Organized sports account for some 3.5 million youth injurieseach year, according to Boston Children's Hospital. A study by theCenters for Disease Control shows that youths aged 5 to 18 made upnearly 60 percent of all people treated for sports-relatedtraumatic brain injuries—that's close to 135,000 youths—at U.S.hospitals from 2001-2005, with the top causes being cycling,football, basketball, playground activities and soccer.

So while kids stay busy being kids and recreational and leaguesports remain a mainstay of many insurers' Excess & Surplusofferings, carriers are taking a closer look at growing exposureswithin certain youth sports.

The two main exposures for a youth sports league or camp remainconcussion awareness and Sexual Abuse & Molestation coverage,says Brian Himmer, Underwriting Supervisor for amateur sports, golf& country clubs and boat dealerships for Philadelphia InsuranceCos. in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

The underwriting for these two exposures can be taxing, he says.Just trying to underwrite two different league sports can bedemanding enough.

“Each risk is different; you may have an amateur-sports footballleague in one town, and an amateur basketball league in anothertown,” says Himmer. Both programs are run by local parents, whocycle out over the years as their kids move up into other leaguesor enter high school. What also changes is the extent ofplayer-safety knowledge exhibited among each league's set ofparents during each new season.

K&K Insurance Group Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind. is seeinggrowth across all five of its underwriting units, each focused on aparticular segment of the sports, leisure and recreation industry,says Marketing Resources Manager Lorena Hatfield. While SexualAbuse & Molestation coverage is still a concern, CyberLiability also is becoming a trend, she says. “The need forprogram-specific coverage developed for the unique needs of thesports and recreation industry is as great as ever.”

Overall, the amateur Sports & Rec marketcontinues to see growth, particularly for youth programs—partly dueto a continued focus on healthy activity for kids, Hatfield says.That includes team sports, dance and martial arts.

“We're seeing city economic developers gaining awareness of thefinancial income that sports tourism can add to cities via teamstraveling to large tournaments and events, and are developingsports-friendly facilities that enhance the ability to host sportsevents,” she notes.

Markel Insurance Co. opts to stay with the more conventionalamateur sports and away from the more dangerous activities, saysMark Nichols, executive manager of Markel Specialty's new-productdevelopment team. The company's excess & surplus businessinsures most amateur sports other than “extreme” sports likeskateboarding, mountain biking, downhill skiing and rugby.

Markel also limits its involvement in tackle football andhockey, as well as currently trendy obstacle-course events likeWeekend Warriors, Tough Mudder or Spartan Races, all of whichentail a huge amount of exertion—and potential liability.

“There's been a fair amount of accident activity coming out of[extreme obstacle-course racing],” says Nichols. “There are a lotof events like those held around the country, and we get a lot ofrequests for them.”

Such contests, in which participants must traverse coursesfilled with ice ponds, mud holes, rope climbing and other obstaclesmeant to test their mettle, present serious exposures to theregular 5K or 10K footrace.

While Markel won't write General Liability for such spots, itwill write accident cover.

“We'll write participant accident cover because we can limit theexposures from a GL perspective,” Nichols explains. On the GL,typically people need $1 million dollars to reserve the park or theevent site they're going to use, he notes.

Philadelphia Insurance has also looked into these basictraining-style sports and come to similar conclusions.

“That's not something we're looking to pursue,” says Himmer.Some of these races “have exposures that are 12 miles long,” hepoints out. There's a good chance for a severe claim arising from abroken neck or brain damage, which may be infrequent, but stillvery costly.

“You're climbing mountains, jumping into water, jumping overfire; you have to incorporate everything,” he adds. “We're stilldoing research on the product-development side of things.”

K&K also eschews obstacle races, but does value walking andrunning for a cause. The company developed a program specificallyfor fundraiser walks and competitive runs due to increased coveragerequests.

“The coverage is offered at a rate lower than our standardsports and non-sport special event programs and is for walks andruns with a maximum of 10,000 participants, lasting three days orless, and a course distance less than 16 miles,” says Hatfield.

Autumn is a particularly heavy season for charity walks, andnon-profit organizations are often surprised by municipalrequirements for liability coverage, she says. This product canquickly fill that need.

THE PREMIUM PICTURE

Rates are up slightly in the Sports & Rec market, especiallyfor accounts that have claims activity, Nichols says. Largeraccounts, like National Governing Body accounts for various amateurleague sports including the U.S. Olympics Committee, “continue toattract attention and are very competitive, even if results aremarginal,” he adds.

Otherwise, pricing has been generally flat, he says. In terms ofcapacity, Nichols adds, “The ideal situation from our perspectiveis the same capacity or less.”

The Sports & Rec market remains (appropriately) competitive,and has remained stable up until the last year or so. “We had afirm market ending in 2005-2006; then from 2006 through about ayear ago generally speaking, rates were going down in this market.Now rates are modestly going up. We're glad to see rates stabilize.But they could be going higher.”

K&K has seen rate increases between 5 and 10 percent,particularly in programs that typically experience higher lossratios such as bowling alleys. “In other areas, such as our onlinesports and event programs, our rates are holding steady but we haveseen some competitors raising rates,” says Hatfield.

Pricing is highly competitive in the recreational productsinsurance market, especially for off-road units like all-terrainvehicles (ATVs) or utility vehicles (UTVs), says Kelly Meiser,product manager for American Modern Insurance Group. “Many timesthese units are hitting our minimum premium,” she adds.

The company offers coverage in several such lines, includingcollector cars, motorcycles (street-driven bikes as well asoff-road), watercraft (personal watercraft, boats and yachts) andsnowmobiles. “We are seeing more scooters, low-speedvehicles/electric vehicles, as well as UTVs,” says Meiser.

DEADLY TOSS: CHEERLEADER INJURIES

Among amateur sports, the toughest to insureare the three big ones in the U.S.: youth soccer, youth baseball orsoftball, and youth contact football, says Himmer—all of whichcarry the risk of concussions.

Yet the area of youth Sports & Rec that's seeing the largestincrease in severe injury is not always regarded as a sport, atleast not nationwide: high school cheerleading. Cheerleadinginjuries that led to emergency room visits have increased almostsix times since 1980, to nearly 30,000 in 2008, according to theCPSC. And during the 26 years leading up to 2008, female highschool cheerleaders sustained almost twice as many disabling heador spine injuries while practicing or performing than in all girls'sports combined.

Sadly, that includes 83 “catastrophic” injuries, such asparalysis, and two deaths, recorded from fall 1982 to spring2008. 

Cheerleading is definitely more dangerous today, Himmer agrees.Concussions are just one of the potential injuries young femalesface.

“Competitive cheerleading is almost a branch of gymnastics.There's a lot of tumbling stunts and aerial movement, tossing girlsin the air,” he points out.

An arm or a leg of a falling cheerleader could easily hit one ofher supporters in the head, “or the flier [the girl being tossed]is dropped and hits her head on the floor,” Himmer says. If thatperson leads off from someone else's shoulders, “You're talkingabout a lot of force, and potential for head injuries. It'simminent that's going to happen.”

While football concussion injuries are currently in thespotlight, concussions are a concern in many youth sports, saysHatfield. K&K is seeing across-the-board claims increases incheer gym, gymnastics, dance and martial arts studios from partiesor practice sessions (often called “open gym”) at facilities thatinclude friends of students who are not familiar with safetypractices that are enforced during formal class sessions.

Lack of adequate supervision during these activities can oftenresult in injuries to guests, whose skill levels often do not matchthe stunt/maneuver they are attempting, Hatfield adds.