Sports Coaching Insurance: Liability & Quotes From $11/month

As a sports coach, you get to pass your love for the game and inspire players under you to bring out their very best. Regardless of the type of sports coaching, you provide guidance, training, and development to the players you work with. 

Similar to being a health coach or a career coach,  there are hidden dangers to being a sports coach. A number of events could lead you to being held liable. Some of the common reasons why you could get sued as a sports coach include:

  • Using equipment deemed unfit 
  • Inappropriate or inadequate care in an emergency situation 
  • Failing to provide sufficient warning to parents or athletes of the risks inherent in a sport 
  • Unethical behavior 
  • Having an injured player participate
  • Injury sustained during transportation to and from practice or a game 
 

The unfortunate reality is that when these occur, the blame falls squarely on your shoulders as the sports coach. Having sports coaching insurance is your best bet at retaining your reputation and navigating through lawsuits. 

Granted, you might consider yourself a great coach and doubt that these might not happen to you. But as is often the case, bad things happen to good people. Sports coaching is a physical activity, and mistakes will often occur. 

Besides, you are dealing with players likely under pressure from their peers and parents who might decide to conceal injury. Further, they might fail to take adequate care of themselves when away from practice or a game which could lead to injury or problems during a coaching session. 

Therefore, it’s no longer a question of whether or not you need to protect yourself. For you to navigate the number of uncertainties you will inevitably encounter while sports coaching, you will need sports coaching business insurance. 

Sports coach insurance is often sold depending on the type of coaching you undertake. If you are an athletic coach, you are going to need running coach insurance. If your specialty is physical fitness, fitness coach insurance is the specialty insurance that you’ll need. If you work with an individual and not an entire team, you are going to need individual sports instructor insurance. 

On the other hand, if your specialty is youth sports training, then you must purchase youth sports coach insurance. Finally, if you run an entire company with a number of coaches, trainers, and other professionals on your team, you will need comprehensive sports coaching company insurance. 

Sports Coach Liability Insurance 

Players can file a claim against you if an accident happens during practice, and they get injured or sustain property damage. This is why you need a general liability insurance policy. General liability insurance protects you against claims for bodily injuries or property damage that clients, contractors, and other third parties file. 

Also known as sports coach liability insurance, this policy will offer additional perks. Other exposures covered in the language of general liability insurance are:

  • Copyright infringement, slander, or libel
  • Products and completed operations
  • Liability over damaged to a rented space
  • Accidents caused by a hired/borrowed commercial vehicle

 

General liability insurance for fitness trainers and sports coaches might come with sexual abuse and molestation coverage. Sexual abuse and molestation coverage takes care of settlements, defense costs, and court judgments if a fitness trainer or sports coach is accused of sexually harassing or assaulting a client. 

 

Public Liability Insurance for Sports Coaches 

Public liability insurance for sports coaches covers a third party’s claim for bodily injuries or property damage. This is offered as part of a general liability policy in the USA. This isn’t commonly offered as a stand-alone policy in long-term business insurance plans.  However, you get this as a stand-alone coverage in short-term insurance products or events insurance.

 

Professional Indemnity Insurance for Sports Coaches 

As a sports coach, you know what it takes to win. You are likely driven by an insatiable desire to reach the peak of your sports of choice. You will often use the resources and tools available to you with the goal of helping your players achieve success. 

The consequence of this almost obsessive desire to win will often be extensive drills and long training hours to help your players fine-tune their skills. Unfortunately, your training plans will not always be successful. 

If one of your players or invested parties claims that the advice and training given was inadequate or that it resulted in undesirable results, they will likely file for damages. As such, you ought to have adequate professional indemnity insurance. The latter protects you and your business in the event of claims of negligence, mistakes, or failure to deliver your professional duties as stipulated within your contract.

The essence of general liability and professional indemnity insurance for sports coaches, tennis coaches, and football coaches is that it takes on all the financial consequences of risks faced during coaching activities. While very useful, these aren’t the only policies you need to get. 

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Workers Compensation Insurance for Sports Coaches

If you work with a team of specialists who help you with various coaching activities, you want to purchase workers’ compensation insurance. This policy protects your business in the event one of the experts in your employment gets injured while dispensing duties related to your coaching business. The policy meets the costs of treatment and lost wages. 

Employer’s Liability Insurance for Sports Coaches

Suppose the injured employee decides to sue your business for failing to provide a safe work environment. In such a scenario, you want to have employers’ liability insurance as the policy will meet the legal obligation associated with a lawsuit. 

Employer’s liability insurance is usually offered as part of workers’ compensation insurance. Some insurance companies give you the liberty of removing it to make workers comp insurance cheaper while others don’t. 

Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Another policy that provides help when employment-related claims are filed is employment practices liability insurance. Employment practices liability insurance covers costs when employees file a claim and accuse you of:

  • Retaliation
  • Exploitation
  • Sexual harassment
  • Failure to promote
  • Negligent hiring
  • Verbal abuse
  • Discrimination
  • Wrongful termination
  • Other violations of employee rights.

Personal Accident Insurance for Sports Coaches

As highlighted, sports coaching is a physical activity, and there is a chance that you or key members of your staff might be injured while coaching. As such, consider getting personal accident insurance aside from workers’ compensation insurance. The policy covers all the medical bills, lost wages, and other costs that result from a work-related accident. 

 

Commercial Property Insurance for Sports Coaches 

You will find commercial property insurance handy for insuring the office and sports equipment. Commercial property insurance will reimburse your loss if business properties get damaged or lost because of:

  • Fire
  • Theft
  • Vandalism
  • Lightning
  • Sinkhole collapse
  • Other covered perils

Additionally, consider getting a business interruption insurance policy that kicks in when you are unable to work because of an economic crisis, relocation, or renovation. Business interruption insurance is offered as part of commercial property insurance in most cases. This will cover operational costs such as utility bills, employee wages, mortgages, loans, and others. 

Commercial property insurance might also come with an inland marine insurance floater. An inland marine insurance floater reimburses your losses if work equipment gets damaged or lost during a trip. This is particularly useful if you get involved in a vehicular accident while on the way to a sports facility to train players.

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Sports Coach Insurance Cost 

Expect to pay $34 per month or $408 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance.  This sports coach insurance cost estimate assumes that you have 5 employees and make $500,000-$750,000 per year. Carriers calculate the premiums you pay based on several factors, including:

  • Years of experience
  • Number of employees
  • Claims history
  • Policy limits chosen

For a better perspective, here’s a table detailing how much premiums cost from the market’s best sports coach insurance companies: 

Cost per Month Cost per Year Best for
NEXT $16 $192 Best overall; Fastest general liability insurance for sports coaches
CoverWallet $20 $240 Sports coach insurance quotes comparison online
Tivly $22 $264 Comparing sports coach insurance quotes over the phone
Thimble $26 $312 Short-term general liability insurance for sports coaches
Hiscox $28 $336 General liability insurance with worldwide coverage for sports coaches
Markel Direct $32 $384 Sports coaches looking for international coverage
Protectivity $34 $408 Sports coaches running a sports coaching agency

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Best Sports Coach Insurance Companies 

When shopping for sports coaching insurance, you want to find an insurer that can guarantee you excellent personal service. Additionally, you want to work with an insurer with trained insurance experts on board who are familiar with the risks you face. Here are the best sports coach insurance companies. Read to know their pros, cons, and rate for a $1 million general liability insurance. 

NEXT Sports Coaching Insurance

Pros

  • Best overall
  • Get an online proof of insurance and send as a text message, email, or social media post
  • Fastest general liability insurance for sports coaches
  • Great customer service and reputation
  • Issues an online proof of insurance instantly
  • Outstanding value for money
  • Bundle two or more insurance policies and get a 10% discount

Cons

  • Couldn’t find any

NEXT’s sports coaching insurance offering is customizable. To get set up with a policy, you are first required to offer information on your sports coaching business. This is considered the first step in filing out NEXT’s online instant quote. Once agents review this information, you will be presented with a list of options and amounts of coverage. 

You have three coverage options with NEXT-basic, deluxe, and premiere. The basic coverage only offers general liability and professional liability insurance. This is the cheapest. Though more expensive, the deluxe coverage is very comprehensive as it offers general liability, commercial property, workers comp, and professional liability insurance. 

Best for: Best overall; Fastest general liability insurance for sports coaches 

Average cost: $16 per month 

Our rating: 10/10

CoverWallet Sports Coach Insurance

Pros

  • Stable rates
  • Compare sports coach insurance quotes online
  • General liability insurance comes with hired/non-owned auto liability coverage
  • Easy online policy management
  • Cancel your coverage anytime

Cons

  • Not an insurance company but an insurance broker

CoverWallet doesn’t have a specialized sports coach insurance program. Instead, you get covered through its sports educator and instructor insurance plan. Policies you can get are general liability insurance, workers compensation insurance, professional liability insurance, and more. 

Note that CoverWallet is only a seller of insurance products. This means that the quotes you can buy from this company are underwritten by different underwriters such as CNA, Chubb, Hiscox, and Liberty Mutual. Basically, this company aggregates coverage options and offers them in one go for easy purchase. 

To get a quote, use CoverWallet’s online quotes comparison tool. This will show quote details as well as pricing. You can then choose to get covered online in an instant or speak with a representative. 

Best for: Sports coach insurance quotes comparison online

Average cost: $20 per month

Our rating: 10/10

 

Tivly Sports Coach Insurance

Pros

  • Responsive customer service
  • Call and compare sports coach insurance quotes over the phone
  • A partner of many reputable insurance companies

Cons

  • You need to call to get a quote

Tivly covers a wide range of businesses. Reputable insurance companies will refer you to this company if they can’t provide coverage. Tivly policies for sports coaches include general liability, commercial property, workers compensation, and others. Call Tivly now to compare sports coach insurance quotes over the phone and get covered. 

Best for: Comparing sports coach insurance quotes over the phone

Average cost: $22 per month

Our rating: 10/10

 

Thimble Sports Coach Insurance

Pros

  • General liability insurance is available as a stand-alone policy
  • Quick to issue an estimate of your rate
  • Floaters can be added to general liability insurance

Cons

  • You can’t reach customer service by calling

Thimble grants coverage through its instructor insurance program. Policies you can get are general liability and workers compensation insurance. 

This company’s general liability insurance has a $1 million-$2 million per occurrence and aggregate limit. You get to choose how much coverage and deductibles to have. Thimble also gives you the liberty of adding an equipment breakdown floater and customer property floater to general liability insurance. 

By the way, Thimble automatically includes professional liability insurance when you get general liability insurance. 

Best for: Short-term general liability insurance for sports coaches

Average cost: $26 per month

Our rating: 9/10

 

Hiscox Sports Coach Insurance

Pros

  • Worldwide coverage
  • Upgradeable policies
  • 5% discount if you bundle two or more policies
  • 14-day money-back guarantee

Cons

  • You can’t get commercial property insurance as a stand-alone policy

Hiscox covers you through its sports instructor insurance package. This consists of general liability, professional liability, cyber liability, and business owner’s policy. Hiscox allows you to upgrade your policies for comprehensive coverage. You get a 5% discount if you bundle two or more insurance products. 

Best for: General liability insurance with worldwide coverage for sports coaches

Average cost: $28 per month

Our rating: 9/10

 

Markel Direct Sports Coach Insurance 

Pros

  • Policyholders can spread premiums to be paid to over 10 interest-free monthly installments
  • 24-hour legal advice helpline
  • Instant proof of cover offered seconds after request
  • No hidden fees or cancellation charges

Cons

  • Markel Direct doesn’t offer a claim response time
  • No outline of the claims process offered

Markel has over 25 years of experience offering specialty insurance to sports coaches, instructors, and trainers. Once you purchase your sports coaching insurance from Markel Direct, you will be leveraging this vast experience understanding the risks sports coaches face and what the best cover looks like. 

As a sports coach, Markel Direct offers you the following: 

  • Public liability policy
  • Professional indemnity policy with limits of between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000
  • Employer’s liability insurance policy of $10 million
  • Legal expenses insurance policy with a limit of $100,000
  • Directors’ and officers’ insurance policy with limits ranging between $100,000 to $5 million
  • Office Insurance
  • Occupational, personal accident insurance
  • Cyber and data risks insurance

Markel Direct is a pleasure to work with because it does not offer you a one-size-fits-all approach. You have a representative working with you to customize your policy to meet your sports coaching business insurance needs.

Best for: Sports coaches looking for international coverage 

Average cost: $32 per month 

Our rating: 9/10

 

Protectivity Sports Coaching Insurance 

Pros 

  • International coverage
  • Excellent claims handling
  • Online purchase are available 24/7
  • Range of cover offered, with the option of customization
  • Insurance documents readily available

Cons 

  • No summary of covers in the policy document

Protectivity is a leading market player in the sports coaching insurance landscape. Its sports coaching policy is underwritten by AXA, meaning that policyholders will be working with an insurer with good financial standing. You can add income protection and travel and competition coverage to your sports coaching insurance, thus more comprehensive coverage. Business insurance limits can be up to $10 million. 

Protectivity, under AXA, offers a travel insurance package for sports coaches. Protectivity’s travel insurance policy includes coverage for the following: 

  • Medical expenses accrued during travel
  • Cancellation before travel cover limits
  • Abandonment of the trip
  • Natural disasters grounding travel
  • Personal possessions and baggage

This package is particularly attractive for sports coaches who travel to recruit talent for their teams. Protectivity also offers the opportunity to add as many additional insured as needed. 

Overall, whether you are a sole trader running a sports coaching business on your own, in partnership with other sports coaches, or have formed a limited company and are looking to separate the business’s finances from your own, Protectivity is the insurer for you. 

Best for: Sports coaches running a sports coaching agency

Average cost: $34 per month 

Our rating: 8/10

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