03/19/18 – Reminder Bylaw 23 Cheer & Dance Tryouts
PrintNow that the competition seasons for both Competitive Cheer and Dance are over, this is a reminder to all administrators, Competitive Cheer coaches and Dance 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 and now Dance.
Regarding Cheer, Bylaw 23 applies only to Competitive Cheer – the squad that travels to competitions and competes against other school cheer squads. 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.
Bylaw 23 does now apply to the sport-activity of Dance.
The first official practice date (including anything that can be mandatory) is July 15 for Competitive Cheer and Dance. July 15 is the first date you can have tryouts and make “cuts”. 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/sport activities 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 and Dance, 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 for Competitive Cheer, as this has been in place for a few years. A reminder was sent out last April addressing this as well for cheer.
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/
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