 6, 2011, Education Week]

Why would any meticulous Doctor do such a detailed examination and then toss the Athlete into Maltreatment and Harms Way? That wouldn’t make sense.

Child and Youth Sports Pre-Participation Examinations are analogous to the Doctor taking his or herChild or Youth’s car in for a Tune-Up.

The Doctor’s Child’s automobile is taken to the service department for Safety 1st and foremost, Child Care, Protection and Supervision before the car is driven any further.

The oil is changed, tires rotated, brakes checked and engine is tuned-up for the prevention of an engine blow-up, tire blow-out, brake loss, a wreck, serious damage, injury and/or death to the Child.

The Doctor doesn’t service his Child’s car with the intention of the Child entering a Demolition Derby, a damaging sport participation that has no rules, where cars are required to crash into another vehicle every 2 minutes, have required head-to-head hits at the close of the event and the last car running wins the sporting event. That is not the Doctor’s intention for the Child’s car check-up.

The automobile check-up, before the Child drives, is for safe driving and the prevention of Preventable, Not-Accidental Injuries and/or Deaths, where all authorities have implemented Standard Driving Protection, Supervision and Duty of Care on the road.

Accidents are guaranteed in a Demolition Derby. They are Not-Accidental. If the Doctor believed his Child would enter a Demolition Derby, after the automobile safety check-up, the Doctor would take-away the Keys.

The same attitude should be for Doctors, after a Pre-Participation Examination. The Doctor should take control, take-away the Cleared to Participate Key and NOT allow the Child or Youth Athlete to participate in Harmful Sports, if there is any indication that Athlete Safety Rules will not be strictly enforced by the Coach and/or other safe-keepers during Sports Participation.

What’s a Doctor to do? Well, let me tell you, “think outside the little box you check with your pen that says “Cleared to Play”.

☑☒ “Cleared to Play” Doesn’t mean the Child and Youth Athletes are worthiness, unprotected Gladiators, who after Doctor approval will be forced to perform in Dangerous Heat, Air Pollution, with Faulty Equipment, Over Exercise, Over Training, after Concussion, beyond Exhaustion and so forth with total Inhumanity and Cruelty.

After a thoroughly complete Pre-Participation Physical Examination, every Doctor should do their Duty and add to their physical examinations a clearance and approval provision, for their own and the Athletes protection, a proviso ink-stamped over the Doctor’s signature for clearance, until our Government mandates changes on the examinatin form:

☑☒ Cleared to Play only “during–Standard Care+Protection+Supervision.” applied with the self-inking pen.

Doctors should forbid the heretofore clearance of Limitless, Unrestricted Athlete Sports Participation where Coaches cross the line and Athletes are at Risks of being Pushed and Punished beyond their Physical and Emotional Limits and/or Sexually Abused, after the Doctor naively checked the box provided on the Pre-Participation form provided by the school, athletic association or other non-medical group.

Doctors must take Control of the Clearance and Approval of Child and Youth Athletes to Participate-in and Play Sports, just like they would protect, care-for and supervise their own child driving the car after a tune-up.

Control of the Clearance and Approval of Child and Youth Athletes to Participate-in and Play Sports is a Public Health Innovation by Doctors, as called for in 2005 by the Surgeon General to make Child Abuse a Priority in all venues and settings including the Sports.

So you ask, “Where is the Doctor’s Authority to make such a change in Sports’ Pre-Participation Examination policy by his ownmeans, method, device or instrumentality?”

Enactments of Law: Kentucky Revised Statutes, KRS 311.550 Definitions for KRS 311.530 to 311.620 and KRS 311.990(4) to (6). As used in KRS 311.530 to 311.620 and KRS 311.990(4) to (6):

The “practice of medicine or osteopathy” means the diagnosis, treatment, or correction of any and all human conditions, ailments, diseases, injuries, or infirmities BY ANY AND ALL MEANS, METHODS, DEVICES, OR INSTRUMENTALITIES.

• The Doctor has 2 primary Duties to Child and Youth Athletes in regard to the Pre-Participation Examination:

1. Implementation of the aforementioned proviso ink-stamped over the Doctor’s signature for clearance, until our Government mandates changes on the examinatin form:

☑☒ Cleared to Play only “during–Standard Care+Protection+Supervision.” applied with the self-inking pen.

• If the Doctor has any knowledge after a Forensic History during follow-up Examination about Dangerous, Harmful, Substandard Protection and Failed Athlete Safety during Sports Participation of an Athlete whom he has performed Pre-Participation examination and stipulated the participation conditions, the Doctor:

2. Report the suspected Maltreatments and Endangerments to the County Attorney and Child Protective Services (CPS) as Mandated by Child and Youth Protection Federal and State Laws
3. Assist the Forensic Investigation
4. Close-down the Sport until the investigation has been completed and Dangers entirely removed

• In accordance with State Law “The Practice of Medicine” for the “Correction of any and all human conditions, ailments, diseases, injuries, or infirmities BY ANY AND ALL MEANS, METHODS, DEVICES, OR INSTRUMENTALITIES.”

• In accordance with the Doctor’s duty to Public Health: “As well as seeking to improve population health through the implementation of specific population-level interventions, Public Health contributes to medical care by identifying and assessing population needs for health care services, including:
1. Assessing current services and evaluating whether they are meeting the objectives of the health care system
2. Ascertaining requirements as expressed by health professionals, the public and other stakeholders
3. Identifying the most appropriate interventions
4. Considering the effect on resources for proposed interventions and assessing their cost-effectiveness

Doctor, think Athlete Safety 1st! Do your Duty, If Danger lurks, Take the Keys!

References:
^ WHO Definition of Health Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, 1946
^ The Solid Facts: Social Determinants of Health edited by Richard Wilkinson and Michael Marmot, WHO, 2003
^ Brandt, A. M., and M. Gardner. 2000. Antagonism and Accommodation: Interpreting the Relationship Between Public Health and Medicine in the United States During the Twentieth Century. American Journal of Public Health 90:707 – 715

^ Gillam Stephen; Yates, Jan; Badrinath, Padmanabhan. Essential Public Health. Cambridge University Press 2007.
^ Pencheon, David; Guest, Charles; Melzer, David; Gray, JA Muir. Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice. Oxford University Press 2001.
^ Smith, Sarah; Sinclair, Don; Raine, Rosalind; Reeves, Barnarby. Health Care Evaluation (Understanding Public Health). Open University Press 2006.
^ Sanderson, Colin; Gruen, Reinhold. Analytical Models for Decision Making (Understanding Public Health). Open University Press 2006.

COACH BLANTON COLLIER AWARD

COACH BLANTON COLLIER AWARD

Blanton Collier (1906-1983) M.A., 1947, UK College of Education
Born in Millersburg Ky., July 2, 1906 was inducted into the College of Education Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky.

Coach Blanton Collier taught and coached basketball, football, baseball, and track at Paris High School. Following his discharge from the U.S. Navy after World War II, Collier served twice as assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns under the legendary Paul Brown. At Brown’s retirement, Collier was named Cleveland head coach.

He led the team to a NFL championship in 1964. Between stints with the Browns, Collier was head coach of University of Kentucky football from 1954 until 1961. Collier was named to the UK Hall of Distinguished Alumni on April 7, 1975.

All time great NFL player running back Jim Brown said of Coach Collier, “I was prepared for his football genius…… but not his humanity.” Coach Collier was one of the trustworthy teaching mentors in football.

“The idea for the BCSG became a passion for many after a reunion of the 1961-1962 University of Kentucky Freshmen football team in June, 2008. A book “The Thin Thirty” was written about the Freshmen and Varsity teams and published in August, 2007.

“This book told the story of the extreme physical and psychological abuse suffered by the players under the new coaching staff that was hired in 1962. During contacts to arrange the reunion, it became apparent that many former players suffered a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). Questionnaires were developed by a PhD in Counseling Psychology.

“These questionnaires were completed prior to the reunion and the results discussed at the reunion. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the former players had some degree of PTSD from the physical and psychological abuse that they received at the hands of the new coaches.

“Former teammates at the reunion, and the PhD, decided to get together later to discuss forming a group with the objective of the elimination of abuse of all athletes. The name Blanton Collier was chosen because he was the team’s initial head coach and he exemplified the character that should be an example for all coaches to follow. Coach Collier’s middle daughter is on the BCSG Board. The entire team was awarded the 2008 NFLPA- Kentucky Chapter’s 2nd Annual Blanton Collier Award.”

The Blanton Collier Sportsmanship Group Web Site:
www.coachcolliergroup.org.

NFL Players Association, Kentucky Chapter’s Annual Blanton Collier Award

2007 University of Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks - former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Oregon from 1977 to 1994 and at the University of Kentucky from 2003 to 2009, compiling a career college football record of 128–154–4. Brooks was also the head coach of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams from 1995 to 1996, tallying mark of 13–19. Brooks’ 1994 Oregon team won the Pacific-10 Conference title and made an appearance in the 1995 Rose Bowl. For his efforts that season, he won a number of national coaching awards.[Wikipedia]

2008 1961-1962 University of Kentucky Football Team - The Thin Thirty refers to the 1961-1962 football team at the University of Kentucky. In Jan 1962 Coach Charlie Bradshaw, a Bear Bryant disciple, took over as head Coach of UK after Coach Blanton Collier was fired. The team was thinned by Bradshaw’s brutal methods from 108 players beginning the FAll of 1961 to just 30 beginning the Fall of 1962. The 1962 team’s record was just 3-5-2. The 12-10 winning margin that year over Tennessee was provided by a field goal by Clarkie Mayfield, one of the heroes of the game, who later died in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire on May 28, 1977.[2]

2009 Coach Tony Dungey - was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001, and head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2008. He became the first black American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears on February 4, 2007. .[Wikipedia]

2010 Cleveland Browns Running Back Jimmy Brown - American former professional football player who has also made his mark as an actor. He is best known for his exceptional and record-setting nine-year career as a running back for the NFL Cleveland Browns from 1957 to 1965. In 2002, he was named by Sporting News as the greatest professional football player ever.[1] He is considered to be one of the greatest professional athletes the U.S. has ever produced.[Wikipedia]

2011 Gayle Sayers - known as “The Kansas Comet”, is a former professional football player in the National Football League who spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears. Sayers is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. His friendship with fellow Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo was the basis for the 1971 movie Brian’s Song. He is a successful entrepreneur in the information technology field and an active philanthropist.[Wikipedia]