Coach

FEATURE STORY

38 | BIGGER FASTER STRONGER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006

To ensure proper lifting andspotting techniques that will

avoid injuries, BFS clinicsinvolve hands-on training

with all participants. Thesephotos were taken last

March at a clinic that BFSClinician Lance Neven gave

at Edwardsburg High Schoolin Edwardsburg, Michigan.

Courts:

BY KIM GOSS

The

and the

Weight Training for Kids

A legal expert’s advice on reducing injuries, and the risk of lawsuits,

when working with kids

At a weightlifting competitionlast year I met a colleague whohad recently accepted a job as a

high school strength coach. With animpressive competitive background inOlympic lifting and a graduate degree inexercise and sport science, he exempli-fied the definition of “overqualified.”But when I asked him how his job wasgoing, going, I was shocked when hesaid he had resigned when he was told tostop teaching freshmen such basic corelifts as the bench press, squat and powerclean.

The problem occurred when one ofthe school’s coaches decided to push thispolicy after finding a position paper bythe American Academy of Pediatrics thatsaid, “Preadolescents and adolescentsshould avoid competitive weight lifting,power lifting, body building, and maxi-mal lifts until they reach physical andskeletal maturity.”

Although this represents a radicalpolicy, it’s another example of thedecades-long conflict between strengthcoaches and members of the medical

community. Some of the heated debateshave questioned if weight training makesathletes muscle bound, damages theirknees and causes chronic lower backpain. Although most of these issues havebeen resolved, the one that has continuedas strongly as ever is whether or notweight training is safe for children.

On the side of the coaches are manypeer-reviewed studies, many of which arein a position statement and literaturereview about youth weightlifting that canbe downloaded from USA Weightlifting’swebsite, usaweightlifting.org. There arealso the opinions of many respected sportscientists, such as the late Mel Siff, PhD,one of the most respected experts in thefield of exercise science.

Said Siff in his book Facts andFallacies of Fitness, “It is extremely mis-leading to focus on the alleged risks ofweight training on children when biome-chanical research shows that simple dailyactivities such as running, jumping, strik-ing or catching can impose far greaterforces on the musculoskeletal systemthan very heavy weight training.” Siff

added that it is “ridiculous” to condemnmany sporting activities solely because ofa presumed greater risk of injury. “Manyschool sports place the bodies of young-sters in danger – it is the nature of sportand, if one is going to take part in anyphysical activities, no matter how wellcontrolled, there is going to be a greaterrisk of injury than if kids sat in front ofthe TV.”

Despite the support of many sportscientists and peer reviewed research, thewarnings by many members of the med-ical community have many coachesreluctant to encourage young athletes tolift weights. We live in a litigious society,and the controversy surrounding thissubject is enough to make any coach orschool administrator hesitant about giv-ing athletes an early start in the weight-room.

Is such extreme caution justified?Can coaches have children lift weightswithout putting themselves, or theirorganizations, at an exceptionally highrisk of legal action? To learn the answer, Iturned to Dr. Marc Rabinoff.

www.bigger fasterstronger.com 1-800-628-9737 | 39

Dr. Marc Rabinoff is a sport/risk man-agement liability expert who has beenan expert witness in over 280 legalcases involving weight training and fit-ness training injuries.

The Coach and the Courts

Dr. Marc Rainoff is a full professor inthe Department of Human Performance,and Sport at Metro State College inDenver, Colorado. He has served as anexpert witness in over 280 legal casesinvolving weight training and fitness train-ing injuries, and as such understands boththe causes and the devastating effects ofinjuries. In this exclusive interview, Dr.Rabinoff addresses the legal issues of invit-ing children into the weightroom.

BFS: How many lawsuits againstcoaches have you seen that involved kidsinjured while lifting weights?

Rabinoff: I’ve probably testifiedover 75 times in court cases involvingweight training accidents, and of those,about 10 involved either a physical educa-

tion teacher or a coach in a weightroomat a high school or middle school setting.

BFS: What were the primarycauses of those lawsuits?

Rabinoff: They involved what Icall the “Big Three”: 1) Failure to super-vise, 2) Failure to warn, and 3) Failure toinstruct. I haven’t seen many lawsuits as aresult of equipment failure, but I haveseen many examples of misuse of equip-ment, which comes back to poor instruc-tion or lack of supervision.

BFS: Were the weight traininginjuries primarily caused by free weightsor machines?

Rabinoff: About 95 percent of thelitigations I have done are related tomachines. My conclusion after 25 years oftestifying is that most people know that if

you drop free weights you’re going to gethurt, so we tend to be really cautiousabout using them. With machines, mostpeople think that nothing could happento them, so they become less safety con-scious and tend to use more weight thanthey should.

BFS: So would you say it’s a mis-take to assume that if the administratorat a middle school wanted to make theirweightroom safer, the only thing theywould need to do is buy machines?

Rabinoff: Yes – that’s my point.What makes a weightroom safer is avoid-ing the Big Three. A weightroom shouldalways be supervised with qualifiedweight specialists who will provide prop-er instruction on all the equipment. Andyou must warn kids and their parents ofthe fact that you can get hurt in theweightroom, and how you can get hurt,so they can minimize the risk of makinga mistake that could cause injury

BFS: There are hundreds oforganizations that offer certifications inweight training, most of which onlyinvolve passing a true/false, multiple-choice test. Are these certifications beingchallenged in the courts?

Rabinoff: I would prefer that anycertifications involving strength and con-ditioning have a practical portion toensure that coaches know how to teachthese activities. I haven’t seen any of thecertifications being questioned in a courtof law as to their validity, but lawyers arebecoming very sophisticated. Soalthough it hasn’t happened, it doesn’tmean that it won’t in the future.

BFS: The recommendations fromthe American Academy of Pediatrics arerather extreme. Why do you think theytook that position?

Rabinoff: I haven’t read the entirepaper, but my best guess is that they areerring on the side of caution with a globalstatement that too many people might bemoving children into hardcore training on

weights before they are capable of doingit. But I seriously doubt that they weresuggesting that, say, a 17-year-old highschool football player on a state champi-onship team shouldn’t be doing squats.

BFS: Isn’t it a problem to makegeneral recommendations about trainingchildren, as they have different physicalmaturity levels?

Rabinoff: Absolutely, and age isjust one factor involved in determiningwhen it is appropriate for a child to liftweights and to what degree.

BFS: What about banning certainsports? If gymnastics has the highestinjury rate of any sport, why not just banthe sport entirely?

Rabinoff: That’s an argument I’veheard my whole career, that schoolsshould take away the sports that cause themost injuries. My response is that whenyou do that, the next sport in line movesup and that becomes the high-risk sport.Eventually, as you keep banning sports,all you’ll have left are checkers and chess!

I’d like to add that gymnastics isnot, as many people believe, the sportwith the most injuries, but the injurieswe see in gymnastics are the most cata-strophic ones. You might only see oneinjury on a high school gymnastics team

in five years, but that injury might be abroken neck. So it isn’t just the numberof injuries that scares school administra-tors, it’s the severity of those injuries thatcauses them to try to cut those sports intheir curriculum.

BFS: What about the idea of hav-ing athletes play with injuries? Oftenfootball players with minor injuries willgo back into a game – how should coach-es deal with these situations to avoid law-suits?

Rabinoff: There should be a seriesof checks and balances in athletic pro-grams with a series of people who shouldhave their say on whether an athlete isready to come back: athletic trainers,team physicians, the athlete’s personalphysician and the coaching staff. All ofthese individuals should be involved indetermining whether an injured athletecan be allowed to play or practice, and atwhat level.

BFS: What about athletes whodon’t tell coaches they are hurt so theycan continue playing? What liability risksdo these athletes present to coaches?

Rabinoff: We obviously can’t con-trol when an athlete is injured and does-n’t tell anyone, and we often see athletesat the high school level hiding injuries so

FEATURE STORY

40 | BIGGER FASTER STRONGER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006

BFS certifications are learn-by-doing sessions in which coaches are taught howto demonstrate and teach all the exercises in the BFS program.

www.bigger fasterstronger.com 1-800-628-9737 | 41

On June 24, 2006, Maegan Snodgrass broke the School Age American Record in the snatch while win-ning the School Age National Championships in Detroit, Michigan. Lifting in the 16-17 age category,Maegan snatched 172 pounds in the 139-pound bodyweight division. Maegan has been a gymnastsince she was nine years old and has reached a Level 10 ranking in that sport. An honor student,Maegan would like to continue gymnastics in college and become a medical doctor.

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Maegan Snodgrass, Team BFSSchool Age American Snatch Record, 78 Kilos

they can play. That is where the coaching skills come in, such aswatching to see if an athlete is breathing too hard or falling downmore often than they should. And this includes watching them inthe weightroom: if an athlete can squat 300 pounds and then sud-denly can’t squat 200, there’s obviously a problem that must beaddressed.

BFS: Is it necessary to have parents involved in all injuriesthat occur to athletes?

Rabinoff: If the child is under the age of 18, the coach hasno choice but to involve the parents. The child really has no legalstanding – the parents do – and you cannot treat a child withoutparent approval. Also, the more the parents know about the sever-ity of the injury, the less chance they will push their children intodoing something they are not physically ready to do.

BFS: Is it a mistake to believe that once a child is injured, aparent can quickly and easily win a lot of money in a lawsuit?

Rabinoff: First, winning a lawsuit can take years, and a lawfirm will not invest the time and effort to defend someone unlessthey are pretty sure they have all the necessary elements of a law-suit. These elements include establishing a duty and determiningif there was a breach of that duty. And if the defendant has insur-ance, it’s very rare that the insurance company would settle a law-suit early because it’s to their advantage not to settle because theplantiff might tire out or not have enough money to continuewith the case.

BFS: Can you give us a rough idea of what a lawsuit costs?Rabinoff: The last time I checked, the average lawyer fee in

the Denver area was about $250 an hour, and most law firmswould require a $5,000-$10,000 retainer on these cases. And if it’sa more serious case, such as for a quadriplegic, those numberscould run into six figures.

BFS: Where can a coach or school administrator go tolearn more about legal trends in their profession?

Rabinoff: One of the best journals I subscribe to, andwhich I’ve written some articles for, is The Exercise Standards andMalpractice Reporter. They talk frequently about health club- andfitness-related accidents and legal cases.

BFS: Is there any general advice you have to help coachesminimize their risk of being involved with litigation, especiallywhen it comes to training children?

Rabinoff: First, realize that you can’t avoid lawsuits,because people are always going to blame other people. What youcan do is minimize the chances of being involved in a lawsuit, andyou can improve your chances of winning if you get sued. Theabsolute best way to minimize the chances of being involved in alawsuit is to do the things necessary to prevent athletes from beinginjured in the first place; because if you don’t have an injury, youdon’t have a lawsuit!

FEATURE STORY

42 | BIGGER FASTER STRONGER SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006

Dr. Rabinoff has been involved in producing safetymaterials for gymnastics to reduce the number ofinjuries in this sport. Shown taking a break from prac-tice are Kylie Sharp, Summer Raymond, Stormy Julius,Annie Butterfield, and Madison Tueller. They representthe Olympus School of Gymnastics in Sandy, Utah.

A PUBLICATION OF PRC PRINTING INC., 3976 FULTON DRIVE, N.W., CANTON, OHIO 44718

The Exercise Standards and Malpractice Reporter Page 33

VOLUME 20 NO. 3 MAY, 2006ISSN NO. 0891-0278

PRC PUBLISHING, INC.Bringing the Latest in Authoritative Information to the Professional

Highlights of This Issue:

� Proposed Personal FitnessLicensure Legislation

� More Litigation

� More Information From The NBFE

� Legally Defensible CertificationPrograms

A Look at “Legally Defensible”Certification Programsby David L. Herbert, Senior partner, Herbert and Benson,Attorney at Law, Canton, Ohio.

In 2002 IHRSA (International Health, Racquet &Sportsclub Association) began to seek ways to improve –in it’s opinion – the delivery of services by personal fitnesstrainers providing relevant services in health and fitnessfacilities. Ultimately, their Board of Directors adopted andthen amended a resolution which “recommended” that its member facilities comply with the following resolution:

“Whereas, given the increasing importance of personal training in health, fitness and sports clubs,IHRSA recommends that, beginning January 1, 2006,member clubs hire personal trainers holding at least onecurrent certification from a certifying organization/agencythat has begun third-party accreditation of its certificationprocedures and protocols from an independent, experi-enced, and nationally recognized accrediting body.

Furthermore, given the twenty-six year history of theNational Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA)as an organization dedicated to establishing quality stan-dards for certifying agencies, IHRSA has identified theNational Commission for Certifying Agencies, the accredi-tation body of NOCA, as being an acceptable accreditingorganization.

IHRSA will recognize other, equivalent accreditingorganizations contingent upon their status as an estab-lished accreditation body recognized by the Council forHigher Education Accreditation and/or the United StatesDepartment of Education for the purposes of providingindependent, third-party accreditation.”

Continued, see “Legally Defensible” on page 36

A great souce for current information about legal casesinvolving coaches and schools is the Exercise andStandards Malpractice Reporter.

Prepare yourself with the information you need as a coach or administrator to avoid and/or win weight room lawsuits.

Implementation InstructionsWeight room Safety VHS/DVDWeight room Rules Poster1 Year Magazine SubscriptionBFS Online Web Site Access Safety Posters & Training PostersStudent/Athlete Acknowledgement Form

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