Miscellaneous Reminders and Clarifications:

• Beginning 2008-09 the fine for a coach not attending a GHSA Rules Clinic in the sport that they coach will be increased to $100 (up from $50 in the past). 

• Once a community coach has been certified thru the GHSA classes, they do not have to go back thru that process.  They are, however, required to attend a GHSA Rules Clinic every year they are coaching - just like a school certificated coach.

• All GHSA rules apply to both spirit and competitive cheerleading - we do not distinguish between the two.

• Conditioning is considered activities that are not sport specific, such as running and lifting weights.  The team can do that together but cannot do anything specific to cheerleading such as tumbling, gymnastics, dance, etc.

• Cheerleaders may practice cheers and chants for spring football, but no tumbling or stunting as that would be interpreted as part of preparation for competition.  The spirit squad may cheer at the spring football game without any stunts and tumbling.

• Coaches are reminded that cheerleading is currently not in season.  Any practices being held at this time would involve illegal coaching and be subject to fine.  We have had several schools reported for illegal coaching.  Both school coaches and community coaches should not be coaching teams at this time.  Please be aware of all of the rules and follow them.   Remember that illegal coaching is subject to fine or more extensive consequences administered by the GHSA. 

Question:         Is it legal for a school to offer a tumbling/stunting class during the school day, taught by the school cheer coach, and the competitive team attend the class?

Answer:           According to GHSA rules, only non sport-specific conditioning can take place out-of-season and tumbling/stunting classes would definitely be sport specific to cheerleading and considered illegal coaching and/or practice, especially when classes are taught by the cheerleading coach. A school should also verify with the State Department of Education that this would be an acceptable class according to State Department guidelines.

Tryouts:

Question:         If we do not have any graduating seniors to teach cheers at tryouts, are we allowed to have cheerleaders from other high schools teach the tryout cheers and/or help with tryouts?

Answer:           The answer would be no.  In this case the coach would be responsible.  Or - she could divide the cheerleaders into small groups and have them make up their own cheer, chant, and dance (say 45 seconds or 1 min.) routine to go by.  Joyce answered this one at the GCCA meeting one year.

Question:         Are we allowed to have a second tryout during the summer?  After school starts?

Answer:           Yes, you may hold a second tryout once school is out.  If you hold off until the beginning of the next school year then you are in season anyway and can hold tryouts and practice.

Outside Help For Tryouts:

Please remember that when we refer to running a tryout we are discussing the teaching of cheers, chants, skills, etc. during the actual tryout process.  When we refer to judging we are referring to individuals who help to select the team during the actual final tryout.

1. Can a school bring in outside instructors for tryouts or someone to teach materials during tryouts?  No, this would be considered illegal coaching.

2. Can a school run a tryout in April and select 12 Varsity team members and run a second tryout in May to select the other 4 team members?  No, a school may only hold one tryout session in the spring and it may last up to ten days.  If they wish to hold an additional tryout, they must wait until school is out.

3. Can a school bring in outside judges to judge their tryout?  Yes, you may bring in outside judges to judge the final tryout.  The judges may not participate in any other part of the tryout.  Because this is a sport all coaches should consider selecting their own team.  Remember that as a coach you should clear all tryout procedures with your Athletic Director and Principal.  There are some systems that require the use of outside judges.

4. Can a school invite a local gym or a national company to run their tryout?  No, this would be illegal coaching.  (A local gym instructor can be a judge for the final tryout.)

5. Can a school allow the students from the local college to run their tryout?  No, this would be illegal coaching.  (A local college cheerleader can be a judge for the final tryout.)

Stunting at Tryouts:

Question:         Is there a rule that says that you cannot practice stunts during the tryout week and have stunting as criteria for judging tryouts?

Answer:           You may use stunts as a part of your tryout.  That is left to the individual coach's discretion.  However, safety should always come first.  It is of utmost importance that criteria be set with the safety of the athlete as the first criteria.  During tryouts you often have new athletes trying out who have never stunted and you do not know their ability level.  You may also have young athletes who are just entering high school.  Progressions in stunts are very important.  It is vital to begin with the basics and progress to the more difficult stunts.  Teaching safety, how to base, how to fly, and how to spot are vital.  Following progressions through the stunts should be mandatory.  We often forget to teach the basics to new athletes and focus on the necessary skills they need to learn to do stunts.  Word of caution:  Do not allow cheerleaders to progress to a more difficult level of stunting until they have mastered the skills of the lower levels.  Also, take into consideration just how you can fairly score stunting when you have athletes trying out who may not have stunted before.  Tryouts are a short time and developing and scoring these type skills in that short a time may be difficult.

All-Stars and Lay Coaching

Situation 1:      The lay coach owns a gym, what are the regulations with this? And can the lay coach charge the kids that come to his gym if they are his lay coach?

A school's lay coach must abide by the same rules as the school certificated coach.  They can only coach the members of the school team during cheerleading season only.  If the team members attend a gym owned by the lay coach, the lay coach cannot coach them at his gym out-of-season.  He can coach them during season at the gym but the school head coach must also be present. 

Situation 2:      The head coach wants to work at a gym.  Can she do this and coach a varsity competition squad?

The lay coach cannot coach any of the school team members on an all-star team at any time of the year.   The same rules would apply to the school head coach if she worked at the gym.  She could work at the gym but could not coach any of her team members out-of-season.

Situation 3:      If the lay coach owns a gym and the team goes on their own to the gym, does the head coach have to be with them?

If the lay coach owns the gym and the team goes on their own to the gym, the head coach must be present DURING SEASON, and neither the lay coach nor the head coach can coach any of the team members out-of-season. 

Basic rules:  Neither the lay coach nor the school coach can coach any of their team members, any time, any place, out-of-season.  In season, the team can go to the gym of the lay coach but the head coach must be present if it's the school team practice.

Situation 4:      Can the lay coach work with any other kids in the county? and can he work with them in the off season if the team goes on their own to the gym or is on the lay coaches all star team?
The lay coach can work with other kids in the county so long as they are not on the school team that he coaches and he can work with them off season.

Situation 5:      Can you make outside gyms mandatory for a team to go to or penalize a child from not going?

If a coach mandates that the team attend a gym for practice when it is out-of-season it is illegal practice.  If a coach mandates that the team attend a gym for practice when it is in-season and the gym coach is not the school lay coach, it is illegal coaching.  The GHSA does not regulate that period of time from the last day of school until August 1 except that practice cannot be mandated and the "dead week" of July 4 must be observed.

Question:  Can I coach at an All Star gym and coach at a public school?

Answer:  It would not be a violation for you to work at the gym so long as you do not coach any of the girls on your high school squad.  You can work with the middle school and/or the Pee-Wee all stars.  You cannot coach an All-Star squad that has any of your high school team members on it.

Question:  Can a community coach that works at an all-star gym coach support cheerleaders from his/her school at the all-star gym?

Answer:  Once a community coach is hired by the school he/she is the school's community coach for cheerleading and since we don't distinguish between competitive and support cheerleading he/she could be the coach for both.  The season for spirit cheerleading is all year so he/she could coach the spirit squad all year so long as not one single girl is also on the competitive squad.  The community coach cannot coach the competitive team members once the competition season is over for them.  

Question:  During the season, if some of the teammates want to hire a tumbling instructor to come to the school and do a tumbling class before or after a regular practice, is this allowed? can the coach be in attendance? The money would come from the individual girls who want to attend the tumbling class.

Answer:  No, this would be considered outside coaching.

Question:  Are middle school coaches required to attend the mandatory rules clinics.

Answer:  No, but it is a great way to stay educated.  If you do not attend, please contact your high school coach to review rules updates.  Although middle school teams do not fall under the umbrella of GHSA, they are still required to adhere to national federation safety guidelines.

Question:  Can a lay/community coach coach for more than one school? 

Answer:  Yes, a community coach can coach for multiple schools as long as the schools are in the same system.