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GAME PLAN

Good morning ☀️ Great players need time to recover, and so do the people coaching them. We took LDW off, the first Monday we've skipped since we launched, and we're back 📋.

This week Connecticut counted the kids it lost, four hockey parents sued the country's largest rink operator over stay-to-play hotel mandates🏒, the Supreme Court settled one transgender-sports question and left the harder one open ⚖️, and Congress went after the offshore books taking bets on the Little League World Series.

Plus a zero-sugar hydration stick from CUGGO with a founder's opinion about what's in the cooler 🍎, a Wing-T play your grandfather ran🏈 and a viewing calendar with Kim Kardashian's youth-baseball show on it 📺.

THE SCOREBOARD 🏆

Everything that moved across youth sports last week, in one line each.

RULES & CONDUCT 🧑‍⚖️

• Four parents filed a class action against Black Bear Sports over stay-to-play — the suit says the country's largest rink operator ties a roster spot to a hotel booking and takes kickbacks from the hotels; it seeks at least $5 million (USA Today · Yahoo Sports).

• The Supreme Court's transgender sports ruling left the harder question open — West Virginia v. B.P.J. upheld participation laws now on the books in 27 states, but none of them say what happens to transgender boys (Athletic Business).

• Congress is going after offshore books taking action on the Little League World Series — Rep. Kevin Kiley called odds on 10-to-12-year-olds "deeply troubling"; no licensed U.S. sportsbook offers youth markets (NGSC Sports).

• A new CTE study put the NFL's brain problem on youth football's doorstep — about a quarter of deceased former pros studied had it, and none of them started taking hits in the pros (Washington Post).

• California sent the governor a bill requiring mental-health training for school coaches — AB 1626 has the state build a model course by September 2027 that club and rec leagues can use too; Newsom has until September 30 (CalMatters).

• Maryland opens child-abuse records to youth sports programs October 1 — screeners will see substantiated findings a criminal background check misses, but running the check is voluntary (FOX45 Baltimore).

• An Illinois bill would take transfer eligibility away from the IHSA — HB 5808 would grant full eligibility whenever both principals sign off; the veto session starts November 17 (Newsline Local).

• SafeSport pushed out free preseason abuse-prevention material for parents and coaches — handbooks, bystander training and the banned-coach database, at no cost (PR Newswire).

• High school sidelines are filling up with hired content creators — one Texas game drew 70 to 80 shooters; Arizona added background checks and cut credentials from about 1,300 to 800 (Front Office Sports).

• A Pittsburgh youth league suspended two coaches indefinitely after a third-and-fourth-grade game ended in a brawl — the coach said his players were taking racial slurs; the league also banned the parent who filmed it (Athletic Business).

• The IHSA condemned racist conduct by students at a Lincoln-Way East game — five students, none of them players, were recorded making gestures at Homewood-Flossmoor (Shaw Local).

• Fights and pepper spray at a Westside-ARC game in Augusta sent a student to the hospital — multiple arrests, and a district still "evaluating" what to do about the crowd (WRDW).

• A former booster club treasurer was indicted for taking $411,761 from an Aliso Niguel football program — false treasurer reports covered two years of it, which is what a single-signer account buys you (ABC7).

• The Better Business Bureau is warning parents about fake high school game streams — scammers tag the school to look official, take a $1 fee, then enroll the card in $60-a-month billing (KNOE).

• Three Memphis-area schools pushed kickoff back 30 minutes in a triple-digit heat index — TSSAA rules require cold-water immersion tubs on site (Action News 5).

• Twenty-seven Missouri and Kansas games moved to later kickoffs — nine in Missouri, 18 in Kansas, in Kansas City's hottest opening week of September since 1960 (KCTV5).

• A lightning strike set off a three-alarm fire at a St. Petersburg school gym — the JV volleyball team was practicing inside and got out; more than 40 units responded (Athletic Business).

MONEY & DEALS 💰

• OHSAA sent $1,250 to every member high school and $198,000 to 198 seniors — the enrichment fund has now moved $598,000 back into Ohio programs in three years (OHSAA).

• Minnesota opened $750,000 in Mighty Ducks ice-arena grants — up to $500,000 an arena for refrigeration and $25,000 for air quality, 1:1 match required, applications close October 26 (Minnesota Amateur Sports Commission).

• The Sports Facilities Companies signed its first national sponsorship, with BSN Sports — 140-plus venues and roughly 30 million annual visits now buy as one (PR Newswire).

• DRYWORLD became the uniform and merchandise partner of the US Army Bowl — the December game at AT&T Stadium fields the top 80 boys and 30 girls in the country (GlobeNewswire).

• An Ohio high school signed an all-school adidas deal through BSN Sports — soccer and track first, the rest phased in; the pitch to the AD was consistency and family discounts, not cash (Herald-Star).

• Drew Weatherford is betting private capital is underweight in youth sports — his "sports continuum" runs from youth platforms to the Big 12, the USL and the Rays (Front Office Sports).

• McClatchy layoffs wiped out the Sacramento Bee's sports department — about 90 jobs company-wide, including a prep reporter of 38 years; one more metro where nobody covers the kids' games (SFGATE).

FIELDS & FACILITIES 🏢

• Henderson picked a developer for a $108 million sports complex on the old Fiesta casino site — a 150,000-square-foot fieldhouse with two dozen courts and a 145-room hotel, on land the city bought for $32 million and will sell for $30 million (Las Vegas Sun).

• Des Plaines is financing 90% of a $22 million athletic facility on a former YMCA site — a $19.8 million city loan repaid over 20 years, with the operator putting in $2.2 million (Youth Sports Business Report).

• Concord, N.H. advanced a $22.4 million Memorial Field plan — the $13.9 million first phase buys turf, a track and drainage, and takes the site from about 700 usage hours a year to 2,200-plus (Concord Monitor).

• Lompoc is scoping a $7 million soccer expansion at Riverbend Park — turf, parking and a path, with no restrooms or concessions in the design; AYSO wants the existing fields fixed first (Lompoc Locals).

• Camdenton, Mo. opened a $4.1 million community center paid for by a 1998 half-cent sales tax — courts, an indoor track, and 150 to 200 memberships in the first weeks (KY3).

• Geneseo, Ill. put $11,030 into traffic and drainage studies before a five-field complex can move — whether Route 82 can take the access decides the project (Geneseo Current).

• South Charlotte neighbors are fighting a plan to turn a school park into a youth baseball complex — the league holds an extended-use agreement with the district and says it is down to two fields, but nothing has been filed (Hoodline).

• A food hall opened in the old Rawlings plant across from O'Fallon's sports park — the building made big-league bases for 40 years, and the business model is tournament downtime (St. Louis Business Journal).

TECH & PARTNERSHIPS 📲

• Every NCHSAA girls flag football game is streaming on the NFHS Network in the sport's first sanctioned season — 154 North Carolina schools, after a two-year pilot the Panthers put more than $2.5 million behind (NFHS Network).

• Hudl signed a long-term deal with Missouri's athletic directors association — cameras, streaming, ticketing and fundraising bundled into one state-level decision (Hudl).

• PlayVS opened its eighth scholastic esports season with 25 state and regional partners — nine renewals, Connecticut, Kentucky and Virginia among them (PR Newswire).

• A survey of 9,500 adults tied girls' sports to what happens at work later — women who played three-plus years were 50% more likely to hold a leadership role; the study was brand-funded (Athletic Business).

ON THE FIELD 🏟️

• High school participation hit a record 8.4 million, and New Jersey still went backwards — the state fell nearly 3% while girls flag football rose 15% and girls wrestling 20% (NorthJersey.com).

• Connecticut dropped 4.1% and fell from 29th to 32nd nationally — the CIAC chief pointed at pay-to-play fees, while girls flag football went from 10 schools to 23 (CT Insider).

• Ohio ranks third in the country with 347,994 athletes — seventh in population, and first in schools fielding girls wrestling and bowling (Knox Pages).

• Six more Michigan schools gave up varsity football for 8-player — rosters of 16 to 19 kids; the state now runs 102 eight-player teams (WKAR).

• Three Section I teams in New York cancelled Week 2 outright — one fell under the state's 16-player minimum after three injuries, and four other programs cancelled their seasons (Sports Illustrated).

• Forty percent of Arizona high school football games have been decided by 35 points or more — 26% were shutouts, and a 13-time state champ forfeited its last two (On3).

• The FHSAA erased a 38-3 win over one ineligible transfer — an out-of-state player whose parents never relocated cost Miami Carol City the game (FOX 35 Orlando).

• A Union County, Ga. tight end was airlifted after losing feeling in his legs — he was walking again by that night, and a teammate's concussion scan came back clear (Athletic Business).

• The first MaxPreps Flag Football Showdown put 350 girls on a national stream — 18 programs at Chula Vista, free on MaxPreps and the NFHS Network, with an East Coast version set for Tampa in February (PlayOn Sports).

• Bayonne paraded the first Little League team in city history to reach Williamsport — rain moved the start and shortened the route (Hudson TV).

• The Pend Oreille Cup ran for the 45th time in Sandpoint — U8 through U14 across seven venues, teams from three states, and $20 camping for the weekend (Bonner County Daily Bee).

INTERNATIONAL 🌍

• Canada set a Playground to Podium summit in Ottawa for November 9-10 — it sits on a $1 billion sport commitment, the first real increase since 2005 (Government of Canada).

• Ottawa started moving $112 million in supplemental funding to national sport bodies — Alpine Canada drew $2.77 million on top of $8 million in core funding (CJME).

• New Zealand put another $2.4 million into sport-based youth crime programs as serious youth offending fell 26% — six community organizations, from an $8 million pot (Newswire).

• Sport England released free PE video lessons aimed squarely at the girls' drop-off — dance, fitness and yoga for ages 11 to 16, on a platform that reached 722,000 girls last year (Sport England).

• The Australian Sports Commission brought back its Play Well podcast for a second season — nine episodes, pointed at parents and community coaches rather than elite pathways (Australian Sports Commission).

COACH'S FAVORITES ⭐️

One thing we'd actually use, and why it earns the pick.

CUGGO Crisp Apple hydration sticks

A kids' hydration stick: electrolytes, B vitamins, vitamin C, zinc and a day's vitamin D in 12 to 16 ounces of water. Five calories, zero sugar, monk fruit only (cuggo.com). Diyana G is building the company with her husband, and their two kids are actively involved in the marketing. The brand's mission is to be sweet smart and more intentional with kids' sugar intake.

$29.99 for 15 sticks, about $1.20 a stick on subscription. Try CUGGO →

COACH'S CLIPBOARD 📋

One play you can install at Tuesday's practice. This week: youth tackle football, ages 8–12.

Buck Sweep — Wing-T, to the tight-end side. Both guards pull. Your grandfather ran it.

Run it: Quarterback reverse-pivots and rides the fullback into the backside A-gap. The fullback sells the trap and keeps going. Tight end and wingback block down. Playside guard pulls flat and kicks out the first man outside the end. Backside guard pulls behind him, bows for depth and turns up inside that kick-out for the first defender he meets. The halfback takes it flat, through where the fullback's heels were, and reads the kick-out: the block goes out, he goes up.

Coaching point: The guards are the play. Throw Deep Publishing's guide says it flat out: "without these pullers, there is no Buck Sweep" — it "is dependent on the Guards having the ability to pull and block in space." So the reps go to the two kids nobody watches. Pull, kick, wrap — a dozen each against air before a back ever touches a ball. (Throw Deep Publishing)

Why it works: Three things happen at once — a fullback into the line, two guards leaving, a halfback going wide — and a ten-year-old linebacker can only chase one. It's the Delaware Wing-T play Tubby Raymond ran for 36 seasons, and it still gets to the edge before the defense finishes reading it.

Full breakdown, with video:Youth Football Wing T Buck Sweep — FirstDown PlayBook

THE LOCKER ROOM

Something to end on.

In a 3-on-3 game in Korea, a forward parked himself in the crease. The goalie, who comes up to about the crossbar, had a policy on that:

Crease clearing, in its purest form. Sean Avery finally has an heir, and he still needs help with his skate laces.

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING 📺

Elite youth, high school and college events streaming this week plus the pro game worth building a team night around.

• ⚾ Team Moms: Baseball · Kim Kardashian's youth-baseball reality series premieres Thu 9/24 on Paramount+, eight episodes, produced with ITV America (Love Island USA). Seven families at Legendary Prep Academy, a Scottsdale, Ariz., program for teenage ballplayers chasing college offers; the parents in the stands are as much the story as the boys on the field. (Watch the trailer →)

• ⚽ FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup · Round of 16: USA–Brazil Wed 9/16, 9:00 AM ET, in Katowice, Poland. The U.S. advanced as one of the best third-place teams on a 9–0 win over New Zealand. Every match is on FS1, FS2 or FOX Soccer Plus; quarterfinals Sat–Sun 9/19–9/20 at 9:00 AM and 12:30 PM ET. (How to watch →)

• 🏈MaxPreps Game of the Week · Fri 9/18: Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) at Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 10:00 PM ET, free on the MaxPreps YouTube channel, also on MaxPreps.com and NFHS Network. Mater Dei comes in 4-0, Gorman 3-1. (Live stream →)

• ⛳ Junior Presidents Cup · Sun–Mon 9/20–9/21 at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago, days before the pros play the Presidents Cup on the same course. Twelve U.S. juniors, Charlie Woods and Miles Russell among them, under captain Matt Kuchar against C.T. Pan's Internationals, all 19 and under, in two days of team match play. (Rosters →)

• 🥍PLL Championship: Denver Outlaws vs. Philadelphia Waterdogs · Sun 9/20 at 12:30 PM ET on ABC, streaming on ESPN+, from Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, N.J., a short PATH ride from Manhattan. (Championship weekend →)

• Also this week: Major junior hockey is back — the OHL opens Thu 9/17 with Kingston at Peterborough and the WHL follows Fri 9/18, with all 782 WHL regular-season games streaming free on Victory+.

THE FACEOFF 🤼

The FACEOFF conversation runs Thursdays now, giving the week's biggest stories room to take center ice 🧊. This month the chair turned around: Sam Powell of LeadtheGame put our founder, Paul Variano, in the guest seat on Locker Talk, her podcast for the parents in the stands, and asked him the questions we usually ask everyone else. Read it here: THE FACEOFF VOL V — Sam Powell & LeadtheGame, or listen to the full episode on Substack · Apple Podcasts · Spotify.

THE HIRING HUDDLE 🕵️🕵️‍♂️

THE HIRING HUDDLE lands Sunday evenings now, giving you the week's best openings before Monday's kickoff 🏈. Sunday's edition ran 57 open roles across 39 companies, 41 of them posted in the last seven days, led by Volo Sports' Vice President of Finance & Strategy. It goes to subscribers only and isn't posted anywhere else; if you missed it, it's in Sunday's inbox.

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The Coach's Board by Paul Variano
The weekly executive roundup for youth sports leaders.

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