High School High School Cheer Rules?

[Emma_QCE]

Hi there,
I am an Aussie cheerleader who also happens to be a high school teacher and cheerleading coach. Here in Australia, my school team competes at Level 2 and follows the same rules as the clubs.
We are hoping to bring a team to the Spirit Sports Duel in the Desert competition in 2013, but I've noticed that the rules for schools in America are different, so I was hoping to find the best place to get a copy of the rules so I can start planning for it!! Does anyone know where I can find the most recent version of high school cheer rules? I've tried looking online, but I only seem to find things that are from 2008 or 2009, and I'm convinced there would have to be 2012/13 rules out there somewhere!!!

Any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[cheerforeverever]

It appears that Spirit Sports follows NFHS rules:
The actual book could be bought here: National Federation of State High School Associations - 2012-2013 Spirit Rule Book and their main site is :
NFHS | Spirit


It is almost identical to the free AACCA rules here however for competition purposes:


AACCA



The only difference last time I looked between those 2 rulebooks was that NFHS had different rules for dismounts onto basketball courts and surfaces,etc..... sideline stuff which doesn't apply to y'all anyway .

Additional rules for the intermediate division restrictions are listed here: (Spirit Sports ).

 

[cheerforeverever]

Some key things they changed this year for high school divisions in general:
-no more double downs for school divisions (only 1 1/4 rotations on any dismount)
-basket tosses can't exceed 1 1/4 rotations
-inversions were revised so that a braced backward or forward flip is now allowed in pyramids if it meets certain criteria

Intermediate restrictions may limit those however

 

[Emma_QCE]

Thank you so much!! Do you happen to understand the division at all...?

I just had a look at them, and I'm a little confused by all the different ones...

My team will be made up of no more than 15 students who are aged between 11-16 and I have one male in the group...so would that mean that we would be Junior Varsity, or Small Coed, because I see that Intermediate Medium Varsity isn't allowed males...?

thanks again for your help!

 

[mariahnicole1216]

The 'Junior' in Junior Varsity doesn't mean age. I would put them in either Small Varsity or Small Coed. Im not sure what the rules are on how many males you need to be considered coed.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

The 'Junior' in Junior Varsity doesn't mean age. I would put them in either Small Varsity or Small Coed. Im not sure what the rules are on how many males you need to be considered coed.

Even I you only have one guy you will be considered coed I believe.

 

[cheerforeverever]

Junior Varsity means no 12th graders(seniors) in high school essentially
(in the U.S., our high school goes from 9th grade to 12th grade with the kids starting at age 13 or 14 upon entering 9th grade). Typically it is a school's "B" squad, where as the Varsity squad would be the more advanced and older "A" squad of the school. If you didn't make the varsity team at your school, you would get put on JV (the next level down).
Your team could technically compete in the division age wise (since at 16 I'm guessing no one is a "senior" by U.S. standards, and it would be the less polished of the two divisions as far as teams competing goes. Technically, some teams could do level 5 tumbling and level 4 stunting, but it would be doubtful for the majority of a squad, since most of those kids would be put on the Varsity team.

Small Coed will be more competitive, as level 5 tumbling skills are allowed and stunts are restricted less (similar to level 4 in allstar). Many teams will have a chunk of the team throwing standing tucks/BHS tucks probably, running passes to tucks with some layouts/fulls, and possibly an elite stunt to body positions with a full down. Since 1-3 males are allowed in the division, many teams will have probably 1-2 guys that are also allstar kids that wanted to cheer for their school (so they may be smaller guys that are great tumblers). There is also the chance that a guy or two could throw up a basic coed partner stunt as well, or manage to max out at 3 guys who are strong stunters. The division is essentially "Small Coed - Varsity" where as the other division is essentially"Before reaching Varsity"(Junior Varsity).

Just as a visual example, here are two videos of the same school (one varsity, one JV) so you get the idea better. The competition is a random Hawaiian one(it's more UCA style), so spirit sports will be different however. I also included a link to a video of a high school large varsity team from 2011 so you see the stage & style of Spirit Sports Duel in the Desert, etc.

JV Example: Kamehameha JV ILH Cheerleading Championships 2011 - YouTube
Varsity Example: Kamehameha Varsity I ILH Cheerleading Championships 2011 - YouTube

Spirit Sports Example: West Hills Duel in the Desert 2011 - YouTube

I hope that clears it up a bit!

 

[Emma_QCE]

OMG!! Thank you so much!! Those teams are all sooo good!! Makes me think that we're probably not ready to venture over there for the 2013 Duel in the Desert - we are only level 2 here, and I have one (maybe two) who can do a round off back tuck. I have another 7 who can standing BHS, and 5 of those can round off BHS, and our stunting experience has all been limited to Level 2 - so no full twisting skills and only straight ride baskets!!

I also noticed that the routine is broken up by some chanting...we don't do that either!! Our routine is a continuous 2minute 30 track...

You have been so very helpful - thank you so much!!

 

[cheerforeverever]

OMG!! Thank you so much!! Those teams are all sooo good!! Makes me think that we're probably not ready to venture over there for the 2013 Duel in the Desert - we are only level 2 here, and I have one (maybe two) who can do a round off back tuck. I have another 7 who can standing BHS, and 5 of those can round off BHS, and our stunting experience has all been limited to Level 2 - so no full twisting skills and only straight ride baskets!!

I also noticed that the routine is broken up by some chanting...we don't do that either!! Our routine is a continuous 2minute 30 track...

You have been so very helpful - thank you so much!!

For spirit sports, It won't have the chanting I don't believe.....check the scoresheets though to double check!

 

[FamousxMindset]

Does anyone know which set of rules Virginia high schools follow? I looked on the VHSL website and found nothing.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Does anyone know which set of rules Virginia high schools follow? I looked on the VHSL website and found nothing.

Unless it has changed from when I was in high school, which was a while ago, I'm pretty sure it's NFHS.

 

[SarahS]

Does anyone know which set of rules Virginia high schools follow? I looked on the VHSL website and found nothing.

@CoachMandiCF might be able to answer your question.

 

[CoachMandiCF]

Does anyone know which set of rules Virginia high schools follow? I looked on the VHSL website and found nothing.

They use NFHS rules although it's more like a foreign language than rules lol


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[FamousxMindset]

They use NFHS rules although it's more like a foreign language than rules lol


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I'm glad I'm not the only who feels that way lol, everything is being taped and sent in just in case lol.

 

[CoachMandiCF]

I'm glad I'm not the only who feels that way lol, everything is being taped and sent in just in case lol.

Yes!!! I am glad I did that too. I got card at districts on a pancake/waterfall that the judges said was a non braced flip??? Lol. I had an email legality ruling from Bill Ahern so I won haha.


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