2017-18 FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading Kellie Doucette, Administrator
2017-18 Sport Season The 2017-18 Competitive sport season dates: October 9, 2018-February 5, 2018 Note: If your team wishes to compete at the National High School Cheerleading Championships February 10-11, 2018, or any other competition that weekend, your AD must submit a request in writing. That will be the ONLY weekend an exception will be provided.
FHSAA Competition Dates Region 1 Friday, Jan. 19 @ Oakleaf HS Region 2 Saturday, Jan. 20 @ Hudson HS Region 4 Friday, Jan. 26 @ Coral Springs HS Region 3 Saturday, Jan. 27 @ Plant City HS State Championships Sunday, Feb. 4 and Monday, Feb. 5 @ University of Florida
Music Licensing Federal Copyright Law requires that all music, that is edited, be properly licensed. This is not an FHSAA rule or an NFHS rule, it is Federal Law; it is the same law that prohibits teachers from photocopying books. You must be able to produce the proper licensure if you are asked to do so.
Music Licensing For information pertaining to music licensing please visit https://www.usacheer.org/music Each link on that page contains information that will assist you in understanding the history and requirements pertaining to music licensing. There is also a preferred music provider list available on that site if you need a provider.
Music Licensing The NFHS has produced a free online course to assist you with understanding the Copyright Law. You can find the course at: https://nfhslearn.com/courses/61124/underst anding-copyright-and-compliance Understanding Copyright and Compliance
Classification Classification is determined per division. Once all Division Selection Sheets are received, teams are listed in population order from largest to smallest and the list is cut in half. There is no set cut off number as that caused some divisions to become tremendously lopsided.
Division Selection Form Coaches will now be able to select their own division using the Division Selection Form, ADs will no longer select divisions when they submit the SEL. Division Selection Forms will be available on the Cheer page of the FHSAA website November 20- December 4, 2017. Coaches must complete the form in it s entirety and return on or before December 4 if they would like to be included on the regional schedule.
All-Girl Divisions: Divisions Small: up to 12 female participants Medium: 13-16 female participants Large: 17-20 female participants Extra-Large: 21-30 female participants
Divisions Non-Tumbling Divisions: Small Non-tumbling: up to 12 participants (0-2 Males allowed) Medium Non-tumbling: 13-16 participants (0-2 Males allowed) Large Non-tumbling: 17-20 participants (0-2 Males allowed) Extra Large Non-tumbling: 21-30 participants (0-2 Males allowed)
Divisions Co-Ed Divisions: Small: 1-4 male squad members, maximum of 30 participants Large: 5 or more male squad members, maximum of 30 participants There is NO Non-Tumbling Coed Division! If you have more than 2 males, you will be bumped into the Coed division and you will be judged on tumbling skills. If you enter the Non-Tumbling division with 1 or 2 boys you will be judged using the Non-Tumbling score sheets and there is no category for coed stunts.
State Championship Divisions All-Girl Tumbling 1A and 2A Small: Up to 12 female participants 1A and 2A Medium: 13-16 female participants 1A and 2A Large: 17-20 female participants 1A and 2A Extra Large: 21-30 female participants Non-Tumbling 1A and 2A Small Non-tumbling: up to 12 participants (0-2 Males allowed) 1A and 2A Medium Nontumbling: 13-16 participants (0-2 Males allowed) 1A and 2A Large Non-tumbling: 17-20 participants (0-2 Males allowed) 1A and 2A Extra Large Nontumbling: 21-30 participants (0-2 Males allowed)
State Championship Divisions 1A and 2A Small Co-Ed: 1-4 males/max of 30 participants 1A and 2A Large Co-Ed: 5+ males/max of 30 participants
Region and State Divisions Each team may only compete in one Varsity (1) division. Each school will indicate their chosen division on the Division Selection Sheet, which is a web form that will be made available in November. The division a team competes in at Regionals will be the same division they compete in at States. Each division at the State Championship will be divided into two (2) classes for a total of twenty (20) State Championship Divisions. The FHSAA reserves the right to combine divisions and/or classifications as deemed necessary. The FHSAA reserves the right to have Finals Only if there are not enough teams to meet the advancement criteria.
Advancement of Teams All teams that participate in 4 regular season competitions are eligible to compete at Regionals. All Regional Champions and Regional Runner-Ups who earn a raw score (point deductions not included) of 70 or higher will advance automatically to the State Finals in their respective divisions. All teams who achieve a raw score (point deduction not included) of 60-69.99, regardless of placement, will advance to the State Semi- Finals in their respective divisions. Teams that do not earn a raw score (point deduction not included) of 60 or higher, will not advance to the State Championship. The FHSAA reserves the right to round scores.
Advancement of Teams Once Regionals are over and all teams that advance directly to finals are accounted for, if there are not at least 3 teams remaining in semis, there will be finals only in that division. When calculating the number of teams that advance from the state semis to the state finals in a given division, 1 team for every 3 that qualified for semis will be advanced to the finals. The teams that advanced directly from regionals to the state finals will not impact the number of teams advancing from the state semi final round to the state finals.
Rules and Regulations All NFHS Spirit Rules as found in the 2017-18 NFHS Spirit Rules Book are applicable. Each school received a complimentary electronic version of the NFHS Rule book via the NFHS Rules App in August. If you do not have your school s copy please check with your Athletic Director. There are no stunting or tumbling rules on the FHSAA website as the FHSAA follows all NFHS guidelines. FHSAA Policies and Procedures can be located on our website by following this link: http://www.fhsaa.org/sports/competitivecheerleading/manual
Rules and Regulations Per policy 4.4.1.1.1f; a violation of general rules will result in a two (2) point deduction per violation. A violation of safety regulations will result in a five (5) point deduction per violation. Total routine time allowed is 2 minutes 30 seconds, the music portion must not exceed 1 minute 30 seconds. At the Regional and State Championships there will be an overall routine time and a music portion time.
Rules and Regulations The deductions for being over time are as follows: 3-5 seconds over -3 point deduction 6-10 seconds over -5 point deduction 11 seconds over -7 point deduction Please time your routine in practice!
Rules and Regulations There are 65 points possible for the music portion There are 35 points possible for the cheer portion Score sheets are available on the cheer page of the FHSAA website.
AACCA Safety Certification All head varsity Competitive Cheer coaches are required to have a current AACCA Safety Certificate. AACCA Certificates do not need to be sent to the FHSAA office but I do need the coaches name as it appears so that I can look up the certificate status online. AACCA courses can be taken on line or in person. The online course can be found at www.aacca.org or www.nfhslearn.com The cost of the certificate is $75 and certificates are valid for 4 years.
Commitment to Participate All schools must be committed to participate in FHSAA Competitive Cheer in order to compete at any competition including third party competitions, FHSAA Regionals and the FHSAA State Championship. If you have competed in the past, you are already committed to compete. If you have not competed before, be sure your AD has completed an add/drop form in Home Campus to add you to a region. If you want to be sure your team is committed to compete, you can go to the cheer page of the FHSAA web site and click on the assignments tab, all teams committed to compete are listed alphabetically by region.
State Entry List (SEL) Each school must submit a State Entry List via Home Campus on or before January 8, 2018. This must be done by your Athletic Director. Your SEL and your roster are the same thing. Please add ALL available athletes to your roster/sel. The number of athletes of your roster/sel DOES NOT impact your division selection.
Alternates and the SEL If one of your athletes quits or gets injured and you need to replace them, you can use anyone who is on that SEL/roster without having to make any changes in Home Campus. If you only put 16 people in Home Campus on the roster/sel and you need to replace one of those 16, you would need to add them to the roster/sel, and there is a $50 change fee for doing so. However, if you have 45 cheerleaders on your roster/sel, you can use anyone of those 45 to replace someone without making any changes and without incurring the $50 fee.
Requirements for Alternates In order for an alternate to be eligible to compete, they have to attend the 4 required regular season competitions. If you think there may be a chance during Regionals or States for the use of an alternate, it would be a good idea to select a group that attends competitions with the team so the alternates are eligible at a moments notice.
4 Contest Policy Any student-athlete that wishes to compete at FHSAA Regionals or in the FHSAA State Championships, must have participated in at least 4 contests during the regular season. The 4 competitions can consist of third party events such as UCA Regionals, a competition hosted by a high school, or a head-to-head competition. All competition schedules must be entered in to Home Campus.
FHSAA Competitions Format of Events: Regional competitions will be finals only. At the State Championships, there will be a semi-final round and a final round in the same day and at the same location. Schedules: I will start to build the schedules for Regionals once all Division Selection Forms have been submitted. Once I have a preliminary schedule done, I will send it to all coaches to confirm their division. You will have 24 hours to look at the schedule and confirm you are in the correct division. After 24 hours no changes will be made.
Schedules FHSAA Competitions If you are in the wrong division, you will only have 24 hours to notify me. After the 24 hour confirmation period is over, no changes will be made to divisions. A generic State Championship schedule, which will determine which division will compete on which day and what time each division will start and end, will be produced around mid-december. However, team names will not be added until after all regionals are complete.
Pass Gate List At regionals, there will be a pass gate list in your packet that you will need in order to check in at the State Championship. You will be allowed the max number of participants plus six (6) additional people on your pass gate list. These will be the only people issued wrist bands. Those people who have wrist bands will be the only ones allowed into the warm-up area. The six (6) additional people will need to include ALL coaches, alternates, managers, school personal, etc. You will need to submit a copy of your pass gate list to the FHSAA within a week after your regional. It is not necessary to add your administration to your Pass Gate List unless you want them in warm-ups with you. They can get into the event for free with their State Series Pass.
General Information It is the coaches responsibility to ensure that all routines comply with the NFHS safety guidelines as well as with the FHSAA policies and procedures. If you have a question about the legality of a stunt you may submit a video to me. Teams performing illegal stunts will be penalized. If your team performs an illegal stunt at a regular season competition, or at a regional competition, that is not caught, that does not make it legal.
General Information All teams in a given division will be judged by the same panel of judges. There are 6 judges on a panel plus one head judge. Finals at the State Championship are clean slate so scores do not carry over from semis. Regional Champions and Runner-Up teams in each division may purchase a trophy from Crown Awards. Trophies can be ordered online.
General Information State Champion and State Runner-Up teams in each class and division will receive trophies and medals during the awards ceremony at States. The Champion and Runner-Up coaches will assist us with draping medals and presenting trophies. More information on that will be included in the presentation all coaches advancing to states will be required to watch.
Frequently Asked Questions Coaches It is important that you discuss this information with your Administration. Your own school policies may differ from some of the answers given below. Do all member schools have to participate? No, each member school has the option to participate. However, teams who do not compete with the FHSAA may not compete in any other outside competition. What is the cost or fees for my team to compete? There is no cost to the team or the school to participate in FHSAA Regionals or States. Can we compete at UCA Nationals Yes. To participate at UCA Nationals, your Athletic Director must submit a written request to me (email is acceptable) for a one week season extension. This request MUST come from your AD.
Frequently Asked Questions How do I know if my team is entered/committed to compete? You can check the status of your team by going to the cheer page of the FHSAA website, click on the Assignments tab and see if your school is listed in your region. If so, you are properly signed up. If not, ask your AD to fill out an add/drop form on Home Campus to add your team to a region. How many squads can participate from a given school? One (1) Varsity squad. Can my JV team participate? The FHSAA State Series contests are only open to Varsity squads. If you saw my AACCA certification last year, do you need it again this year? Yes. The FHSAA requires the certification be current so they will be checked annually.
Frequently Asked Questions How do I submit my roster/state Entry List? Most likely this will be done by your Athletic Director, the roster/sel is submitted on Home Campus. Can we compete on a spring floor? No, per the NFHS rules, spring floors are not allowed for high school competition. If my team enters the Regional competition as a medium squad and we lose people because they quit or get injured, can we drop down to small before States? No, once you enter a division and the 24 hour confirmation period has passed, no changes will be made to divisions. This is why it is important you have alternates.
Frequently Asked Questions I performed a stunt at Regionals and it was fine, now all of a sudden at States it s illegal, how can that be? As the coach, you are responsible for knowing the rules of competition. If an illegal stunt is not called, that does not make it legal. Just like any sport official and/or judge, there are times when something may be inadvertently missed. However, that would not render an illegal move legal. How can one team be warned for an illegal stunt and another penalized? If a team is warned, it indicates that the judge did not have absolute evidence that the stunt was illegal so they were issued a warning. If a team is penalized it means that the judge witnessed the violation and they are absolutely sure, therefore the team was penalized.
Frequently Asked Questions My team scored in the 80 s at regionals, when we performed the same routine at States, we scored in the 60 s. How can my scores drop so drastically when we performed the same routine? While consistency in judging is something we strive for, it is possible for one panel of judges to score the same routine differently than another panel of judges thus it is all relative to the scoring panel that day. Since the same judges score an entire division, it is possible that at one competition scores in the 80 s put your team in the top three, while at another competition scores in the 60 s may put your team in the top 3. The important thing to know is all teams that day are being judged by the same panel. We do our best to keep the same panel of judges from regionals to states but it is not always possible due to other commitments the judges may have.
Frequently Asked Questions Where can I find competitions to compete in? I have been asking schools to post their events on the Classifieds page of the FHSAA website. If you got to the home page, hover over the For Schools tab and click on classifieds, select Tournaments Wanted and Competitive Cheer it will show you all the events that have been submitted. When will I know what day I compete at the State Championships? Once all Division Selection forms are received, and I know how many teams are in each division I can start to build the regional schedules. Once the regional schedules are verified, I can start to build the State Championship schedule.
Kellie Doucette 352-372-9551, Ext. 450 kdoucette@fhsaa.org