Youth athletes: 18 rights you can cite to the coach

This is a short law — eight articles — whose value is in its language. It puts in citable terms things that are almost always lost in sideline arguments: that the child plays because they want to and not because they were put there, that they train without overload, that they compete in the category matching their capacity and maturity, and that the coach must be qualified. It creates no program or benefit; it creates a vocabulary and assigns the Department of Sports and Recreation the duty to enforce it.

Child and youth athletes, whom the law defines as any participant in a sport or athletic discipline between the ages of four (4) and eighteen (18). The law also defines "athlete" as a person with superior physical capacity, strength, ability or agility who practises a sports discipline in an organized or regulated manner, and "special athlete" as a person with a physical or mental disability who practises a sports discipline in an organized or regulated manner. Social inclusion is one of the law’s own definitions and is worth citing: integrating into every sports activity every child and youth, regardless of race, color, sex, birth, origin or social condition, political or religious ideas.

• Being between four (4) and eighteen (18) and participating in a sport or athletic discipline. The law requires no federation, category or prior procedure.Verified against the official source

• The law requires no documents to exercise these rights. Its Article 5 does order that they be known: the Department of Sports and Recreation shall make this Act’s content known to all sports organizations where children participate, and the Department of Education shall assist in disseminating it through Physical Education curricula.

1. 1

   Step 1: The child plays because they want to

   Right 17 is the most direct on the list and settles the most arguments: the right to participate freely and voluntarily in the sport they chose, not imposed by adults, prohibiting unjust punishment and sanctions. Three things in one sentence: participation is free and voluntary, the child chooses the sport and it is not imposed on them, and unjust punishment and sanctions are prohibited. It comes with right 1 — practising the sports they are interested in, guaranteeing their enjoyment and interaction — right 9 — having fun while playing a sport, written that way, as a right — and right 7, the least expected: sharing the leadership and decision-making of their sports practice. Article 3’s public policy repeats it from above: the State shall seek to guarantee their free and voluntary participation.

2. 2

   Step 2: No physical overload, and playing as a child

   Two rights that go together and are the ones to use when training crosses the line. Right 5: practising sports disciplines in safe and healthy environments, without being exposed to physical overload in their training and competition. The phrase "physical overload" is in the law, and it names the problem without needing to argue. And right 8, the most citable in the whole bill: the right to practise their sports discipline as a child and not as an adult. With them go right 14 — practising sports safeguarding their physical and psychological safety — and right 3, which prevents the other form of overload: participating in a category matching their physical capacity, ability and maturity. Note the law sets three criteria for the category, not just age.

3. 3

   Step 3: The coach must be qualified

   Right 10 says it and also says according to whom: the right to have their adult leaders or coaches be qualified per what the Puerto Rican Institute for Sports and Recreation Development regulates. That is, qualification is not the club’s opinion: it is what that Institute regulates. Nearby lives right 6, which looks at the other side of the same relationship: the right to appropriate instruction, training and preparation to practise the sport they are interested in. What we do not publish: what exactly that Institute’s regulation requires to qualify a coach. Act 28-2019 refers to it and does not reproduce it; we did not read it and will not assume requirements.

4. 4

   Step 4: Treatment, peace and environment

   Four rights cover how the child is treated and in what environment they play. Number 2: being treated with dignity and respect. Number 12: practising sports in an environment of peace and free of violence. Number 11: participating in an environment of social inclusion, which the law defines as integrating into every sports activity every child and youth, regardless of race, color, sex, birth, origin or social condition, political or religious ideas. And number 15: participating in an environment that weighs the importance of responsible personal and social conduct, toward oneself and others. Alongside them, right 4 — equality of opportunity in the sport discipline of their interest — and right 18, which the law wrote separately on purpose: the right to equal participation of girls and young women in sport.

5. 5

   Step 5: Equipment, venue and substances

   Right 13 covers the material side: practising in an appropriate venue and with the sports equipment necessary to carry out the practice. And right 16 covers what is consumed: competing on equal terms in a sport free of controlled substances and energy drinks. The law names energy drinks expressly, alongside controlled substances, and that is useful because it is what most often shows up in a youth league.

6. 6

   Step 6: Who enforces it, and how far this guide goes

   Article 6 says two things. First: it shall be the Department of Sports and Recreation’s duty to oversee faithful compliance with this Act’s provisions. Second: any person, natural or legal, public or private, who breaches this Act’s provisions shall be subject to the sanctions the Department of Sports and Recreation sets by regulation. Note the reach of that second sentence — it covers persons and organizations, public and private — and note also where it ends: the sanctions are not in the law, they are in a regulation. Article 7 gave the Department ninety (90) days from the law’s approval to adopt that regulation. We did not read it, so we stop here: we publish no fine amounts, no complaint procedure and no deadlines. What you can do with the law in hand is go to the Department of Sports and Recreation, the one the law itself charges with overseeing compliance, and cite the right by its number.

7. 7

   Step 7: How it is used in practice

   The usefulness of this bill lies in citing the number. "My child has the right to participate in a category matching their physical capacity, ability and maturity, and that is right 3 of Act 28-2019" is a different sentence from asking a favor. The four most used are 3 for the category, 5 for overload, 10 for the coach’s qualification, and 17 for voluntary participation and the ban on unjust punishment. And there is an argument from above backing all of them: Article 3’s public policy declares the State shall seek to guarantee the safety of children participating in sports, guarantee their free and voluntary participation, guarantee they reach their maximum development and participation, promote sport in a healthy and responsible way, promote participation in sport, and guarantee inclusive access by eliminating discriminatory barriers.

Before the Department of Sports and Recreation, which Article 6 charges with overseeing faithful compliance with the law and which, per that same article, sets by regulation the sanctions for any natural or legal person, public or private, who breaches it. Article 5 also charges it with making the law’s content known to all sports organizations where children participate, with the Department of Education’s collaboration through Physical Education curricula. What we do not publish: a phone number, form or complaint procedure, because Act 28-2019 does not name them and we did not read the regulation it defers to. If what happened is child abuse rather than a sports-practice matter, that is another path and it has its own guide.

• Accepting that the child stay in a sport they did not choose: right 17 says freely and voluntarily, not imposed by adults.
• Accepting unjust punishment or sanctions as part of training: that same right 17 prohibits them.
• Arguing about training load without naming it: the law uses the phrase "physical overload" in right 5.
• Accepting that the category be decided by age alone: right 3 names physical capacity, ability and maturity.
• Assuming any adult can coach: right 10 requires them to be qualified per what the Institute regulates.
• Tolerating energy drinks at practice: right 16 names them alongside controlled substances.
• Looking in this law for a fine or a complaint form: the sanctions are in the DRD regulation, not in the law.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Recreación y Deportes (DRD)

  DRD

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Department of Sports and Recreation

  DRD

  www.drd.pr.gov