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What are the legal duties of athletic administrators?

This is an excerpt from NIAAA's Guide to Interscholastic Athletic Administration-2nd Edition by NIAAA,Michael Blackburn,Eric Forsyth & Scott J. Smith.

By John E. Johnson

Athletic Administrator Legal Duties

In the modern environment of athletic administration, these legal duties can be divided into 14 broad categories, each of which includes multiple subcategories of duties:

1. Planning
2. Supervision
3. Selection and training of coaches and other athletic personnel
4. Proper technique instruction
5. Warning of sport-specific risks
6. Safe playing environment
7. Protective athletic equipment
8. Evaluation of conditioning and initial preparedness to participate
9. Evaluation of injuries and incapacities affecting continuing participation
10. Matching and equating student-athletes for safe participation
11. Immediate medical assistance
12. Emergency medical response plan
13. Safe transportation
14. Full and accurate disclosure

Legal Duty 1: Planning

Planning is the threshold legal duty that encompasses all other duties. When an injured student-athlete sues, courts will rarely find that a school and its athletic personnel have exercised reasonable care unless a written, strategic plan is in place for fulfilling all aspects of all the duties owed to student-athletes to protect them from harm. Courts tend to impose liability on schools and athletic personnel in the following circumstances:

• No planning was done whatsoever.
• Planning was done, but it was poor or inadequate and failed to address all the categories of duties.
• Thorough planning was done, but the safety measures included in the plan were never implemented or were not adhered to in later years.

As with all the legal duties, it is imperative that athletic personnel “paper the trail” to demonstrate that reasonable care was exercised. Papering the trail requires that the plan and all supporting documentation be in writing.

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Needing a Plan

In Gill v. Tamalpais Union High School District, a 2008 California Court of Appeals decision, a basketball player was injured in a collision with a metal post supporting a backboard and was sent, unsupervised, to an athletic training room. While awaiting the arrival of medical personnel, she fainted and fell, resulting in serious additional injuries requiring stitches and extensive reconstructive dental work. A $336,932 jury award at trial was upheld by the appellate court, which emphasized that the primary factor in its decision was the failure by the school district and its athletic personnel to develop a comprehensive plan for its athletic programs to ensure they fulfilled duties of supervision, safe playing environment, safe equipment, immediate medical assistance, and emergency medical response plan.

More Excerpts From NIAAA's Guide to Interscholastic Athletic Administration-2nd Edition

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