Seth Lieberman

Youth Sports Safety Reform Needs National Standards and Dedicated Funding

At Project Play Summit 2026, Benita Fitzgerald-Mosley of the U.S. Center for SafeSport and Seth Lieberman of Ankored argued that youth sports safety has become a governance problem as much as a cultural one. Parents increasingly expect background checks, abuse-prevention training and injury safeguards, but the speakers said today’s system is fragmented, underfunded and outside SafeSport’s reach for much of grassroots sport. The reform case is for common standards, portable credentials, dedicated funding and a stronger central safety infrastructure by 2028.