Cheerleading Safety From AACCA. Solutions to address the risks involved in cheerleading.

As college and high school basketball tournaments are gearing up around the country, I just wanted to put out a reminder about basketball safety rules and the importance of everyone following and helping to enforce these rules.

The safety rules are written to help minimize the chance of having a catastrophic injury happen to one of our cheerleaders. If you see a team performing skills that are prohibited, you have an obligation to the cheerleaders on the court and to the rest of the cheerleading community to address the situation before a life-changing injury occurs.   There are several ways to help enforce the rules.

• Speak to the other coach.  There may be an issue of not knowing a skill is illegal. While this should not be the case, there are sometimes instances where a new coach has been put in place or someone is filling in so that the cheerleaders can be at multiple venues. There may also be an issue of interpretation of a rule that needs to be discussed. (We have developed a college basketball rules “cheat sheet” that can be handed out to coaches)
• Bring the issue to the attention of your own athletic director or principal to determine the best course of action. She may know the administrator at the other school that can take care of the situation.
• Bring the issue to the attention of the tournament director or host school. They should not want prohibited skills being performed inside their building.
• File an official complaint with either the state association of it is a high school team, or with the AACCA if it is a college team. Coaches may lose their certification if they are not following the rules.

With all of the hoopla and additional personnel at tournament time, keep your team focused on crowd-leading skills and sign use – not on showing off cheerleading skills that would be better performed in competition.  Communicate with the tournament directors and other coaches as to what happens during timeouts and what locations are available for the cheerleaders.  And finally, regardless of the rules set forth by the NFHS or AACCA, the tournament officials and game officials always have the last word. If they determine that you are only allowed half of the space you are used to, or that you are not allowed to stand up in front of the crowd, then those are the rules for that game or tournament.

March madness is so named because it’s a crazy time for everyone involved. Let’s keep the cheerleading part on the safe side!