INNOVATIONS IN SPORTS: SUNY Youth Sports Institute Making A Difference
I can’t remember how many years I’ve been suggesting that youth coaches at all levels – including rec programs and travel teams – undergo some sort of training before they work with kids. Problem is, there have been preciouse few such programs around. And of the ones that do exist, they tend to have a ”cookie-cutter, one size … Read more
LEGAL CONCERNS: Why New Laws Regarding Sports Violence Aren’t Necessary
Why Statutes Criminalizing Assaults on Sports Officials Are Still a Bad Idea By Doug Abrams Tragedy struck in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah on April 27. Forty-six-year-old youth soccer referee Ricardo Portillo took a single punch to the head from a 17-year-old goalkeeper who was angered about being shown a yellow card (a … Read more
LEGAL CONCERNS: When Kids Kill Refs….
It’s still hard to believe that a 17-year-old soccer goalie – apparently upset by being tagged with a yellow card in a soccer match – was so incensed that he went up to the unsuspecting ref and punched him hard enough in the head to kill him. But of course, that’s exactly what happened in … Read more
LEGAL CONCERNS: Does the Steubenville HS Football Coach Have Any Culpability in this Mess?
What Steubenville Tells Us About Coaches’ Legal Obligations to Report Rape and Other Child Abuse By Doug Abrams The nation took notice on Sunday morning, March 17, when juvenile court judge Thomas Lipps found two Steubenville, Ohio high school football stars delinquent for digitally raping a drunk, and nearly unconscious, 16-year-old … Read more
DUMB AND DUMBER: Univ of Texas Pitcher Suspended for Providing Urine for Teammate
Listen to this. According to reports in the Austin American-Stateman, Texas Longhorns’ star pitcher Corey Knebel must have thought he was doing a real favor for a teammate when he volunteered to give his buddy a urine sample for a team-mandated drug test. Problem was, the borrowed urine from Knebel came back testing positive for … Read more
LEGAL CONCERNS: 17-Year-old Soccer Player Sucker Punches Ref Who Subsequently Dies
I did my radio show this AM talking with Tony DeLillo, a long-term board member and supervisor of umpires in the Elmsford (NY) LL. Tony spent much of the hour, discussing how he prepares the umps in his league (most of the umps are kids themselves, primarily teenagers), on how to handle unruly adult coaches … Read more
DEALING WITH FINANCIAL CONCERNS: Do Parents Have a Right to Protest What’s Posted on the Team Shirts?
Accepting and Rejecting Youth League Sponsors By Doug Abrams The opening game was still a few days away, but the Little League baseball program in Lambertville, Ohio faced the season’s first controversy last week when officials handed out uniforms for the Cubs, a team in the 6-8-year-old division. The Cubs’ jerseys carried the name … Read more
DANGERS OF CYBERSPACE: Even Top NBA Stars Lose Sight of the Obvious…
KOBE JUST DOESN’T GET IT By Steve Kallas By now you’ve probably seen or heard some of the tweets sent out by Kobe Bryant last week during the Lakers loss in game 1 to San Antonio. Here’s just a brief sample: 1) “Gotta get to the block. See wat spurs r gonna do … Read more
COACHING TIPS: How to “Time” Your Practice Sessions in Advance
Players’ Attention Span During Practice Sessions by Doug Abrams Coaches are teachers who deliver most of their lessons in practice sessions and games, rather than in conventional classrooms. In youth leagues and interscholastic sports programs alike, learning and performance depend not on the coach’s delivery, but on the players’ reception. Paul “Bear” Bryant, Alabama’s longtime … Read more
ABUSIVE COACHES: The Fallout Continues…4-Time National Coach of the Year is Forced to Step Down
The legacy of the Rutgers/Mike Rice disaster has claimed another college coach. Bill Holowaty, the long-time and highly successful baseball coach at Eastern Connecticut State, was suspended with pay last week, but then, the 68-year-old coach simply decided to retire. He had been the head baseball at Eastern Connecticut, a perennial Div. III powerhouse, for … Read more
Listen
"The Sports Edge"
– Listen to Rick Wolff’s weekly radio show at WFAN
Contributing Authors
Recent Comments
Roderick Rogers on INNOVATIONS IN SPORTS: SUNY Yo… Charles Reed on Where Have All The (Good) Base… Jodi Murphy on LEGAL CONCERNS: When Kids Kill…
Doug Abrams
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
