Do you have the right baseball insurance?
As a clinician, coach, camp coordinator and or private instructor, you must protect yourself against lawsuits. Insurance is not my favorite topic. In fact, like many former pro-athletes I sold insurance for a while. I no longer have my insurance license so this is not a lead generator for me. It is simply unbiased information that I have gathered over the years of working with youth baseball programs. Specific needs for baseball insurance include: Travel team League coverage Camps and clinics Baseball instructors Coaches certification Law Suits Against Coaches Travel team insurance is often obtained through a sanctioning body like Super Series or USSSA. Policies can be purchased at the beginning of the season. Your team must be insured in order to play in one of these tournaments. Let's take USSSA for example in what they do and do not cover. (The following information is directly from the USSSA site.) DO THE USSSA GENERAL LIABILITY POLICIES COVER LAWSUITS FROMATHLETIC PARTICIPANTS?Yes. This is crucial coverage which is often excluded on other general liabilitypolicies. IS COVERAGE PROVIDED ON A TWENTY-FOUR HOUR BASIS?No. Coverage is in effect during USSSA sanctioned activities only, includingnormal arrivals and departures. ARE SPECIAL ACTIVITIES COVERED DURING USSSA TOURNAMENTS ORFUNDRAISERS?Yes. However, certain activities such as fireworks, skydiving, and concerts, etc.are excluded. A FOUL BALL OR HOMERUN HITS A VEHICLE PARKED IN THE PARKINGLOT. WILL THE PRIVATE FIELD/FACILITY OWNER/OPERATORPROGRAM LIABILITY COVER THIS LOSS?Yes. If you are negligent in causing the loss. Since most losses of this type arenot due to the negligence of the field/facility owner/operator, you should neversay that you have coverage for this type of loss. Always submit the details of theloss for a decision to be made by the insurance carrier.
League coverage WHY SHOULD MY TEAM/LEAGUE PURCHASE ACCIDENT MEDICALINSURANCE?Many Americans are not covered by health insurance. The USSSA accidentmedical insurance becomes primary in the event the injured party has no medicalinsurance. Medical costs are extremely high, and failure to purchase insurancecould be financially disastrous. If primary medical coverage is in place, ourpolicy will still respond to the amount unpaid by your primary carrier, up to theusual and customary charge. Most primary policies have a substantial deductibleand/or co-insurance payment. Therefore, if the USSSA coverage is used assecondary, the financial burden of a large-out-of-pocket expense can be greatlyreduced or eliminated. WHY SHOULD MY TEAM/LEAGUE PURCHASE LIABILITY INSURANCE?Players, coaches, managers, and even team sponsors, and volunteers are at risk ofbeing sued from sports related activities. There is no such thing as an “accident”in today’s lawsuit-happy society. Our general liability policies will provideprotection in the event you are sued by a spectator or a participant. Coverage isprovided for legal fees as well as any court judgment up to $2,000,000 peroccurrence, no aggregate limit. WHO IS COVERED BY TEAM INSURANCE?Coverage is provided for players, coaches, managers, team sponsors,scorekeepers, and other team volunteers.
Camps and clinics Many baseball camps have liability insurance. However, it is important that you verify that it is in place before sending your kids to any baseball camp or clinic. Some of the major baseball insurance carriers that you may run across include: K&K Insurance, Saddler Insurance, e Sports Insurance and West Point Insurance. Running camps and clinics in the past I have used K&K Insurance and was pleased with their coverages, rates and service. Saddler does a great job also. In fact they cover the National Alliance of Youth Sports. If you are planning on holding a camp or clinic at your park no matter how formal it is please get a general liability baseball insurance policy in place. Baseball instructors When using a baseball instructor you need to verify whether or not they have baseball insurance and or general liability coverage. Many instructors are independent contractors. Basically what this means from a liability stand point is that the owner of the facility is covered but the instructor is on his own to provide his own liability insurance. What about waivers? In many cases a parent can not sign away the right of a minor to sue and the child is not old enough (18 years old) to enter into a binding contract. Therefore, most waivers are very weak to offer protection in a court of law. Coaches certification The National Alliance for Youth Sports is an organization that offers excess liability baseball insurance for coaches that have been certified through their program. I have done certifications for NAYS in the past. Their materials are set up more for how to coach rather than the specifics of skills acquisition for players. The NAYS does a great job of laying the ground work for the way coaches should conduct themselves on the field. As far as the insurance coverage offered with the certification...you get what you pay for. Upon completeing the certification program you have access to 1,000,000 of excess liability. Two things to keep in mind with this insurance... 1. This insurance usually kicks in after the parks insurance and after the coaches homeowners policy. 2. If you are not abiding by the NAYS guidelines when an accident occurs they may not be obligated to pay the claim. This is understandable if the coach is grossly negligent. Determining negligence is where it gets a little fuzzy especially when dealing with boys swinging bats and throwing baseballs.
Law Suits Against Coaches Check out this video about Mike Meissner a youth baseball coach from Waynesville, NC And why you may want to consider baseball insurance. Coaches looking for a great practice ball... $19.99/dozen from Baseball Express
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