A few weeks ago, a news story about a player suing his high school baseball coach for telling him to slide into third base came across my desk. At first, I had to double check that this wasn’t from some satirical website, because I really couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but no, it was a true story.

The player, now 22, felt that he had suffered an injury that could have been prevented if the coach hadn’t told him to slide. While the case made it to court, the jury had the good sense to side with the coach and not hold him liable for the injury.

This article hit me hard on several levels. First, as a person who has spent over two decades coaching in various capacities, I wondered if this was going to be it for me. I already spend a lot of money to keep up with different certifications that I believe are important to have as a youth coach. I spend money to attend training seminars to keep up with the most current training philosophies and equipment. Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to have an organization pay to cover some of those costs in exchange for the coaching that I do. If I had to consider taking on liability insurance as a coach, I just don’t know how affordable it would be for me to continue, especially in a volunteer capacity.

As a coach, I’m fully aware of the responsibility that I have to keep my athletes safe and healthy. I truly want the best for them, and the team, at every outcome. I also need my athletes to trust me. I know many times I’ve made up a swim lineup that made individuals unhappy or uncomfortable, but for the good of the team, I needed them to step outside of their comfort zone. When athletes question me on such a call, I tell them that I wouldn’t ask it of them if I didn’t think they could do it. This is one of the most important bonds of trust in the athlete/coach relationship, and this lawsuit threatened to undermine that at every level.

As a person who is involved in many volunteer organizations, including sports-related ones, I’ve already seen the effects that other lawsuits, like the sex abuse ones in the Boy Scouts, have had on those organizations. It’s harder and harder to find volunteers who are willing to put the time in to complete all the training that is now required for all volunteers because of those lawsuits. Knowing that we’re already facing a volunteer shortage across the board, if this lawsuit had gone the other way, I can only imagine how much greater the struggle could be to get people to step up to the plate.

As someone who played a lot of different sports growing up, I started thinking about whether I could have cashed in on my twinge-y shoulder, or my ankle that gives out now and again. That didn’t last too long, because as an athlete, accepting responsibility for my own actions is part of the philosophy my coaches instilled in me.

As a parent, this is heartbreaking. Obviously, you don’t want to see your child go through the rest of their life in pain or disabled at such a young age. On the other hand, you want to have robust community organizations for your kids to participate in, and you don’t want them to cost an arm or a leg.

I’ve been fortunate over the course of my lifetime, and so far over the course of my kids’ lifetimes, to have benefited from many truly gifted coaches who coached from their heart and are genuinely there to help the kids. I’ve seen games where there were bad calls by coaches, referees and even bad decisions made spur-of-the-moment by young athletes. With very, very few exceptions, I truly believe these were all honest mistakes and that the coach/referee/athlete believed they were making the right or best call at the time.

When the exceptions happen, and they do on occasion, I try to tamp down my temper flare by reminding myself that sports are life, and life is not always right or fair. In that situation, it’s my job to control how I respond to the situation.

As I read the final article about the court case, which included elements from both sides’ testimony, it struck me what a perfect metaphor this case was for coaching in general. The coach’s argument was essentially the impact that a negative outcome for him would have on coaches and school districts everywhere, as they decided that sports were just too risky to continue to sponsor. The outcome for the coach would have a ripple effect on the whole team, and teams beyond his scope. And, ultimately, the coach has to do what is right for the whole team, not just one individual.

The former athlete felt that he was entitled to damages because the extent of injury to his ankle was so severe that he could never play sports again. One of the things that I love about my sport, swimming, is just how many people can participate in it. USA swimming has a robust Paralympic program, and we’ve seen some absolutely amazing athletes who, whether from birth, disease, or an accident, are differently abled. I’ve also known people in their 80s and 90s who still participate and compete in masters swimming. It seems to me that if a person’s drive and passion for a sport are there, they can find a way to participate. Now, I don’t know the specifics of the injury that this player suffered, but coming from a sport where I’ve seen people missing entire limbs still get in the pool and go, I have to think that where there is a will, there is a way.

At the end of the day, this is probably not the last time that we’ll see a case like this in the headlines. I’d like to believe that common sense will prevail and they will be tossed out of court enough times that it won’t make it worth the effort to sue, but as my dad used to say, “the thing about common sense is that it isn’t very common.” As for all these former athletes who have been robbed of their careers, might I suggest that they consider coaching, if they’re still so invested in the sport?

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.