Policy Call to Action
Create State-Level Youth Sport Oversight
Every state should establish a commission or regulatory body to strengthen youth sport quality. These bodies, guided by state context and needs, would shape state-level youth sport policy. This would include recommending coach training and program licensing standards, as well as addressing safeguarding, equity, access, and sustainable funding.
→What this looks like when we get it right: All states have created youth sports commissions to set minimum requirements for program quality and coach training, ensure athlete safety, and embed positive youth development into coaching standards.
→Who can drive this change? Government, especially state legislators; Civil Society, with advocacy by youth sport coalitions; Coach Education, including MCC partners
Why This Issue
Now is the time to build on that momentum and advocate for every state to establish a formal body to investigate and advise how youth sports programs can better align with youth health, safety, and developmental needs.
Getting Started
Educate policymakers through oversight structures. Historically, policymakers have been hesitant to legislate youth sports and often lack experience with the sector. Statewide oversight structures, such as commissions or task forces, provide a valuable entry point, enabling states to explore critical issues like abuse prevention, athlete health and well-being, equity, and the overall role of coaches in youth development. These structures also create opportunities to educate legislators and stakeholders about system-wide needs, challenges, and possibilities.
Learn from emerging models. A recently passed billin Illinois offers a model for other states. It creates a statewide youth sports commission to study and make recommendations on: the purpose of the Commission is to research, study, and make recommendations to the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Department of Human Services concerning the following: (1) the creation of equitable, safe, and sustainable access for youth across the State to participate in sports that meet their skills and match their interests; (2) expanding integration of positive youth development in youth sports; and (3) and the promotion, development, expansion, hosting, and fostering of youth sports, youth sports programs, and youth sporting events and tournaments throughout the State.
Other states could look to similar frameworks to define the scope of their oversight bodies.
Encourage cross-state innovation and accountability. Allowing states to adopt individualized structures encourages innovation and experimentation. These diverse approaches can then be shared to inform best practices, leading to a stronger, nationwide network of policies focused on the role of sport in positive youth development.
Design oversight to fit state contexts. Each state should tailor its approach based on existing policy infrastructure and youth sport systems. While legislation is ideal for establishing formal commissions, initial models might include collaborations with existing agencies (such as departments of health, education, or maternal and child health), or be affiliated with statewide athletic associations or healthcare systems.
Build toward long-term regulation. Although initial commissions may focus on research and recommendations, the long-term goal should be to evolve these bodies into formal regulatory agencies. These entities could license youth sports providers, oversee coach training standards, and identify revenue streams to sustain and incentivize compliance. A proposed bill in Texas offers a promising example, proposing a licensing and oversight body dedicated to youth sports providers.