The Dark Side of Youth Sports: A Systemic Failure to Protect Children The recent news that a Texas volleyball coach, Ryan Richardson, is under investigation by Homeland Security for child exploitation and abuse raises disturbing questions about the culture of youth sports in America.
This case appears to be another egregious example of a predator exploiting their position of power, but it reveals a more complex web of failures and inadequacies within our institutions.
Richardson was suspended by Lone Star Region Volleyball in 2024 and subsequently banned from working with children by the US Center for SafeSport, yet he continued coaching teenage girls.