hahaha absolutely correct. varsity spent big bucks lobbying against it too, yet many took that to mean the CIF change was 100% the best thing for cheerleaders...NOPE!
JUST for this year:
If our finals are on a Sunday... and we advance (as of right now) our finals performance has to be “video taped” for judging late Saturday.
It’s unclear right now on if this will happen for World School division as well.
Here we go:
Here in CA we are all pushing to get this worked out ASAP. CIF isn’t wanting to budge yet has no real “reason” other than Sunday is their “chosen day of rest” for sports- (unless you’re a private Christian or Catholic school) then you can choose an alternate day of respite?!?! <
which is a huge head scratcher given
Our very “progressive” state is dictating a specific religions day of rest but not to those private institutions that specifically recognize the Sabath as a day of rest
(Confused yet)
Example: Private School St. Mary Highs School in somewheresville CA, being a catholic institution can state that Tuesday is their day of rest and can compete on a Sunday?! Isn’t this WHO the rule is for or are we just choosing Sunday’s because it’s universaly recognized as a church attendance day?
Don’t get me wrong, I am Christian and observe Sundays as a “Day of rest” however the context into which they are choosing this “day of rest” is confusing - it is also in direct conflict of what constitutes “rest” or “religious observation” to one individual vs another.
given clubs and organizations (band/dance/student body meetings) not deemed “athletic” are more than fine to “work” or “play” on this day. In short: what makes a competition in dance much different from a competition day in cheer? ... or marching in a parade, meeting for an associated student body meeting ?! and if cheer is now a “sport activity” then soccer or football?
Why Athletics at all? Is it not all “activity” and not “rest”
Not to get so deep into this I get your head spinning but if the PURPOSE of this specific ruling is to ensure athletes equally get a day of “down time”... or if it’s intention is to limit what they deem “too many” hours of competition/practice then- why not put a sanction on the number of days (5/6) or hours of play?!
Well, CIF DOES restrict the number of hours of sport participation (play and compete) to 17 hours a week- however they offer Golf an “extension” or exclusion of allotted play/practice hours due to the nature of the sport and the time consumption a full “round of 9 holes” might take.
So if this “accommodation” and or “waiver” in allotted practice hours can be made for one sport due to its nature... or an exception can be made for the institutions that are private yet publicly recognize that specific day as their day of worship- why is an accommodation or any consideration NOT being made for a sport in public institutions that require an adjustment or “extension” due to the nature of the sport activity?!
In reality- I see this blowing up... all sorts of holes with reasoning to the specific dictation
I’m already hearing chatter of CIF -
“denying equal opportunities for young women”
“Infringing on church separation from state”
“Sport & Gender Bias” due to cheer being predominately a “female” sport.
Not to mention they have no way of ensuring a team activity does not meet or participate in tournament on a Sunday and should they discover one does are they hold each sport activity to equal reprocussions and or ruling interpretation?
Our AD was threatened that if we knowingly compete on a Sunday none of our athletics (football, Volleyball, Baseball) would be allowed to host a CIF sanctioned event as a punishment. (What does Baseball have to do with cheerleading breaking the rules)... again, what’s to stop every cheer team at every school to hold an impromptu “competition” on a Sunday to force a self imposed CIF “Strike” -
What would it do to them to have little to No CIF sanctioned events running in the state of CA?!
Also, who’s to stop every California public school from registering their organized team sports separately as recreation organizations?!
Last: Cheerleading in California has NO ranking system and No actual organized /Structured “Regional” or recognized “State” competition -
Most competition we participate in is through an outside organization (USA, Jamz, UCA, NCA)
it’s like saying “you’re a sport and we are going to limit when, how much and what you do to participate and prepare but we will not have any actual “tournaments” and or we only provide “limited” non universal ranking tournaments as real state sanctioned competition for you to prepare for.
CIF simply can’t have one or two “Regional” competitions with optional participation and call it a “season of competing”...
It’s a HUGE can of worms that’s about to be opened
When someone could just be really smart, And say “Heres a waiver for one Sunday a year due to the nature of your sport.” - carry on
And if it’s not “fair” to other sports- give them all one as well-
They’re ticking off the wrong kind of people- Cheerleaders and Cheer Parents - Us as coaches can attest to - they don’t want none of that
