MCJA Updates from MHSAA-Kathy Westdorp
Welcome to another year of Competitive Cheer! Practice and tryouts may commence no earlier than November 9, 2009 and competition may begin on November 23, 2009. Again this year there will be six districts in each Division from which four teams advance to each of two Regionals in each Division. Districts may be held either Friday, February 19 or Saturday, February 20, 2010. Regionals are held on Saturday, February 27, 2010 with the Finals set for Saturday, March 6, 2010.

Rules meetings this year will be online except for an October 3 rules meeting as a part of the CCCAM Conference and a November 20 rules meeting as a part of the MCJA/MCCA Conference. To be considered for the MHSAA Tournament, all officials must complete an online rules meeting OR attend one of the two rules meetings indicated. As judges prepare their schedules for the upcoming season, remember to send a copy of the schedule to the MHSAA (a form will be available at mhsaa.com). This will be utilized by the Selection Committee to determine where the judge has officiated; the quantity of times a judge has officiated as well as whether the judge has officiated a predominance of the season as a safety or panel judge. Please make certain your schedule is sent and is accurate.

Also, remember that the Competitive Cheer Manual is now a two year manual and still is in effect for 2009-10. There are two technical changes:

•  Allowance for extended stunts to brace an extension level stunt when the bracing flyer's torso is an upright position. This must be a double-based stunt with a back spot. The exception is the “Box-Out” pictured on p. 53 of the Manual (no spotter required). The photo on p. 54 with “chairs” bracing an extension is now illegal without spotters.

•  Allowance for a team to perform a near and far arm cartwheel and a switch split, side split and/or triple splits in Round 2.

In addition, there is some new language regarding coaches inquiries. Coaches have always been allowed to question the addition of scores and check areas left blank on the scoresheet. New language for 2009-10 indicates that if a penalty is imposed that may need to be addressed; there are steps that must be followed.

•  Approach safety judges respectfully after they have judged the last team in the round, at the safety judge's table.

•  Inquiries may only be made regarding a coach's own team.

•  The final outcome of the inquiry will be made by the judge.

A coach may approach the coach's score table area to review scoresheets anytime after the routine scores are verified, but no later than 10 minutes after all scores are recorded for Round 3. Coaches are allowed to see team scores of all other teams. Each round score will be visible to all coaches. Scores that are the result of a clerical error made by the scoring table may be reviewed for correction.

Included in the review is an addition on page 13 under judging mechanics which states: Safety judges should make themselves available for inquiries between rounds and after competition for at least 10 minutes. Panel judges should make themselves available after competition for at least 10 minutes.  

Additionally, the Competitive Cheer Task Force reviewed the 2008-10 Manual for clarity and emphasized several other points which will be a part of a 2009-10 insert available online at mhsaa.com. It is a great day to be involved in Competitive Cheer – enjoy the season!

News From the President - Stacy Smith
MCJA: 241 Members Strong!

Thank you to those of you who continue to renew your memberships year after year and those of you who are new MCJA members. We are an association on the grow. Every week, and recently everyday, we get emails and phone calls from new officials looking for a mentor or an official's training. Our list keeps growing! Thank you to those of you who are offering to mentor and those of you who are helping during the mentoring experience.

With less than two months before the start of the 2009-2010 Competitive Cheer season, there are just a few things we should reflect upon.

MCJA takes pride in training officials and wants these officials to be known as professional. What does it take to be recognized as professional? If you sign a contract for a meet you are expected to honor that contract. If you are directly affiliated with a team or have coached within the last 12-18 months in a certain division, it is probably not ethical to judge those schools. Collaboration is crucial and expected. Mutual support through a professional approach when officiating will improve the quality and direction of cheer as a sport.

Professionalism is not only in the way you dress but in your interactions with others. How you interact with other officials in your crew is important. With so many new faces this season and with us being a part of educational athletics, it is important to offer a hand to each other. You may not know the individual in black and white sitting next to you…but you can offer your hand and introduce yourself. It could be someone's first time at the judging table!

Being approachable is another component to being professional. After all, we are involved in educational athletics. There are many new coaches. There can be different interpretations to some rules. Be proactive and prepared. Learn to de-escalate situations and concerns. Monitor your own emotions. Let it be our goal that when people leave a cheer event, the most talked about things are the athletes' performances.

As we enter this new season, we are not only going to focus on professionalism but also communication. It is the hope of MCJA to frequently share information across the state as often as possible. MCJA will strive to connect and communicate with other regional associations state-wide when there are concerns, clarifications desired or when a clarification has been issued. We want to stay connected with MHSAA, new officials, veteran officials and coaches in competitive cheer. The sharing of information is critical to promote consistency in scoring and interpretation of the cheer manual.

I encourage all of us to do a self-examination of our own strengths, be willing to reach out to new or unknown professionals in competitive cheer and enter this 2009-2010 season with a fresh perspective. Let's walk into gyms and arenas around the state with a new appreciation for the individuals surrounding us, be it a coach, official or athletic administrator. Let us communicate effectively and make this a great season for the athletes that work so hard to provide stunning performances week after week!

2009 SUMMER WORKSHOP

WOW! What a great turnout for our summer workshop at West Bloomfield ! We met lots of brand new members that signed up for the beginner/novice class. We also had a great turnout of our veteran judges attending to get the latest updates. This is why we have some of the best educated judges around-you are always willing to learn more and share your knowledge with others. THANK YOU!

We would like to thank West Bloomfield High School for letting us use their great facility and Cindy Tyzo for all the extra planning and running around the day of the event to help things run smoothly. We also would like to thank the cheerleaders from Rochester , Rochester Adams and Divine Child and their coaches for preparing the demo teams so well. They really got a workout that day helping us to train judges. Hopefully they learned a few things too. The food was fantastic and we all had the opportunity to talk together and meet other judges to network with.

We tried a little different format for this workshop and we feel it worked out quite well. We will be offering something similar at the fall conference along with a “hands on judging” session for both panel and safety judges where they can practice judging a team and discussing everyone's scores. Check the website soon for the class descriptions.

Thanks to all of you that participated in our summer workshop and we hope to see you all at the Fall Conference in Grand Rapids in November!