01/22/21 – Competitive Cheer Postseason Updates

January 22, 2021 Cheer Blog Updates

Following the Board of Control’s January 21 meeting, we wanted to update the membership on some details as we go forward in the Competitive Cheer season. Keeping in mind the availability of judges, the date of Nationals from the Universal Cheer Association (UCA) was vital in setting our postseason dates. We realize that there are other competitions and conflicts that may exist, but some conflicts will inhibit our ability to secure judging personnel if not properly known.

Our review of options and plans will include consideration of the feasibility of accomplishing the following objectives (if possible) in priority order:

1) Maintain an optimal number of qualifying teams, even if the field is subdivided differently than past practice;
2) A focus on ensuring, at minimum, parental attendance, as permitted within current approved state and local health department guidelines, with additional attendance considerations being reviewed if public health considerations warrant such;
3) Anything discussed and eventually implemented is planned at this point to be a one-year, one-time plan to get through the pandemic;
4) Be mindful of the limited attendance in holding events at locations where costs can be minimized but public health standards are upheld.

Keep in mind we have to maintain a global view in executing the postseason in all championships and balance all public health considerations during the ongoing pandemic. There are also financial elements that would likely be impacted concerning facility availability. We also need to make any plan fluid in the event that local or statewide circumstances change.

With the UCA dates now being announced (April 23-25), the Board of Control did address postseason dates to be as follows:

REGIONALS: All region competitions must be complete by May 2nd. Dates will be set by local region managers in consultation with Assistant Commissioner Sarah Bridenbaugh and the participating schools.

STATE: Currently planned for the week of May 10 (NFHS week 45) with final schedules and dates to be determined following analysis of declarations in the coming weeks.

DECLARATIONS: With this movement of the state championship, the Board also approved the Commissioner’s recommendation that the declarations for postseason participation be reopened and submitted by February 15th. All prior submissions of declarations (that were previously due on November 9th) will be deleted so all schools need to enter, or re-enter this form in order to participate. Please be sure to discuss with your coach what division(s) your school will be entering as there will be no adjustments to divisions after February 15th. A school may enter no more than a total of two squads (no competitor on both teams) in not more than one division each. Each member school Athletic Director shall only submit one form and must be signed into the KHSAA School subdomain to declare. You can find CC101 on the school subdomain under the dropdown menu “Forms and Reports” and under “Cheerleading Forms”.

NEXT STEPS: Once declarations have been tallied, staff will then take this report back to the Board of Control meeting on February 17th and will discuss details of the postseason. Specific dates and a detailed schedule are not yet complete at this time as the declarations may fill in a lot of blanks for preparation and consultation with facilities.

Thank you for your feedback and patience as we navigate through this process.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 284 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.