04/20/17 – Reminder Bylaw 23 Cheer Tryouts

April 20, 2017 Cheer Blog Updates

This is a reminder to all administrators and competitive cheer coaches concerning Bylaw 23, Limitation of Seasons. KHSAA staff members have received several inquiries about permitted activity, concerning fall sports/sport-activities and practice/tryouts for the fall, specifically regarding competitive cheer.

Regarding Cheer, Bylaw 23 applies only to competitive cheer, the squad that travels to competitions and competes against other school cheer teams. Sideline cheer (those that cheer at games but do not travel and compete against other schools) are considered a support group, and therefore Bylaw 23 does not apply.

The first official practice date (including anything that can be mandatory) is July 15 for competitive cheer. Only after this date can anything mandatory be required of team members or potential team members.

Until the day following the last day of school or May 31 (whichever is earliest), coaches are permitted to provide instruction and be involved with team members (provided such is approved by the principal), but continue to be restricted in “competitive” situations with other schools unless they are held away from a member school campus. 

Keep in mind that anything done, whatever it is called (tryouts, workouts, etc.), for all sports during the time that is outside of the limitation of seasons cannot be mandatory (no penalty or team decisions based on lack of participation) and an official “tryout” period cannot be held outside of those periods defined in Bylaw 23.

Specifically, with regard to competitive cheer, it is permitted, for example, for a school to select a number of students to go to a camp. However, attendance at camp cannot be mandatory prior to the first practice date. By the same token, attendance cannot be restricted to those who performed in a certain manner based on activity held outside the limit of seasons (i.e. a tryout).

The same principle and rule would apply to any “tryout” in any sport or sport-activity that is not held during the period defined by Bylaw 23.

This is not a change in the Bylaw, as this has been in place for a few years. A reminder was sent out last April addressing this as well.

April 2016 Reminder

Full Text of Bylaw 23

Please contact Associate Commissioner Butch Cope at the KHSAA Offices with any questions.

– KHSAA –

The KHSAA staff routinely publishes blog posts to better communicate with its various constituencies and the public. For a list of those blogs, go to http://khsaa.org/news-stats-pubs/sports-blogs/