Sports Youth and Recreation League Insurance

Team sports involve teamwork, fitness, competition, fun, excitement, winning and losing. On any given day, you see multitudes of teams practicing and playing many different sports throughout your community. Coaches, players and fans are having a great time, but sometimes things go wrong. A player experiences a concussion when tackled, or a foul ball hits a spectator or car. In order to fully enjoy your team and your sport, you need to insure yourself and your participants from liability and injuries. Sports team insurance is specifically designed to protect youth and sports teams from all the risks they face.

Sports team insurance protects millions of kids and adults who play organized sports every year. The insurance includes a combination of risk protections that insure teams, leagues, associations and clubs against the risks of youth and adult sports. You can purchase a complete package or custom design a policy that meets the needs of your particular organization and sport.

Liability insurance covers your organization, participants, volunteers and employees if a claim arises from a covered activity.

Covered activities consist of organized and supervised practices, games, try-outs, tournaments, play-offs and other events.

Sports event insurance can insure events you host.

You can include additional events, such as fundraising projects, picnics, award banquets and more.

Participant liability coverage is one of the necessary liability coverages for youth sports teams. It protects your organization or team, as well as your directors and supervisors, from lawsuits that can result if a player or participant is severely injured. Some insurance providers limit this coverage, so make sure your sports team liability fully covers your risks. In addition to participant injury, a liability policy shields you from lawsuits or claims related to property damage, libel, slander, false arrest and more.

The other major coverage you need to consider is participant accident insurance. This covers a player or coach injured in the course of a supervised sports team activity. It includes sponsored games, practices, clinics, travel and more. As an excess medical policy, this insurance typically pays what is left over after the participant's health insurance has paid its portion.

Twenty four percent of youth ages 6 to 17 play baseball – America's national pastime. Since it is one of three of the most popular youth sports, sports insurance companies have put together specific coverage to serve youth baseball teams.

These youth baseball policies combine a liability policy with accident coverage for participants. Team insurance covers traveling baseball teams, as well as local teams.

Here are some important considerations:

• Many youth teams travel and require travel baseball team insurance that extends accident coverage to travel-related activities.
  You will need to ensure that this coverage is customized to the type of travel your team participates in, such as busses, vans or carpools.

And you want to be sure you are covered for out-of-state travel if your team crosses state lines.

For any specific or difficult-to-find insurance coverage you need, be sure to work with an independent agent. These agents are an excellent resource when it comes to specific insurance and customized coverage.

• High Risk Youth Sports Insurance: Youth Football Insurance
  Youth football is one of the most popular and dangerous of the youth sports. So it is critical that youth football teams, organizations and leagues have adequate liability and participant accident coverage. Youth football experts recommend that teams carry at least $100,000 of accident insurance for tackle football due to the risk of concussions.

You also want to carry at least a limit of $1,000,000 for your liability coverage and make sure that it provides for future problems with an injury. For example, an "occurrence" policy protects a player who receives a concussion or other injury that causes problems years later. The injured athlete is covered as long as the original injury occurred while the policy was in force.

There are a number of additional insurance coverage options you can discuss with your insurance agent. For example:

• Equipment damage: You can purchase sports equipment insurance if your team has high-value equipment that is stored in certain facilities.
• Theft and vandalism: You may also want to consider crime and theft insurance, which reimburses your organization if an employee or volunteer steals money collected for things like uniforms and traveling fees.
• Excess liability: You may want to consider an "umbrella" liability policy, which provides excess liability coverage, in increments of $1 million, to protect your organization against large accident claims and lawsuits.

Get Sports Insurance for Your Team

No matter what sport your team plays – Hockey, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, or another team sport – you can find the sports team insurance you need to cover liabilities and injuries.