How do you deal with this?
 

JV and Varsity game, one team has a coach that his physically disabled and must be in a wheelchair. He is one of only three coaches in the coaching box--he never leaves the coaching box however prior to the play he takes a position right behind and just to the side of the wing official as his job is to monitor line play of his players. He remains in this location throughout the play.
Had several plays where players were being tackled within a few yards of this coach.
Obviously he has a right to be there and to coach, but what is the best way to handle the obvious safety issues, not only for the coach but also for the players?

In Canada, there was similar problem with a coach in a wheelchair. There was a long involved process pitting safety against disabled persons' rights. In the end, the area of football involved ended up having ALL bench personell five yards back from the sideline. In that way, there was no discrimination against any one person. An interesting side effect is that now in that area, the side officials have much more room. This policy has not spread beyond the one high school area yet.

Fed Rules in my state:

We had a coach in a wheelchair. The intrepreation we received from the State Interpreter was that it is perfectly legal provided that he stays off the field. Wheelchairs are not illegal equipment for non-players.

vstripes,

just to clarify, when you say "off the field", you're saying that the coaching box area is acceptable?

thanks

Could you get someone to stay behind him rerady to wheel him back if play comes to your side?

Generally speaking, you have your local association contact the state association and get their precise directive on the matter, and then have your association communicate this to all associations that could work that team's games.

Safety always comes first. Always.

As 43 refers, the incident in Canada had the compromise that showed the disabled person was not discriminated against.

I'd say that would be a good way to go about it. Someone must be behind him and anytime they come his way, he must get out of the way for the safety of all. He is only being selfish if he does not agree with that, and if that is the case, he can go up in the pressbox.

Yes! If you're in a wheelchair, you belong in the press box purely for safety reasons. This is just the same as wheeling the equipment cart right behind the coaches- it has no chance of getting out of the way in time for people not to get hurt. Heck, players with functioning legs have a hard enough time getting out of the way when they're that close!

I think the buzzword in the American's With Disabilities Act is "reasonable accomodation. I think a reasonable accomodation would be to have the coach further back from the sideling and maybe behind the LOS a bit. If this is game 1 and I'm hit with this situation and don't have the ability to call the state, I would not let him stay as described in the original post.

As and aside: Does anyone know if their state actually has people available to deal with issues that arise on Friday nights. Does someone answer the phone. Hope I never have to find out.

Guys, the ADA doesn't apply. Trust me (as an attorney who's litigated ADA cases) on this one. Even if it did, the reasonable accomodation is the press box, not anywhere on the field. If there were never any coaches in the press box, then we might have a discussion about the merits of this situation, but since there are, case closed.

This shouldn't be an issue past scrimmages or, at worst (in the case of subvarsity), the first week of the season. Have your chapter President (or Sect.) call the state association, and demand that they handle it. Find out what they want to do and enforce it. If you don't agree with their means of handling it, then don't take the games of that school.

This coach needs to respect the game enough to know when he needs to be somewhere other than the sideline.

There have been cases like this in various sports across the country. I believe in all of them, the State got involved and came up with a solution Without the okay of the State association, I wouldn't allow him that close to the playing surface. As the father of a young man in a wheelchair, I know that it is too risky for the person in the chair, and much more risky for a person running into the chair.

On a lighter note, we did allow a coach to sit in the coaches box on an aluminum lawn chair (the old fashioned kind with the webbing). That was his style and he did it every game.