February 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 41

encouraging sports sampling at a
young age, focusing on age- and
skill-appropriate development and
" training the trainers, " ensuring all
coaches, especially the thousands
of volunteers who make youth
sports happen in every community,
are given the basic tools to teach,
mentor and see the potential in every child. Among these recommendations is one that stands out most
to the park and recreation community - the Power of the Permit.
At NRPA's 2015 Conference in
Las Vegas, Farrey spoke about the
report and Project Play's vision for
structural change in youth sports.
He spent the majority of his time
talking directly to the park and recreation community and the critical
role we must play if we're serious
about removing the barriers so that
all children can participate and benefit from youth sports. The issue of
the Power of the Permit resonated
with everyone in attendance.
Power of the Permit
University of Missouri School of
Law Professor Douglas E. Abrams
is often cited as the authority on
this topic and has written extensively on it. Simply stated, Power of the
Permit refers to the " recognized authority of government agencies to
manage public property, including
public sports and recreation venues. " The value of this cannot be
understated. Two key areas where
this impacts parks and recreation
are safety and equity.
The National Council on Youth
Sports reports that more than 44
million boys and girls are participating in organized youth sports
today, with the total registered participants, including adult coaches,
officials and administrators, top

ping out above 60 million. That's
60 million reasons why each park
and recreation agency needs to pay
attention to how it allocates its
field and facility usage to the local
community.
The safety-related concerns are
obvious - from risk management
and background screenings of the
adults who operate your fields and
facilities and may come in contact with young participants in the
sports programs, to having adult
coaches and officials qualified to
administer basic first aid. Coaches
and officials should also have basic
training and guidelines for identifying possible head and brain injuries suffered by athletes and knowing when to remove them from
play. It's important to note that
while almost every state now has a
concussion safety policy for scholastic sports, not all apply these
same standards to local youth
sports and recreation programs.
Looking out for the safety and
well-being of young athletes even
pertains to ensuring all coaches
receive adequate training in ageand skill-appropriate instruction in
their sport. Namely, a soccer coach
licensed to manage professionals
may know all of the technical and
tactical aspects of the game, but
does he or she understand how
to teach the basics to a 7-year-old
playing the game for the first time,
especially now that national youth
soccer organizations are mandating
that kids play small-sided games
with no goalkeepers?
The equity issue is about protecting equal access and opportunity
for all children to play. With more
than 44 million young people already involved in organized youth
sports - better than half of all peo-

ple under the age of 18 in America
- the concern over how we allocate
use of existing resources, including
playing fields and indoor facilities,
across all interested parties and in
a fair manner will only increase in
the future.
Are the organizations to which
you're allocating field and facility
usage providing opportunities for
all boys and girls to participate,
or are they focusing their efforts
primarily on developing " elite "
athletes and winning competitions
over the personal (and sports) development of their young athletes?
Do they weed out children before
they even have a chance to develop
skills and, most of all, a love for
the game?
Much is being written about how
proper and pragmatic management
of permit usage of your fields and
facilities can benefit everyone in
your community. This includes how
to utilize local citizen advocates on
your public park and recreation (or
sports) boards to create strong permitting standards for the facility use.
Future columns will focus on
examples of the positive steps national sports organizations are taking to train the adults charged with
coaching our kids in a manner that
promotes positive youth development and, most of all, safety. We'll
also share cases where local agencies have used the Power of the Permit to institute high standards for
coaching, safety and equitable access for youth in their community.
For more on the Aspen Institute's
Project Play initiative, visit www.aspenprojectplay.org.

David Tyahla is NRPA's Senior Government
Affairs Manager (dtyahla@nrpa.org).

W W W. N R PA . O R G | F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 6 |

Parks & Recreation

February 2016 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2016 - Parks & Recreation