Greer Law Group, Colorado Youth Sports Sexual Abuse Lawyer

Coach and Club Abuse Attorney Serving Denver and All of Colorado

Abuse in youth sports almost always runs on the same thing: a coach who was allowed to be alone with your child, and a club that found it easier not to look.

The rides home. The extra session nobody else attended. The travel team hotel room. The private messages about technique at eleven at night. None of that is a coaching method. It is access, and somebody granted it. This is the work The Pink Advocate takes on.

The call is free and it stays confidential. 303-331-6460.

Where these cases come from

Club and travel teams, where coaches control playing time, rankings and recruiting exposure
Gymnastics, swimming, skating, wrestling, dance and other sports built around one-on-one instruction and physical contact
Private coaches, trainers and instructors hired directly by families
Overnight travel, tournaments, training camps and team hotel rooms
Gyms, rec centers, martial arts schools and climbing facilities
A coach who moved to another club after complaints and kept coaching
Grooming that started in team messaging apps and private DMs

What Colorado now requires of youth sports organizations

This is recent and most parents have never heard of it. Under C.R.S. 26.5-4-402, added in 2024 and effective August 7, 2024, a youth sports organization in Colorado has specific duties.

It must require each coach to complete mandatory reporter training every year. That requirement started July 1, 2025.
It must develop a prohibited conduct policy covering coaches, athletes, parents and spectators, including a rule requiring adults who know of prohibited conduct to report it.
It must require its coaches to comply with that policy.
It must post the required notice on its website, or give it to every participant’s parent or guardian if it has no website.

Those are written duties with dates attached. Whether an organization met them is a question with a documentary answer, and it is one of the first things we ask for.

The federal 24 hour rule

If the sport runs through a national governing body, federal law adds a duty. Under 34 U.S.C. 20341, a covered individual, meaning an adult authorized by a national governing body or certain amateur sports organizations to interact with a minor athlete, must report suspected child abuse as soon as possible, which the statute defines as within 24 hours.

Be careful how that is described to you. The statute imposes the duty and protects people who report in good faith. It does not by itself hand a survivor a lawsuit for failure to report. What it does is set a clear federal standard, and a coach or administrator who sat on knowledge for weeks has to explain that against a 24 hour rule written into federal law. That is evidence, and it is powerful evidence, but it is not the claim itself.

Where the claim actually comes from

The club, gym or organization. Negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent retention. What it knew when it hired him, what complaints it received, what it did about them, whether it had the policies Colorado requires, and whether it enforced any rule about adults being alone with children.

The person who did it. Where the survivor was a minor and the conduct falls under the listed federal offenses, 18 U.S.C. 2255 allows a civil suit with liquidated damages of $150,000 as a floor, plus costs and attorney fees, and punitive damages are available. Since a 2022 amendment that statute says there shall be no time limit for filing.

Colorado’s own deadline. Under C.R.S. 13-80-103.7, as amended by Senate Bill 21-073, a civil action based on sexual misconduct may be commenced at any time, without limitation, for claims accruing on or after January 1, 2022, and for earlier claims whose limitation period had not already run by then. In Aurora Public Schools v. A.S., 2023 CO 39, the Colorado Supreme Court held that claims already time-barred before January 1, 2022 cannot be revived.

Most youth sports organizations are private, so the short government notice deadlines that apply to public school districts do not apply here. A rec program run by a city or county is the exception, and that is worth asking about early.

What we go looking for

The coach’s application, references, background check and when it was run
Prior complaints from any family, and what the club did with them
Whether the organization had the prohibited conduct policy Colorado requires, and whether anyone enforced it
Mandatory reporter training records for each coach
SafeSport reports, national governing body files, and any suspension or ban
Travel rosters, room assignments and chaperone policies
Facility access logs and camera coverage
Team messaging apps, group chats and direct messages

What to do now

Write down the timeline: the club, the coach, the years, your child’s age, who else was around.
Screenshot any messages before anyone deletes an account, including team apps and DMs.
Keep registration paperwork, waivers, team handbooks and anything the club published about its policies.
If you report to the club or the governing body, do it in writing and keep a copy.
Do not sign anything from the club, its governing body or an insurer, and do not accept a refund framed as a settlement.
Get your child support from someone who works with young athletes. That comes first.

What a claim can cover

Depending on the facts, a claim may seek compensation for counseling and medical treatment, the loss of a sport the child had built their life around, lost scholarship and competitive opportunity, future care, and the emotional harm. A federal claim under 18 U.S.C. 2255 also carries the $150,000 floor and attorney fees. No one can tell you what a case is worth without reading the file, and anyone who tries is guessing.

Why families call Greer Law Group

Marlo Greer built The Pink Advocate around a simple idea. Someone has to be willing to say out loud what an institution did, and to keep saying it after the other side’s lawyers start calling you difficult. She is a trial attorney, she speaks about this work nationally and internationally, and she does not treat a survivor like a file number.

You will talk to a lawyer. No intake script, no call center, and the conversation stays confidential.

Frequently asked questions

What does Colorado require of youth sports organizations?
Under C.R.S. 26.5-4-402, effective August 7, 2024, a youth sports organization must require each coach to complete mandatory reporter training annually, a requirement that began July 1, 2025. It must also develop a prohibited conduct policy covering coaches, athletes, parents and spectators, require its coaches to comply with it, and post the required notice on its website or give it to every participant’s parent or guardian.

Does the federal Safe Sport 24 hour reporting rule give me a lawsuit?
Not by itself, and you should be told that plainly. Under 34 U.S.C. 20341 an adult authorized by a national governing body to interact with a minor athlete must report suspected abuse within 24 hours. The statute creates the duty and protects good faith reporters, but it does not itself create a private right of action. It is strong evidence of the standard an organization failed to meet, used alongside the actual claims.

Can we sue the club, or only the coach?
Both, and the club is usually where the recovery is. The claim against the organization looks at how it hired and screened him, what complaints it already had, whether it had the policies Colorado requires, and whether anyone enforced a rule about adults being alone with children.

The abuse happened years ago. Is it too late?
Maybe not. Under 18 U.S.C. 2255, the federal claim for someone victimized as a minor, a 2022 amendment removed the deadline entirely and the statute now says there shall be no time limit for filing. Colorado’s rule is separate and depends on dates. Tell us the years and we will check both.

What is the minimum a federal claim is worth?
18 U.S.C. 2255 sets liquidated damages at $150,000. A survivor can recover either actual damages or that amount, plus costs and reasonable attorney fees, and the court may award punitive damages.

Do we have to go through SafeSport or the governing body first?
No. Those are the sport’s internal processes and they belong to the organization. A civil claim is separate and does not depend on what a governing body decides, though its file can become useful evidence.

Talk to Greer Law Group

Free and confidential. Nothing moves until you say so.

The Greer Law Group
2950 Brighton Blvd Suite 25, Denver, CO 80216
303-331-6460

This page is general information about Colorado and federal law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts.