Recently CBS News' Early Show aired a short segment on cheerleading safety. They interviewed me for 15 to 20 minutes, but reduced my interview to a five-second sound bite taken out of context. Let's ignore that for a moment and deal with the issues addressed in the CBS piece.
“There is no regulation”
False. As I told the reporter Ms. Cobiella, while improvements can be made, cheerleading is regulated similarly to football, basketball, softball and other sports. There is no national regulation of any of those sports. In secondary schools they are governed by the state high school association which governs athletics and activities following standardized national rules. While this is the case for cheerleading with most states but not all states, that is different than “no regulation.” At the college level, they are governed by the NCAA. For non-school teams, they are regulated by their associations such as Pop Warner, Amateur Athletic Union or in the case of cheerleading, the US All Star Federation.
“There is no one rule book”
There is no “one rule book” for any sport. However, there is a consistent set of rules for the different levels of cheerleading like with other sports. Most state high school associations require that their cheer teams follow NFHS rules as they do with other sports. The NCAA uses the college level rules from the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators. The non-school teams known as “all star” use the US All Star Federation Level Rules. This is akin to high school gymnastics following the NFHS rules for gymnastics, non-school gymnastics following the rules from USA Gymnastics, and college gymnastics following the rules set by the NCAA.
“…with higher stunts at a younger age and a bigger risk.”
Again, false. As I explained to Ms. Cobiella and even demonstrated with vintage photographs, cheerleading over the last 20 years has seen dramatic changes in the skills cheerleaders are allowed to perform and the surfaces on which they are allowed to perform them. College teams are no longer allowed to perform 3-high pyramids and do double flips from them. High school teams and high school-age all star teams are no longer allowed to perform flipping basket tosses. All star teams have progressive levels that are also age-based. For example, the youngest cheerleaders are not allowed to do any release moves or aerial tumbling. As with gymnastics, they must demonstrate proficiency before progressing to the next level.
“..at high schools and colleges in most states, cheerleading is more like the chess club -- it's considered an activity, not a sport. And often, there's no referee to blow the whistle on dangerous stunts.”
Actually, quite a few states designate cheerleading as a sport. Several others designate it as an “athletic activity” and have higher requirements than their “sport” counterparts. Still others that don't give cheerleading a separate designation still regulate cheerleading and require regular rules meetings, coaches' education and conduct a state championship. Many states have cheerleading coaches associations which conduct safety education courses and annual conferences where national experts conduct courses in safety, technique and program management.
Which brings us to the 22 words attributed to me out of a 15 to 20 minute interview.
First, my quote:
"You know what? As bad as this may sound, the parent really is ultimately the person who has to blow that whistle," says Jim Lord, executive director of the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors."
Now, the context. This quote was given during the discussion of how all sports are regulated. As I explained to Ms. Cobiella, the designation of “sport” doesn't change the importance of the involvement at the local level of the administration, coaches, athletes and parents. There are no “football police” that come around to blow the whistle on football coaches that aren't following the standard of care during practice. That job falls to the athletics director who must know what is going on with athletics in their school. The only time football or any other sport is regulated by the state association directly is during athletic contests or when an infraction has been brought to their attention – often due to the involvement of a parent. I was speaking to the fact that in cases where a coach is not following the rules and the administration is not addressing problems, it is up to the parent to take action. It wasn't an indictment of a system used by every sport or athletic activity; it was part of a call for parents to help make sure safety procedures are being followed. I have requested the entire unedited video interview to be shown on the CBS site. The last communication I received was that they can put up part of it. I would like to see the entire video because as I recall, the last part of my comment they used included the phrase “just like in football or basketball.” I believe that part was edited out but I will have to see the entire video to see if there was this level of selective video or if I had just stated that elsewhere in the discussion.
Regardless, my quote was placed in a position to make it look like I agreed with Ms. Cobiella's assertion that there are no regulations.
With over four million cheerleaders participating annually, there are likely to be situations where they are asked to perform skills they aren't ready to perform. Indeed, there may be injuries that could have been avoided or at least mitigated by following the established safety rules and procedures that have been in place since 1987 and are updated annually. This is precisely why AACCA developed the Cheerleading Safety Course; to help educate coaches and minimize the risk of injury in cheerleading.
