Dear Coach,

As I’m sure many of you are aware by now, cheerleading and cheerleading safety have been getting a lot of attention in the media this week.  Much of the attention is due to the release of the 26th annual study by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Frederick Mueller’s annual study is always a newsmaker.  There is something irresistible about the subject of cheerleading, and the way this story has been reported in the media reflects that. This year’s news should have been two-fold:

1) The study reports that there has been an increased emphasis on cheerleading safety industry wide. Dr. Mueller acknowledges safety developments such as Varsity’s alliance with the NCAA to enhance cheerleading safety at NCAA institutions by creating the College Cheerleading Safety Initiative.  In the three years of the partnership with the NCAA, there has not been single catastrophic injury claim for cheerleading at these colleges.

2) There was a major correction to the number of participants involved with cheerleading at the high school level. For years, the UNC study has been using a participation figure of 92,000 for high school cheerleading. This year, the National Federation of State High School Associations updated its participation numbers and found that a truer representation for high school participation is nearly 400,000. This year’s findings also acknowledged that the number of cheerleading participants is more than four times than the study had previously reported. Participation figures are crucial to a survey’s validity, and this quadrupling of the representation should have sparked more interest as it meant a dramatic reduction in the calculation of the rate and risk of injury to cheerleaders.

We want you to know that Varsity and its brands are devoted to ensuring a safe environment for all cheerleaders.  Not surprisingly, many of our employees are former cheerleaders, some are current coaches, and many are also the parents of cheerleaders. All share a commitment to keeping cheerleading as safe as it can be.  At our camps and events, we take every precaution to ensure that we are educating cheerleaders and coaches to the safest measures possible.  At our camps this summer, every child-nearly 325,000 in all-will be educated through our Safety Awareness Program.

Our commitment is evident in our partnerships with the NCAA, our Spirit Education Program with the National Federation of State High School Associations, our support of AACCA and its programs and rules, our library of safety education materials on our website and the efforts we have made for 25 years on behalf of cheerleading safety. When the headlines disappear, we want to make sure you had access to some links that will always keep you up to date on cheerleading safety:

http://cheersafety.org

http://aacca.org

http://varsity.com/library/safety.aspx

Please contact us if you have any questions about cheerleading safety and what we can do together to ensure that this is a safe activity that builds life skills in our athletes.

Sincerely,

Jeff Webb

Founder  & President

Varsity

US Finals Email

Double A Zone

Our Fallen Angels

NCSF Press Release & Varsity Press Release & AACCA

After the announcement of the new selection process for awarding At Large bids to US Junior Cheer teams, was announced, many of our event producers and gym members felt the USASF needed to make the the selection process for the US Junior Dance team Worlds bids the same as “Cheer”. The USASF Board of Directors felt the justification is not any different for Junior Dance Teams. After weighing out all of the pros and cons, the USASF Board of Directors felt that this new selection process, for awarding At Large bids to US Junior teams, was the best compromise and a necessary change that will be in the best interest of the industry and it’s future here in the US.

Greetings,

I hope this email reaches everyone in great health and wellness. I wanted to email everyone and inform you all that the FIU Athletics Dept has cut the cheerleading program and kept the dance team program for what they say were budget cut issues. We really need everyone in the cheerleading community in support on this one. Here is a link to the petition that we have started http://www.petitiononline.com/fiucheer/petition.html . Below is a letter that we are sending out to everyone in hopes of saving the program. In the last part of the letter you will find the University/FIU Athletics officials we would like everyone to email and contact. Yesterday we have gotten a ton of Local media coverage and support (links to those media outlets are below). With the support of you all we can turn this thing around ASAP. I thank you in advance.

http://cbs4.com/local/fiu.Florida.International.2.1058164.html

http://www.justnews.com/news/19844267/detail.html?dsq=11711607#comment-11711607

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/FIU-Cuts-Nothing-to-Cheer-About.html

http://fiusm.com/news/2009/6/24/cheerleading-program-officially-cut

http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/breaking-news/story/1112089.html

Dear FIU Friends, Families, Coaches, Faculty and Fans,

The FIU cheerleaders have continued to be leaders and contributors to the vision of FIU athletics. The cheerleaders have attended games, pep rallies, and other FIU events to support our university. As of Monday June 22, 2009, This FIU beacon of spirit no longer exists. We are asking you, the supporters of FIU, to please raise your voice and show how much the FIU cheerleaders mean to you.

This past year, the FIU cheerleaders ranked 4th in a National Competition. We competed against big time school such as Maryland, Clemson and Louisville. We practice extremely hard and put our blood, sweat and tears into everything we do. In 1998 the FIU cheerleaders won the National Cheerleading competition, and we were already working hard to do the same this year. In reality, we do not need to begin practicing until football begins to cheer at the games, however we had already taken the initiative to start 3 weeks ago to be that much better. We want to be great representatives of the school and work year round to do so. We practice on top of Football games, Men’s Basketball games, Women’s basketball games and do many FIU appearances.

A lot of time FIU gets the reputation of a commuter school with not a lot of on campus involvement. The FIU cheerleaders are exceptions to this rule. They want be involved in FIU and make this school better. Please show your support for the effort and hard work they put in to the school. Please email Athletic Director Pete Garcia pgarcia@fiu.edu,  Associate Athletic Director Julie Berg jberg@fiu.edu, President Modesto Maidique Modesto.Maidique@fiu.edu, President-designate Mark.Rosenberg@fiu.edu, and VP of Student Affairs Rosa Jones rosa.jones@fiu.edu to show your support on this issue.

Thank You for Your Support,

The FIU Cheerleaders

Yours Truly,

T. S.

_______________________________________

Travis L. Stokes

Cheerleading

Florida International University

Marketing Assistant

Department of Intercollegiate Athletics

Florida International University- UP

Lifetime Alumni Association Member

Florida International University

Update – The dates on the USASF website were a typo. The correct dates for Worlds are April 24-25 with the ICU Championship on Friday, April 23rd.

Please see here for additional details