Fatal shooting near a youth soccer game in Colorado Springs highlights the need to protect young athletes

Earlier this month, a fight between two spectators near a youth football game in Colorado Springs ended with one person being shot.

Colorado Springs police later identified the victim as 29-year-old Donte Rice, and while he had no connection to the Atlas Prep campus in the city’s southeast or Pikes Peak Pop Warner Youth Football and Cheer, the violence brings a new focus on the safety and health of the state’s youth athletes.

The confrontation occurred just five minutes from State Senator Tony Exum’s home.

“It’s just sad that these individuals decided to bring everything they had out to each other in a sporting event,” said Exum, who has officiated games at the high school and college levels for 48 years.

“The negative impact it has had on the community and the kids in the football program and the school is just a sad state of affairs.”

Violent acts by adults shift the focus away from children

In programs designed to teach the fundamentals of sports and teamwork and create a positive environment for youth, violence among spectators, parents and sometimes even referees is marring what was once a safe childhood pastime.

In June 2019, the Bear Creek Junior Sports Association in Lakewood canceled the remainder of its baseball season after an adult brawl broke out at a game between 7-year-olds. Lakewood police say the incident stemmed from parents and adults being angry at the then-13-year-old referee. Five adults have been charged in the incident.

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Also in Lakewood, three referees were involved in a fight at a fourth-grade basketball game in December 2023. The three men were escorted out of the gym. The organizer, the Gold Crown Foundation, said the men were independent contractors and would no longer be allowed to work for the organization.

In the recent shooting in Colorado Springs near a game, Pikes Peak Pop Warner president Michelle Quintana released a statement via Facebook saying the suspect and victim knew each other and had no connection to the team’s players, coaches or volunteers . Atlas Prep also released a statement via Facebook saying it has no connection to the league that leases the school fields.

State Senator James Coleman also witnessed aggression from parents at youth sporting events involving his two children. He said he was involved in verbal arguments, but they never turned physical and never involved weapons.

“I have witnessed the tensions that we all face or experience as fans,” Coleman said.

Coleman and Exum saw the violence in youth sports and wanted to protect youth and ensure their safety. The senators were co-sponsors of the Safe Youth Sports Act, which was passed and signed into law earlier this year.

The bill requires comprehensive codes of conduct for parents, spectators, coaches and athletes, but goes a step further than just physical violence. The aim is to protect minors from sexual assault. Trainers must complete annual mandatory reporter training and comprehensive abuse prevention training, as well as background checks – anyone who fails to meet the standards will be publicly identified. Organizations must have a mechanism in place to report possible violations.

The basis for the bill is a 2023 study by Players Health, a youth sports provider. Among the findings of a self-reported survey of 685 leisure and travel sports organizations in the U.S., 56 percent had no policies governing in-person interactions between adults and minors. According to a UCLA study, one in ten children in the United States will be sexually abused before the age of 18.

Approximately half of these organizations do not have an athlete emergency care policy. Another 33 percent have no background check policy. Thirteen percent of organizations did not have a prohibited behavior policy for employees, parents, players and referees.

“We thought the solution helped create health and safety certification for youth sports organizations through an audit that informs the public whether organizational policies are in place or being implemented in this manner,” Exum said.

“If you are a parent and you want to bring your child to this organization, have some background information about this organization, about the safety and about the policies that they have.”

Most adults want to get involved in youth sports for the right reasons

A background check would have been helpful in the 2022 drowning of Darryl Blackmon. The 13-year-old traveled to Phoenix for a tournament with his youth soccer team, 5280 Colorado Jr. Buffs. After winning the tournament, the team had a pool party at the hotel where they were staying.

Blackmon’s mother, Marquita Mays, had left the party under the coaches’ supervision to get something to eat across the street. Ten minutes later, she returned to find her son unconscious and people trying to revive him. Blackmon was pronounced dead when he was taken to the hospital.

The details of what exactly happened are unclear. Later, an insurance adjuster working on behalf of the Youth Health Organization discovered that one of the trainers, Julius Green, had a fake certificate of insurance.

Mays filed a lawsuit in Arapahoe District Court earlier this year. The deputy attorney for her case, James Anderson of Fiedler Trial Lawyers, said the details of the case were still being investigated.

Because Blackmon could not swim at the time of his death, Mays has since promoted the idea of ​​teaching children to swim.

Coleman believes there are reasons why youth sports organizations lack guidelines. He said most people get involved out of their own generosity.

“Maybe it’s a financial reality, maybe they’re saying, ‘God, I can’t afford this, but I want to help.’ So they might not get the right training or something. Maybe they were that child and wished they had had it when they were a child,” Coleman said. “I don’t think we think about the cost, but it takes time and money.”

Exum and Coleman are working with the Attorney General’s Office to draft a notice explaining the law’s requirements and make it available to all youth sports organizations on the Safe Youth Sports Act. Once finalized, it will take effect on July 1, 2025.