Rules and Guidelines

DELAWARE CHEERLEADING COACHES ASSOCIATION

2003-2004 QUALIFIER COMPETITIONS

RULES AND GUIDELINES

To Host a Qualifier:

Coach/member must be present for ½ of all DCCA meetings, October meeting through September meeting, and have a one (1) year waiting period after becoming a member, and follow all 2003-2004 DCCA Qualifier Rules and Guidelines.

To be eligible to hold a Qualifier, a member must have a snow date. If the competition is cancelled due to weather, those teams that have registered and paid will receive credit for one qualifier.

All qualifier packets must include the DCCA 2003-2004 Rules and Guidelines, in its entirety, as provided in the approved packet attached. “Role of Parents” notice is to be included with all competition packets.

Suggested Fees:

Registration Non-members $75.00/team

DCCA Members $60.00/team

Spectator Entrance Adults $5.00

Students $3.00

Children (under 10) $2.00

Order of performance will be determined by the order in which the team registration is received, (i.e. the first team-registration received will go last and the last team-registration received will go first.)

Judges:

All State Qualifying events must have a minimum of three (3) technical judges (viewing routines from the front) and one (1) safety judge (viewing routines from the back corner of the mat).

The Delaware State Cheerleading Championship event only, will have five (5) technical judges per panel. High and low scores for each team will be thrown out. There will be no commentary judging. Safety judging for the Delaware State Cheerleading Championship event remains the same.

All State qualifying events and State competition will be required to have DCCA approved judges. All judges and alternate judges not on the list provided by DCCA will have to be approved by DCCA, two weeks prior to the event. Please contact Susan Gotwals (302.324.1589 or susanmg273@aol.com).

Safety judges can judge an unlimited number of qualifiers. Technical judges can only judge two (2) qualifiers.

Judges must stay ½ hour after the end of the Competition to speak with participating coaches.

All decisions by the judges are final.

Rules & Regulations:

CYM and All*Star squads will compete and be judged according to their specified rules and regulations. (Contact DCCA (302)324-1589 for copies of the CYM rules and link to www.nationalspirit.com for All*Stars.)

A matted surface (i.e. wrestling mat or competition floor) must cover the competition area and routines must be performed on that surface.

Scoring & Awards:

All Qualifying competitions must use the current DCCA technical and safety score sheets (see attached).

Refer to the Judges section above for State Cheerleading Championships scoring.

Judges may use “half-point” judging for qualifying and State competitions.

Scores will be calculated as follows:

· Each judge’s score sheet will be totaled.

· The total of all judges’ score sheets (excluding the safety judge) will be calculated.

· Any safety or timing penalties will be subtracted from the combined total of all judges’ score sheets.

Any team competing in a category with only one team will compete against a set score for a First Place trophy. This score is 66 and 2/3% of a perfect score. If the team does not beat the score, they will be awarded a Second Place trophy.

The number of trophies handed out in each category will be decided on a per competition basis, depending on the number of teams competing in each category.

SUGGESTIONS

Tips and things you might want to consider when setting up your competition. These suggestions would need to be covered in your cover letter or invitation to your competition.

· No stunting or walking on competition floors during breaks.

· Rules regarding stunts classified as illegal by a governing body performed on the premises.

· Other rules and regulations of the facility.

DIVISIONS, RULES AND REGULATIONS

DIVISIONS

Recreational Leagues CYM All*Stars

10 years & under CYM JV See All*Stars

12 years & under CYM Varsity Rules for Divisions

15 years & under

Middle/High Schools

Any team with two or more

male members shall be considered Co-ed

and must compete in a Co-ed division.

Small Middle/Junior High (12 members or less, 5^th – 8^th grades)

Large Middle/Junior High (13-20 members, 5^th – 8^th grades)

Freshman (9^th grade only)

Small JV (12 members or less: 9^th – 11^th grades)

Large JV (13-20 members: 9^th – 11^th grades)

Small Varsity (12 members or less: 9^th – 12^th grades)

Large Varsity (13-20 members: 9^th – 12^th grades)

Super Large Varsity (21-30 members: 9^th – 12^th grades)

Small Coed Varsity (2 -3 males: 9^th – 12^th grades)

Large Coed Varsity (4 or more males: 9^th – 12^th grades)

Maximum participants for Middle and High Schools (except Super Large Varsity) are 20, not including additional spotters (non participants or walk on.)

Maximum participants for Super Large Varsity High School and Recreational Leagues are 30.

(For all teams (excluding non-Delaware All*Stars) competing with more than the maximum number of participants in the given division, the team will be disqualified.)

Recreational, Middle School, and High School teams cannot compete in the All-Star category if they cheer for a school or organized team.

Delaware teams must compete (not necessarily trophy) in two (2) “DCCA State Qualifier” competitions, to qualify to compete in the DCCA State Cheerleading Championships.

Only Delaware teams can qualify for the DCCA State Cheerleading Championships.

Stunt Group Divisions will be offered at the State Championships.

Participants:

DCCA reserves the right to inspect proof of enrollment for each participant in qualifying or State competitions. All participants must have a copy of their 2003-2004 school report cards on file with their coach. Each coach is strongly recommended to bring verification with them to all competitions. Failure to bring verification of enrollment may lead to automatic disqualification.

No cheerleader may represent more than one All*Star Program, or school, per competition, and no cheerleader may represent more than one cheer team per All*Star program or school. In the event of an injury or emergency within one week of competition, one cheerleader from another team of the same Cheer program, may substitute for that competition weekend. Coaches must notify Host at time of registration (check-in) and it must be noted on registration form.

RULES & REGULATIONS

National Federation Safety Guidelines will be followed including the following:

All cheering, stunting, tumbling, dancing, jumping, and transitioning must be done on the surface of the mat. Movement off the mat during one of these (i.e. over-rotating a tumbling pass & landing off the mat, stepping off the mat during a dance or cheer, etc.) will result in a safety violation.

Timing & Penalties

· Routines must be no more than two and one half minutes. Music is permitted no longer than one minute and fifteen seconds. All*Star squads only may use music for all or part of the two and one half minutes.

· Ten (10) points, per routine, will be deducted from the total combined score if your squad goes ten (10) or more seconds over the time limit for music or total routine.

· Delaware Cheerleading Coaches Association believes that good sportsmanship is essential at every DCCA event. Any participant or coach displaying un-sportsmanlike conduct during any DCCA event may subject the team to a severe Sportsmanship penalty. This Sportsmanship clause is in effect from the time of arrival until the time of departure for each event. This includes, but is not limited to, arrogant, aggressive, suggestive or lewd facial expressions, hand gestures or body movements towards any member of another team, the entire team or organization. T-Shirts must not have inappropriate words, slogans, or pictures relating to any member of another team, the entire team or organization. No team, team member or coach should negatively talk about another team, the entire team or organization. Any Coach can report un-sportsmanlike conduct by other participants or coaches to the DCCA member hosting the DCCA event. The host of the DCCA event will review every report and will render a decision and will levy 25 penalty points appropriately. The 25 penalty points will be deducted from the team’s composite Competition score. If said event occurs after the Awards Ceremony, the Host Team will bring the item before DCCA for a final decision.

· Blatant violations of these Rules of Conduct, not otherwise covered by Safety Penalties, will result in a 25 point penalty deduction from the team’s composite Competition score.

ALL-STAR COMPETITIVE DIVISIONS

All-Star Cheer Divisions:

The All*Star Cheer divisions will follow current National Cheerleading Association (NCA) guidelines regarding divisions. Details may be found at www.nationalspirit.com (click on NCA and Competitions).

Participants:

ALL-STAR SAFETY GUIDELINES

(See Also “General Rules & Regulations”)

All*Star Divisions:

· 1. The All*Star Cheer divisions, except Open division, will follow current National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) All*Star guidelines. Details may be found at www.nationalspirit.com (click on NCA and Competitions).

Open All*Star Division:

· 1. The All*Star Open Cheer division will follow current National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) Collegiate guidelines. The requirement for the 45-second crowd cheer section will be excluded from this year's championships, but the routine will remain 2 minutes and 30 seconds in duration (150 seconds). The All*Star Open Division will use the same score sheet as the other All*Star teams. Details may be found at www.nationalspirit.com (click on NCA and Competitions).

Rules/Regulations