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Cheer Advisory Meeting Minutes

Thursday, November 29, 2016 - 3:00 PM – Section Office

Advisory committee: Nancy Merza, Verdugo Hills, Kevin Manquero, Sherman Oaks, Michelle Galarza, South East, Julio Mejia, Gertz-Ressler, Teresa Bezerra, Arleta, Tanisha McKinney, Taft, Claudia Vasquez, Bell

Welcome & Introductions

  1. Review of CIF State Advisory MeetingTeresa, Arleta

Teresa give more information on the direction of the State Advisory meetings. The other Sections favor the Traditional Sport Cheer (2 ½ minute routines) competition to the Competitive Sport Model (stunt).

  1. Rules of the event - Review NFHS rules

The Section has ordered NFHS rules books for the committee to review. The committee was informed that they can propose revisions or changes to the NFHS rules for the Section competition.

  1. Format of competition

The Section Advisory agrees to pursue a design for Traditional Sport Cheer competition.

  1. Review Surveys to be sent out

The Advisory recommended some revisions and clarifications to be included on the Cheer Survey to be sent to all schools. Clarifications of the type of competition was recommended. Teresa Bezerra will rewrite the survey and bring to the next Advisory meeting.

  1. Proposal
  2. Identify needs, wants and ultimate goal

The Advisory agreed that hosting a coaches’ clinic for all Section coaches would prepare them for the competition and use of best practices. Many schools have never competed in cheer competitions. The best time for the clinic would be June or July. The advisory would coordinate the clinic. Needs include common vocabulary, understanding of the rules, best teaching practices, understanding of progressive teaching of technique. The goals and objectives of the clinic will be designed to move forward. Michelle Galarza, South East HS will work on the design of the clinic.

Equipment to run a cheer competition, and for schools to train safely would facilitate the sports development.

  1. Review proposal template
  2. Proposal

1)Identify type of competition (style of cheer)Traditional Competitive Cheer

2)Identify competitive levels and design of competition

Schools are limited to varsity cheer in many cases, and it would be best to start with only varsity competition. The Advisory discussed creating four levels of competition to address competitive equity and styles of routines. D-1 Advanced, D-2 Intermediate, D-3 Beginning, and D-4 Dance or non-stunt. The advisory discussed various models of competition, Teresa Bezerra agreed to create a proposal design of competition for the Section that will be a starting point for discussion at the next meeting.

At this time the State will not offer a State Championship competition, but does plan on developing the opportunity when the competitiveness of the sections require it.

3)identify rules and scoring

It is agreed that the rules and scoring need to be clear and consistent. The Section advisory will have the flexibility to proposal revisions and additions to the rules. The CIF procedure for appeals in all sports is for the Commissioner to determine if there was a miss application of a rule, and judgement of officials cannot be questioned. It was not clear if the schools would have an officials association for cheer and may be required to hire former students, school staff, or other knowledgeable individuals to judge competitions.

The Advisory discussed Co-Ed teams, and felt it would not be a problem to allow boys to participate.

4)identify financial needs for school and section events

Safety tumbling mats is the major expense that will need to be addressed by the school or district. See 5.a above. Training for coaches is recommended by the committee to grow the sport and educate the coaches of best practices. Michelle Galarza has agreed to work on a goals and objectives for a coaching clinic and design the lessons and activities for the clinic. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

5)identify the coordinating group to manage the events

The advisory will be the overseer of the sport of cheer for all leagues, region and Section events. A sport coordinator will be hired by the Section to coordinate the sport and championships.

6)Identify season timeline, league, regional and Section championship.

The season timeline will extend from mid-November to mid-March. League or regional competition beginning in December thru February. Qualifying events for City Championships will begin in February, and the Section championship held in early March.

7)identify location of regional and championship events

The locations will be at high school gyms or Junior College facilities based on number of participants.

8)identify awards to be presented

The advisory recommends the championship and runner-up Section plaques, and medals up to 24 individuals on the teams.

  1. Assign committee members areas of proposal needs to bring to table for discussion by committee

Michelle Galarza – Training Clinic for coaches

Teresa Bezerra – Levels of Competition. Design of team league or region.

Kevin Manquero – will work on a scoring system for the competition.

  1. Design a first draft of proposal
  1. Music Copy Rights

To allow beginning teams to safe on cost of music copy rights the Section will present a proposal to the Board of Managers to fund approved music for the schools to select their music for routines from. Advanced teams will have the freedom to provide their own music.

  1. Delegate the Cheer presentation for the AD/AP meeting in August

Two or three cheer squads will perform at the AD/AP meeting in August to create interest of the athletic directors and administrators.

  1. New information

Identified challenges include:

No JV coach, lack of facilities and safety equipment, knowledge of sport,

To offer a JV team the school district would need to add a paid coaching stipend for the position.

The Commissioner has contacted LAUSD to discuss their commitment to the sport of cheer and what schools would need to do to receive funding for the purchase of cheer equipment. Trent Cornelius was contacted and agreed to look into the opportunity to fund cheer for schools that commit to a program. Cheer will be considered as a start-up sport to receive additional funding from the district.

  1. Next meetingthe advisory committee agreed to meet monthly (except for December)

Date Thursday, January 19, 2017 Time 3:30 PMLocation Arleta High School