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More Coaches and Kids

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the August 28th, 2008

Here are 2 more stories that we wished didn’t exist.

Jones County Junior College in Mississippi & West Coast Extreme in Oregon

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NCA Competition & Safety Guidelines

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the August 28th, 2008

Justin Carrier from NCA sent the following email recently

Coaches,

The new Championship season is off to a great start here at NCA/NDA!  We’ve launched our new websites, NCA.varsity.com and NDA.varsity.com, and we’re gearing up for our second event of the year this weekend.

Many of you will be receiving our NCA/NDA Competition and Safety Guideline Book in the mail over the next several days. This year’s Safety Guideline Book includes the AACCA rules (for school teams) and the USASF rules (for AS Cheer and Dance teams). To view an electronic copy of the AS cheer section of this book, CLICK HERE.

An important point I want to emphasize is that the 2008-2009 USASF rules published in this book do NOT reflect any updates and clarifications being made by the USASF since July. Coaches will still be responsible for understanding all of the updates as they become available. In the upcoming weeks, I will be updating you with important rule adjustments and clarifications.

In the meantime, continue to practice safely and prepare for an amazing season.

Thanks,

Justin Carrier
Executive Director - Strategic Development
NCA/NDA

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Cheerleading Injuries in the News

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the August 12th, 2008

Science Daily has published on article on cheerleading risks and injuries.

Science Daily

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National Cheer Safety Day

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the August 9th, 2008

The National Cheer Safety Foundation (NCSF) has declared today, August 9th, as National Cheer Safety Awareness Day. The NCSF has also released a report increasing the number of catostrophic injuries since 1982 by 30.

30 Unreported Catastrophic Injuries

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Fab 5 Movie

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the August 3rd, 2008

The Fab 5 Movie debuts tonight on Lifetime. Check you local listing for the channel and time. In case you don’t know or forgot what I’m talking about here’s a Newsweek link.

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JAM Brands and the Macy’s Parade

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the July 17th, 2008

I received an email today from the JAM Brands saying I could send my athletes to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This event is produced by Mike Miller and Associates, who used to partner with Varsity.

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USASF Competition Sanctioning

Jim Chadwick sent the following email on July 17th:

Attached are the USASF Sanctioning Standards for the 2008-09 season which are unchanged from 2007-08. The bottom line is safe and legitimate competitions are the foundation of allstar cheerleading and every competition event producer that provides competitions that meet the best practices standard will be recognized as such with the USASF sanction.

In 2007-08, the USASF sanctioning program was very successful considering this was the first ever sanctioning program for allstar cheerleading. There were 525 competitions sanctioned by the USASF in the US. 18 were 5 Star, 31 were 4 Star, 80 were 3 Star, and 396 met the minimum sanctioning criteria.

The sanctioning program has been so successful in the US that it is being expanded internationally at the request of virtually every international member. This will result in greater exposure around the world, enhanced legitimacy in the US, and stronger promotional opportunities for those members sanctioning their competitions.

The new USASF- IASF website <IASFWORLDS.ORG> will provide the main informational and promotional impetus for sanctioning beginning in August. Of course, the current USASF website <USASF.NET> will also list all sanctioned events.

Every USASF member competition is eligible for USASF sanctioning by meeting specific, best practices, standards. The goal was to create a process that would be quick and simple for competition event producers to implement, easy for coaches to understand, and be readily upgradable to continually reflect the best practices in the industry.

Please read through these standards and think about which of your competitions fit where and register them at your earliest convenience.

Cost: USASF Sanctioning is free to approved and paid up USASF members for the 2008-09 season.

Registration Forms: Are attached and available on the USASF web site <USASF.NET>.
Please fax them to Steve Peterson at 800-969-6309.

Timing: Now.

Control - It will be up to each competition event producer to certify that their competitions meet the applicable sanctioning standards. For those that do not, there is a review process to insure consistent implementation across the country.

Marketing - A logo package is available to all USASF members to designate the various sanctioning levels which can be used in all marketing materials.

The response in the first year, 2007-08 was overwhelming and we expect it to be even greater this year so please get your applications in as soon as possible to expedite the website promotion.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank everyone who participated in this program during 2007-08 and those who contributed to the development and approval of these standards. It took a lot of time from everyone involved and this contribution to the USASF and the future of the allstar community is deeply appreciated.

Thank you.

USASF - Sanctioning Standards - 2008-09

USASF - Member Event Producer Sanctioning Application

Jim Chadwick

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JAM Brands Judges

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the July 16th, 2008

Dan Kessler, co-owner of the JAM Brands, sent the following email to judges on July 16th:

Dear Judge-

I would like to introduce myself to many of you.  My name is Dan Kessler and I’m a co-owner of The JAM Brands.  I’m contacting you to share some information on judging for this upcoming season.

I hope by now you know about The JAM Brands and what we are trying to do in the industry.  If not, simply put, we are trying to produce the very best cheer and dance competitions…period.  With that being said, we are looking for your help this season. Once again, we are looking for professional and qualified judges for each and every brand within The JAM Brands team.

We are currently working on finalizing our “judge information” for this season.  We invite you to spend the season with The JAM Brands and want you to save any available judging weekend/dates for The JAM Brands companies.  Please note you will still work with your “normal company” (i.e. if you judge predominantly for one company) first, and if your schedule allows, you will have the opportunity to judge for other JAM Brand companies.  We have nearly 200 competitions this season across the U.S., so please save your weekends for The JAM Brands!

In addition, we are working on a JAM Rewards Judging System that will benefit you for committing to The JAM Brands and/or a specific company as a whole!  More information will be coming soon regarding this system.

The company or companies that you judged for last season will contact you very soon to confirm your schedule.  I look forward to having you involved with The JAM Brands team!

Thanks,
Dan Kessler
Co-Owner
The JAM Brands

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USASF Company Member Agreement

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the July 15th, 2008

Steve Peterson sent the following email to tier 3 and 4 USASF event producers. I haven’t seen a similar email for the other tiers yet:

Dear Tier 3 & 4 Members,
The attached document was created specifically for our member event producers who have made a commitment to support and further the mission of the USASF, follow the USASF rules, safety guidelines and sanctioning standards for the 2008 - 2009 membership term.

Please read over it thoroughly and if you have any questions please contact me or Jim Chadwick.

Please fill in the appropriate information on pages 1,2 and sign page 4.

Please mail or fax your completed and signed copy back to me at the USASF office by August 1st.

Once I receive it, I will sign page 4 and mail a copy with both signatures back to you.

USASF Company Member Agreement Tiers 3 and 4

Mail to:
USASF
Attn: Steve Peterson
6745 Lenox Center Court; Suite 300
Memphis, TN 38115

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All Star Industry Survey

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the June 16th, 2008

American Cheerleader magazine has extended the 2008 All Star Insider survey until June 20th.

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Another Coach Pleads Guilty

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the June 1st, 2008

Another cheerleading coach has pleaded guilty to charges related to improper conduct with an athlete.

Capital News 9

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Cheersport Judges

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the May 31st, 2008

Debi Larson of CheerSport has sent an email to her judges letting them know the judges link is up.

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Arizona State

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the May 3rd, 2008

Fox News is reporting the Arizona State University cheerleading program has been ended due to some racy pictures showing up on the internet.

Fox News.

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May Websites

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the May 1st, 2008

Occasionally someone sends me information on a cheer and/or dance website and I’m going to start sharing them with you. I don’t review the websites, just give them a little publicity. In some cases I don’t even visit them.

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Cheerleading Safety

Posted in Editorials, Opinions, Rumors & Miscellaneous by CCXII on the April 22nd, 2008

Reading about the tragic death of Lauren Chang has sent a thousand thoughts through my mind and I was wondering what reaction and thoughts others are having. Please share in the forum and I will expand on my thoughts later.

ABC News: Cheerleader Deaths: Unimaginable but True

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