Enforcing Rules

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Nov 26, 2011
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All this talk in the All Star board about it being easy to cheat at competitions with crossovers and overaged athletes has got me thinking. When I coached for Pop Warner, we basically had to go through congress to get our kids certified. They were all in a system called League One and their birth certificates had to be stamped at 4 different levels.

Why isn't there something like this for every organization such as USASF or other places like that? I'm sure there were still athletes in football and cheer that weren't in places they should have been, but there's a lot more they had to go through to cheat. At all of our competitions we had to carry around this book that had a card with all the athletes information PLUS a picture of them so we couldn't just substitute whoever we wanted, their birth certificate stamped at our league, conference, and region, sports physical, and report card.

When is USASF going to get on board with something like this? While I don't coach for Pop Warner anymore, I have created a book for my girls in case we are ever questioned at a competition.
 
Way more kids play competitive soccer .. birth certificates are uploaded to fysa ..verified ..player passes issued with each players pic and info on card that ref checks before each game. I know it would have to be modified for cheer somewhat but how hard would it be to carry around cards like that. I know cheating could still occur its not foolproof.. but verified is on the card so that shows the dob has been verified.
 
All this talk in the All Star board about it being easy to cheat at competitions with crossovers and overaged athletes has got me thinking. When I coached for Pop Warner, we basically had to go through congress to get our kids certified. They were all in a system called League One and their birth certificates had to be stamped at 4 different levels.

Why isn't there something like this for every organization such as USASF or other places like that? I'm sure there were still athletes in football and cheer that weren't in places they should have been, but there's a lot more they had to go through to cheat. At all of our competitions we had to carry around this book that had a card with all the athletes information PLUS a picture of them so we couldn't just substitute whoever we wanted, their birth certificate stamped at our league, conference, and region, sports physical, and report card.

When is USASF going to get on board with something like this? While I don't coach for Pop Warner anymore, I have created a book for my girls in case we are ever questioned at a competition.

YEAH! What she said!!!!!
 
Way more kids play competitive soccer .. birth certificates are uploaded to fysa ..verified ..player passes issued with each players pic and info on card that ref checks before each game. I know it would have to be modified for cheer somewhat but how hard would it be to carry around cards like that. I know cheating could still occur its not foolproof.. but verified is on the card so that shows the dob has been verified.
Exactly, they cost like what, $6.00 to make?
 
That is awesome. Clearly its not hard to do.

And doesn't varsity run pop Warner?

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I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I know that JAMZ and Pop Warner Cheer just joined forces, so I don't know.
 
Exactly, they cost like what, $6.00 to make?[/quote the club usually makes them. Laminates them. They aren't expensive. Takes the pic of the boys. Very small pic like 1x1. And card is made with player info dob etc. But the birth certificate is given to the club and to fysa ..governing body of youth soccer.
 
I guess the issue would lie with the non-USASF sanctioned events. Would they enforce the rule or not? USASF could come up with a system for their competitions, but what about the others? When our PW team went to a competition that wasn't Pop Warner, they didn't check eligibility of our athletes, we just registered, showed them our roster and that was it. We could have had anyone on that mat and no one would have known the difference. Is it just not wanting to put in the time to make a system that people can't as easily cheat? Is it money? Because in the end, it's only hurting the sport, not bettering it.[/quote]
 
In all the years I have been coaching- I have always carried birth certificates with me however have never been questioned about the ages- from town to nationals (including UCA hs nationals) never had to produce a single proof of age.
I do know that way back SCYCA used to be called by another name and that organization made you produce a roster and birt certs. The coordinators would sit around and compare the 2, until I pointed out well how do we know that the person here is actually the person on the floor- then we never produced birt certs again.
Our pal league makes it mandatory that each player brings an original b.c to a general meeting- the player than has a picture taken (a 1 time only fee) and that card is carried by coaches to every game- no card=no play.
Any governing body could do this if they just cared enough- however if would cost them money and time and their main goal is to make money.
So we stand by the merit system of honesty...lol
 
Every year we have to get "rostered" where we have photo id cards made and the Regional Board members come to each city, and check the girls photo ID with their birth certificate, and then for the Conference and National competition each girl must be checked prior to going into holding. It's a lot like PW.
For the Illinois Rec program we don't get checked. Not that I would ever put in a ringer but I assume it would be rather easy.
 
The rec in my area used to have an issue with the all-star girls joining just for competitions. So, to eliminate that, to compete in the league competition, each cheerleader has to attended at least 60% of the games. Before each game, they would be checked in by the opposing teams cheer coordinator. It would be a book & on each page had a picture of the cheerleader, their DOB, when they joined and ect. They had to stand in line before they stepped onto the field and the coordinator would come by one-by-one and check them in, sign them off & see if they weren't wearing jewelry.
Then, at the big competition, before and after they competed, the head league coordinator would have the book and check to make sure each girl is legal to cheer and make sure they attended at least 6 games, make sure they are the right age, ect. It works great so far. Before they can even have their page sent in they have to be cleared with the head league coordinators and what not so why not make something similar with all-star?
 
The rec in my area used to have an issue with the all-star girls joining just for competitions. So, to eliminate that, to compete in the league competition, each cheerleader has to attended at least 60% of the games. Before each game, they would be checked in by the opposing teams cheer coordinator. It would be a book & on each page had a picture of the cheerleader, their DOB, when they joined and ect. They had to stand in line before they stepped onto the field and the coordinator would come by one-by-one and check them in, sign them off & see if they weren't wearing jewelry.
Then, at the big competition, before and after they competed, the head league coordinator would have the book and check to make sure each girl is legal to cheer and make sure they attended at least 6 games, make sure they are the right age, ect. It works great so far. Before they can even have their page sent in they have to be cleared with the head league coordinators and what not so why not make something similar with all-star?

They started that with our Pop Warner league last year too. It was kind of a pain, but it worked out and there was never any issue with people at competitions using different participants. I think the book of each cheerleader's ID cards that have to be signed off at each competition is a great idea, and since there is a picture of them on the card there's never any question about whether it's the same girl or not.
 
The rules that really needs enforcing in rec cheer is whether a team actually cheers for another sport...
 
Actually across the cheerleading world: why have separate ID cards? Football programs routinely make all players get state issued ID cards (like adults have instead of a license if they didn't have driving privileges). Then, at the beginning of the game, the players line up in order, the coaches exchange stacks of ID cards in order and the coaches walk the other teams line looking at the card and the kid. Not a hard process, and the burden of proof of age is shifted to a state body. Also, the parents are committing a crime if they falsify the information to the state or create a fake ID (not saying that wouldn't happen but those who commit a crime to falsify age are definitely going to break the non criminal rules about age. The reverse is not necessarily true)
 
Actually across the cheerleading world: why have separate ID cards? Football programs routinely make all players get state issued ID cards (like adults have instead of a license if they didn't have driving privileges). Then, at the beginning of the game, the players line up in order, the coaches exchange stacks of ID cards in order and the coaches walk the other teams line looking at the card and the kid. Not a hard process, and the burden of proof of age is shifted to a state body. Also, the parents are committing a crime if they falsify the information to the state or create a fake ID (not saying that wouldn't happen but those who commit a crime to falsify age are definitely going to break the non criminal rules about age. The reverse is not necessarily true)
The only problem with this is that some states don't issue ID cards to kids under 14-16, depending on the state. It really isn't hard to make ID cards for the kids, in Pop Warner every coach has to have a Pop Warner issued photo ID card that they wear at any event, why can't the kids have these too?
 
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