High School Weird Hs Cheer Rules

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Apr 21, 2017
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Has anyone else had strange cheer rules on their high school. Anything like coaches rules, school rules or something. In my school district nobody is allowed to be a cheerleader or even on dance team as a freshman. Period. Also our JV teams in our district must cheer all varsity Fball games.
 
Those are weird.

We do not have freshmen-specific cheer teams.

Only JV and Varsity.

Freshmen may try out for either.
 
In Arizona you cannot do allstar cheer and high school cheer at the same time. I always found that annoying and strange -_-

Annoying, yes but there are a few other states that have the same rule. In IL, you cannot do all star until the HS season is over. I think there are a few more.
 
Weird rules in my high school they took away Jv this year which I think wasn't right because it gave more girls opportunity to cheer but Freshmen could try out for any squad they wanted to (Varsity FB&wrestling, Varsity BB, Or Jv) and our Jv squad only cheered at Jv games


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In Arizona you cannot do allstar cheer and high school cheer at the same time. I always found that annoying and strange -_-

I wonder why they feel the need to do this or why it is even matters in Tennessee we have the option to do both honestly it makes our high school squad stronger in stunts and tumbling


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In Arizona you cannot do allstar cheer and high school cheer at the same time. I always found that annoying and strange -_-
Same for WV which is why my kid tried out for dance team when she goes to high school in the fall instead of cheer.
 
Same for WV which is why my kid tried out for dance team when she goes to high school in the fall instead of cheer.

I did not know WV had that rule. It somewhat explains why the top HS teams have such talent. They are probably all opting for HS because there are very few gyms.

I do not even know where WV kids cheer if they cheer all stars. Do they opt to drive to MD/VA gyms?
 
I did not know WV had that rule. It somewhat explains why the top HS teams have such talent. They are probably all opting for HS because there are very few gyms.

I do not even know where WV kids cheer if they cheer all stars. Do they opt to drive to MD/VA gyms?
Well we drive to VA. But there are gyms that have worlds teams in Charleston, Huntington, Parkersburg, and metro areas ( if u can call it metro lol) etc. But all of those are farther away from me than my drive to VA. We are in southern WV and our county HS goes to comps but is not really as competitive as other High Schools in the state, again in the metro areas. Some gyms even wait till hs cheer is over before they throw together a worlds team. (In other words, they keep it on the down low lol)
 
The only "rule" we have is that HS cheerleaders may not miss a HS practice for a club sport (a/k/a all star). They can do both, but during the season, HS must come first. Thankfully I only have a handful of all-star girls so working around the practice schedule isn't that hard, and we only compete fall so we don't have to worry about competition conflicts.

Here's the rule:

Bona Fide Team Member:
A Bona Fide member of the school team is a student who is
consistently present for, and actively participates in, all high school
team practices, games and competitions. Bona fide members of a
school team are precluded from missing a high school practice, game or
competition in order to participate in a non-school activity/event in any
activity/sport recognized by the MSSAA/MIAA. Students cannot be
given special treatment (late arrival, early dismissal, etc.) for nonschool
athletic programs.

A student-athlete must be a Team Member for 50% of the regular
season schedule for that sport to participate in any MSSAA
Tournament competition (team member: any student athlete who
attends practices or games for his/her sport teams – e.g. Participant
moved to JV and then Varsity).

A violation of this rule may result in disciplinary action as outlined in
the Violation of Rules and Regulations section of this Rulebook.
On occasion, a student might find himself/herself in potential conflict
with this rule. This can happen when a student-athlete has an
2016 ~ 2017 MSSAA Cheerleading Rules & Regulations
3
association with an out-of-school team or has an opportunity to
participate in some special tournament or on a special team. A waiver
of the bona fide team rule excusing the student from the school activity
that day and allowing the student to participate in such a non-school
event is possible under the guidelines set forth below.
Waivers will be considered on an individual basis on the merits of each
case. A waiver request must be submitted in writing to the MSSAA
before the student may participate in the non-school event or activity.
Waivers will be approved or denied within two weeks of the request,
and the coach/athletic director or principal will be notified in writing.

I had to obtain a waiver for the first time this past fall (Friday night game was changed last minute to a Thursday night game, a few girls have all-star practice on Thursday nights, and it was the weekend of Regionals so I wanted to be 110% sure they would be good to compete if missing the odd Thursday game). It was as simple as emailing the governing person at the MSSAA informing them of the situation and them emailing back a written waiver confirming the actions.
 
The only "rule" we have is that HS cheerleaders may not miss a HS practice for a club sport (a/k/a all star). They can do both, but during the season, HS must come first. Thankfully I only have a handful of all-star girls so working around the practice schedule isn't that hard, and we only compete fall so we don't have to worry about competition conflicts.

Here's the rule:

Bona Fide Team Member:
A Bona Fide member of the school team is a student who is
consistently present for, and actively participates in, all high school
team practices, games and competitions. Bona fide members of a
school team are precluded from missing a high school practice, game or
competition in order to participate in a non-school activity/event in any
activity/sport recognized by the MSSAA/MIAA. Students cannot be
given special treatment (late arrival, early dismissal, etc.) for nonschool
athletic programs.

A student-athlete must be a Team Member for 50% of the regular
season schedule for that sport to participate in any MSSAA
Tournament competition (team member: any student athlete who
attends practices or games for his/her sport teams – e.g. Participant
moved to JV and then Varsity).

A violation of this rule may result in disciplinary action as outlined in
the Violation of Rules and Regulations section of this Rulebook.
On occasion, a student might find himself/herself in potential conflict
with this rule. This can happen when a student-athlete has an
2016 ~ 2017 MSSAA Cheerleading Rules & Regulations
3
association with an out-of-school team or has an opportunity to
participate in some special tournament or on a special team. A waiver
of the bona fide team rule excusing the student from the school activity
that day and allowing the student to participate in such a non-school
event is possible under the guidelines set forth below.
Waivers will be considered on an individual basis on the merits of each
case. A waiver request must be submitted in writing to the MSSAA
before the student may participate in the non-school event or activity.
Waivers will be approved or denied within two weeks of the request,
and the coach/athletic director or principal will be notified in writing.

I had to obtain a waiver for the first time this past fall (Friday night game was changed last minute to a Thursday night game, a few girls have all-star practice on Thursday nights, and it was the weekend of Regionals so I wanted to be 110% sure they would be good to compete if missing the odd Thursday game). It was as simple as emailing the governing person at the MSSAA informing them of the situation and them emailing back a written waiver confirming the actions.

I know people can't do both in states like AZ and IL but is this only cheer? Like can you do travel soccer and be on the school team? I ask because my district and our neighbors have a large population of travel sports, and MOST of the varsity athletes play their sport year round on AAU teams. It is partly why we produce so many top-tier athletes, because these kids eat, breathe, sleep their sport. Our teams that have a big population of travel athletes, go to states and tend to do much better than our sports like lax, where no one is playing on travel team.

AS is not as popular where I'm from but it is in other districts, and it's no surprised that those teams tend to do well on the state level.
 
I know people can't do both in states like AZ and IL but is this only cheer? Like can you do travel soccer and be on the school team? I ask because my district and our neighbors have a large population of travel sports, and MOST of the varsity athletes play their sport year round on AAU teams. It is partly why we produce so many top-tier athletes, because these kids eat, breathe, sleep their sport. Our teams that have a big population of travel athletes, go to states and tend to do much better than our sports like lax, where no one is playing on travel team.

AS is not as popular where I'm from but it is in other districts, and it's no surprised that those teams tend to do well on the state level.

Yes, you can do a club sport and HS sport team, just during the the season the HS team has to come before club team! So you cant miss any in season sport game/practice (cheer, soccer, football, track, XC, hockey, basketball, ski team, golf, lacrosse, etc.) for any club team game/practice (all-star, AAU, club lax, club soccer, etc.)
 
I know people can't do both in states like AZ and IL but is this only cheer? Like can you do travel soccer and be on the school team? I ask because my district and our neighbors have a large population of travel sports, and MOST of the varsity athletes play their sport year round on AAU teams. It is partly why we produce so many top-tier athletes, because these kids eat, breathe, sleep their sport. Our teams that have a big population of travel athletes, go to states and tend to do much better than our sports like lax, where no one is playing on travel team.

AS is not as popular where I'm from but it is in other districts, and it's no surprised that those teams tend to do well on the state level.

I'm not 100% positive, but I believe here in AZ you can do any club sport at the same time as the high school sport and be fine (there are a ton of Volleyball players who do both club and school volleyball). I think maybe it's just that you can't do them during the same season? But if that's the case, there are a ton of soccer and volleyball players breaking that rule. Now I'm super curious, I'll have to ask around.
 
Yes, you can do a club sport and HS sport team, just during the the season the HS team has to come before club team! So you cant miss any in season sport game/practice (cheer, soccer, football, track, XC, hockey, basketball, ski team, golf, lacrosse, etc.) for any club team game/practice (all-star, AAU, club lax, club soccer, etc.)
I'm not 100% positive, but I believe here in AZ you can do any club sport at the same time as the high school sport and be fine (there are a ton of Volleyball players who do both club and school volleyball). I think maybe it's just that you can't do them during the same season? But if that's the case, there are a ton of soccer and volleyball players breaking that rule. Now I'm super curious, I'll have to ask around.


That's so crazy. I do know that travel basketball is in the summer, like it follows immediately after the HS bball season so I guess it wouldn't be a conflict. But some sports are seasonal so that wouldn't make sense. I really have beef with these rules because it doesn't work for sports like cheer, that are year round. I know some sports you're more likely to get recruited by doing travel than just doing school.

@EWalsh1029 how is this tracked? We have a similar rule that requires us to cheer in certain amount of games/practices to be eligible but it was never monitored. Even attendance isn't full proof because I've missed entire school days for non-legit things and still went to practice.
 
That's so crazy. I do know that travel basketball is in the summer, like it follows immediately after the HS bball season so I guess it wouldn't be a conflict. But some sports are seasonal so that wouldn't make sense. I really have beef with these rules because it doesn't work for sports like cheer, that are year round. I know some sports you're more likely to get recruited by doing travel than just doing school.

@EWalsh1029 how is this tracked? We have a similar rule that requires us to cheer in certain amount of games/practices to be eligible but it was never monitored. Even attendance isn't full proof because I've missed entire school days for non-legit things and still went to practice.

It's not really tracked unfortunately. I'm sure plenty of MA HS athletes miss HS events for club events all the time. They really will only get in trouble if somebody reports them. Kind of just like with out of season practices, I know tons of teams who hold them, but don't get in trouble because nobody reports them.
 
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