Two separate exclusions stand between a league and a covered claim.

Abuse and molestation

Allegations involving coaches, officials or volunteers and the minors in their charge.

Without it — Excluded from general liability, and the claim that ends a league and its board.

Participant accident and liability

Injury to players during practice and play, and claims that the injury was the league’s fault.

Without it — Many general liability forms exclude injury to participants — the people most likely to be hurt.

General liability

Spectators, parents and the public at fields, courts and facilities you use.

Without it — Every facility permit and field rental agreement requires evidence of it before you play.

Directors and officers

Board claims over eligibility, playing time, discipline, funds and volunteer removal.

Without it — Youth sports boards are sued by parents with a frequency that surprises everyone on them.

Crime and fidelity

Theft of registration fees, concession takings and fundraising money.

Without it — Cash collected by parent volunteers with no controls is the commonest loss a league suffers.

Hired and non-owned auto

Coaches and parents driving players and equipment in their own vehicles.

Without it — Team travel is the highest-severity thing a league does, and it is done in private cars.

Aren’t injured players covered by our general liability?

Often not, because of a participant injury exclusion — the form covers the public and specifically carves out the people taking part. That is exactly backwards from where the risk sits, since players are the ones colliding, falling and being struck. Leagues usually need participant accident cover, which pays medical costs regardless of fault and keeps most injuries from becoming lawsuits at all, alongside liability that has not excluded the participants. Check which of the two your current policy actually has, because having one and assuming it is both is the standard mistake.

We are all volunteers and everyone signs a waiver. Is that enough?

No, on both counts. Volunteer status does not stop a board member being named individually, and a waiver signed by a parent is of limited force against a minor’s own claim — in most states a parent cannot sign away a child’s right to sue, and courts read waivers narrowly against the party that wrote them. Waivers are worth having and they are the first line, not the wall. What matters more is the screening: background checks on every coach and volunteer, a two-adult rule, and a written policy on communication with minors. Those reduce the claim, and they are also what an underwriter prices the abuse cover on.