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General Liability Insurance for Sports Clinics

Monday, June 8, 2020 General liability

Sports clinics and their participants face a wide range of risks. One of the main risks is injury. When operating a sports clinic, you want your participants to learn in a safe and welcoming environment. No matter how many precautions you may take, however, accidents happen. That’s why it’s important to have the right insurance to protect your participants and the clinic.

What Does General Liability Cover for Sports Clinics?

General liability insurance covers accidents and incidents of non-professional negligence. In sports clinics, this could include:

  • Slips leading to sprains, breaks or other injuries
  • Property damage that occurs to someone else as a result of everyday business activity
  • Personal or advertising injury (includes libel, slander, copyright infringement, etc.)
  • Other incidents resulting in injury or damage of a third party

General liability can help with the medical expenses of an injured party as well as legal fees if the victim decides to sue. This is not the same as accident insurance. You can purchase additional to cover extreme injuries that may arise out of a sports clinic.

What Does General Liability Not Cover?

While general liability provides a lot of necessary coverage, it can’t cover everything. General liability coverage does not include:

  • Professional liability (errors and omissions liability), which covers acts of professional negligence. For example, if injury or financial loss of a participant arises as a direct result of a coach’s incorrect teachings, professional liability will cover the damages, but general liability will not.
  • Damage to the clinic’s property. If your clinic has a set physical location, you can purchase property coverage to protect against damages such as fire, hail, wind, theft, vandalism, explosions and more.
  • Criminal acts or intentional damage, either between participants or between a participant and a volunteer
  • Sexual harassment or discrimination charges
  • Directors and officer’s insurance, which provides liability protection for directors and officers of a board
  • Employee (or volunteer) crime coverage, such as if a volunteer steals clinic funds

Also keep in mind that, like every policy, you can set certain limits for general liability insurance. Choose your coverage limits and deductible carefully to ensure that the clinic and all participants will have plenty of coverage for medical and legal bills.

How Much General Liability Insurance Do Sports Clinics Need?

The amount of general liability insurance your sports clinic needs depends on the size and scope of your clinic. Clinics that participate in more high-risk sports may need greater coverage. High-risk sports include wrestling, gymnastics, football and other sports with high impact. General liability policies for sports clinics typically come with $1,000,000 per accident and $5,000,000 aggregate. Many of these policies are occurrence policies, but some may be claims made.

Occurrence vs Claims Made Policies

Coverage is available in two forms: occurrence policies or claims made policies. Occurrence policies covers incidents that occur while the policy is active. Claims made policies, on the other hand, only cover claims that are made while the policy is active. For example, if an incident occurs before the policy is active and you then purchase an occurrence made policy, you likely won’t be covered for that event, since it occurred before the policy was active. But if an incident occurs while the policy is active, but a claim is made after the policy lapses or is cancelled, only an occurrence policy may cover the incident.

Deciding which of these policies to choose depends on your preferences and needs. Most general liability policies are occurrence policies. If you’re uncertain about your sports clinic’s general liability policy limits, make sure to speak with an insurance agent.

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