Note, we are not insurance brokers, experts, or in the insurance industry. As a club owner/director it is your responsibility to know local and state laws pertaining to insurance as well as club compliance for USA Wrestling. We recommend you connect with your local attorney and insurance agent to verify your planned coverage and liability and with USA Wrestling to verify compliance.
As you are setting up your club, you may want to reference our in depth first steps to starting a wrestling club blog post [ coming soon ]. Or USA Wrestling’s club startup packet or reference their insurance information page.
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So now you have your LLC or 501c3 established, you have found a potential facility and it is time to get your club moving ( pun intended ). Insurance requirements will vary depending on your level of comfort with risk, as well as your landlord or building owner/operator’s requests. For example, if you are licensing space from a school some districts may require General Liability Coverage at $1,000,000 each occurance / $5,000,000 aggregate or $2,000,000 each occurrence / $5,000,000 aggregate. The schools administration and board set these policies so there is little flex.
It is best practice if you are an LLC or 501c3 to make sure you have:
- Commercial General Liability Coverage
- $1,000,000 each occurance / $5,000,000 aggregate
- Abuse and Molestation Coverage
- $1,000,000 each occurance / $2,000,000 aggregate
- Umbrella or Excess Liability Coverage
- $5,000,000 each occurance / $5,000,000 aggregate
For a 501c3 you will also want to carry:
- Directors and Officers Insurance
- This insures and protects the directors of your board and your officers of being personally liable to claims, you should discuss with your board the level of coverage they feel comfortable with. Higher net worth board members will desire higher levels of coverage.
- Here is an additional resource on understanding how D&O insurance works
USA Wrestling Insurance via Club Charter
Benefits: Easy to set up by chartering your club, strong associated brand, all coach compliance is hands off with integrated background checks, SafeSport Training, concussion training, coaching “licenses” and continued coaches education modules, easy event coverage with sanctioning for camps and tournaments, full time wrestling expert staff for support / questions available Monday-Friday 9-5pm CT, best practice resources, includes coverage for grappling.
Constraints: Cumbersome for new members or trials [ especially individuals that are 17+ ], wrestlers must pay for a membership and register online before trying wrestling, this limits how quickly you can grow your program. It is harder to track who is active and who is not as you must login to your club account and verify each individual membership. Can be beneficial early to place insurance costs on individuals, but as you grow it becomes cost prohibitive for a club of around 30 students if the club is paying for athlete memberships themselves, at this point private insurance is more cost efficient as well as easier to administer. Potential gaps in coverage due to accidental non-compliance to USAW ever changing club and insurance guidelines. It excludes non-grappling sports so only really works for wrestling and jiu jitsu schools.
To charter your club with USA Wrestling go to: https://www.usawmembership.com/
How to use USA Wrestling within WrestlingIQ: https://help.wrestlingiq.com/article/72-collecting-usa-wrestling-information
Private Insurance For Your Wrestling Club
Constraints: Expensive for a startup at around $1,200-2500 per year depending on number of wrestlers and coverage levels [ I have seen large 800-1000+ student programs have private insurance costs annually in excess of $17,000 ].
Benefits: Very easy to administer once you have a policy in place as you simply renew coverage annually with your broker. The cost is usually dependent on the number of students you have, and will require you to submit certain policies and procedures in the application and due diligence process.
Remember, no matter what coverage you have, making sure you have a rock solid, legally vetted waiver, is the best thing you can do for your organization’s protection.
How to get private insurance?
Find a local commercial insurance broker who understands youth sports risks, they will have you fill out an application with your organization’s information, help you understand risks, and then they will shop your insurance to the agencies. Most private brokers shop to the same group of agencies, so make sure to find a broker that understands gyms, martial arts, and youth sports liability. Currently some of the most common insurance agencies used in wrestling are Chubb & Philadelphia Insurance Company