States have been reluctant, historically, to establish rules and impose mandates on youth sports organizations.  But in recent years, some have begun providing substantial public resources and setting up guardrails for young children involved in organized athletics outside of schools. The absence of federal regulation, social upheavals let loose during the pandemic, and persistence of the problems with the American “system” of youth sports—low participation rates in poor communities, an epidemic of overuse injuries in others, and a lack of systematic training or oversight of coaches—have spurred the changes in state behavior.