Tag Archives: injuries

Legal Aspects Every Cheer Coach Should Know

Legal-Aspects-Every-Cheer-Coach-Should-Know

By Steve Pawlyk

Published September 18, 2023

Being a cheer coach is not just about teaching stunts, choreographing routines, and winning competitions. It also involves navigating the complex landscape of legal responsibilities that come with the role. Understanding the legal aspects of cheer coaching can protect you, your athletes, and your cheer program from unnecessary complications. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the legal facets every cheer coach should be aware of, including liability, safety standards, and intellectual property rights concerning cheer music.

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Liability and Negligence

Duty of Care

As a cheer coach, you have a “duty of care” to ensure the well-being of your athletes. This means taking reasonable measures to prevent injuries and accidents. Failure to do so could result in a negligence claim against you or your cheerleading program.

Protecting Yourself

Here’s how to safeguard against liability:

  • Training: Ensure you have the necessary certifications, including First Aid and CPR.
  • Equipment: Regularly inspect and maintain all equipment.
  • Documentation: Keep detailed records of all practices, routines, and safety measures.

Insurance

Investing in liability insurance can offer an additional layer of protection. It may cover legal fees and damages should you face a lawsuit.

Safety Standards

Compliance

In the United States, the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA) sets safety guidelines. Being well-versed in these standards is crucial.

Gym Safety

  • Ensure that the practice area is free of hazards.
  • Make sure athletes are wearing appropriate attire and safety gear.

Stunt Safety

  • Always spot athletes during stunts.
  • Do not attempt stunts that are beyond the skill level of your athletes.
 
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Licensed Cheer Music for Competition Cheer Music

Parental Consent and Waivers

Before an athlete participates in any cheerleading activity, it’s essential to obtain written consent from their parents or guardians.

What Should a Waiver Include?

  • A clear explanation of the risks involved in cheerleading.
  • A clause stating that the parent/guardian understands these risks.

Emergency Contact Information

Always have up-to-date emergency contact information for each athlete.

Transportation Laws

Driver Qualifications

Ensure that anyone responsible for transporting athletes has a valid driver’s license and has passed a background check.

Vehicle Safety

Regularly inspect vehicles to ensure they meet safety standards.

Intellectual Property and Music Licensing

Copyright Laws

When using music for routines, be aware of copyright laws. Using copyrighted music without permission can result in legal repercussions.

Customized Cheer Music

One way to avoid copyright issues is by using customized cheer music from reputable sources like IPP Music.

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Social Media and Privacy

Personal Information

Be cautious when sharing personal information of athletes on social media platforms.

Photos and Videos

Always obtain consent before posting images or videos of your athletes online.

Anti-Discrimination Laws

Equal Opportunity

Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on race, sex, religion, or disability. Make sure your cheer program is inclusive and complies with these laws.

Harassment and Bullying

Create a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and bullying and ensure it is strictly enforced.

Understanding the legal aspects of cheer coaching is essential for the smooth operation of your cheer program and the well-being of your athletes. By being proactive and educated in these areas, you can focus on what you love—coaching and inspiring your team to hit zero and win competitions.

 

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. Always consult with a legal professional for advice on your specific situation.

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IPP's Premade Mixes are USA Cheer Compliant and customizable!  Add Sound FX, swap songs, & more!  Add your Team Name to the mix for only $10! 

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1 minute cheer mix
WAKE UP THE FIRE
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WAKE UP THE FIRE
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1 minute cheer mix

The Importance of Proper Nutrition for Cheerleaders

Importance-of-proper-nutrition-for-cheerleaders

By Steve Pawlyk

Published January 21, 2023

As a cheer coach, you play a crucial role in the development and success of your cheer squad. One important aspect of your squad’s performance that you may not think about is proper nutrition. Proper nutrition is essential for cheerleaders to perform at their best, both physically and mentally. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of proper nutrition for cheerleaders and how you, as a coach, can help ensure that your squad is getting the proper nutrition they need.

Importance-of-proper-nutrition-for-cheerleading

First and foremost, proper nutrition is essential for maintaining a healthy body weight and preventing injuries. Cheerleaders need to have enough energy to perform the demanding physical activities required in cheerleading, such as stunts, tumbling, and dance. A diet that is high in carbohydrates and lean protein, such as chicken, fish, and legumes, will provide the energy needed to perform these activities. Additionally, a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables will provide essential vitamins and minerals that are important for growth and development.

Proper nutrition also plays a crucial role in preventing injuries. A diet that is high in calcium, such as dairy products, will help prevent bone fractures and injuries. Vitamin C, found in fruits and vegetables, is also essential for maintaining healthy connective tissue, which can help prevent injuries. A diet that is high in antioxidants will also help to reduce inflammation, which can lead to injuries.

Proper nutrition is also important for maintaining the mental health of your squad members. A diet that is high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish and flaxseed, can help improve mood and cognitive function. A diet that is high in vitamin B6, such as chicken and turkey, can also help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

As a coach, you can play a critical role in helping your squad members to maintain a healthy diet by educating them about proper nutrition and providing them with healthy meal options. You can also work with a nutritionist to create a meal plan that is tailored to the specific needs of your squad members. Additionally, you can encourage your squad members to drink enough water and limit their intake of processed foods and sugary drinks.

In conclusion, proper nutrition is essential for the physical and mental well-being of your squad members. As a coach, you play a critical role in helping your squad members maintain a healthy diet by educating them about proper nutrition and providing them with healthy meal options. By ensuring that your squad members are getting the proper nutrition they need, you can help them perform at their best, both physically and mentally.

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Need Competition Music Blue

IPP's Premade Mixes are USA Cheer Compliant and customizable!  Add Sound FX, swap songs, & more!  Add your Team Name to the mix for only $10! 

SLAM artwork
Full_Out_130 mp3 image
1 minute cheer mix
WAKE UP THE FIRE
SLAM artwork
WAKE UP THE FIRE
Full_Out_130 mp3 image
1 minute cheer mix

Cheerleading Practice Design Guidelines

Cheerleading Practice Design Guidelines by Dr Scott Christie youhitzero ippmusic com 1

By Dr. Scott Christie

Published August 17, 2020

Cheerleading Practice Design Guidelines

5 ways to reduce athletes’ risk of avoidable injuries

When designing a practice plan the main goal should be to put into place the appropriate elements of implementing the perfect routine. In order to achieve this goal, special attention must be paid to developing skills safely and efficiently, mitigating injury risk and ensuring your athletes have the adequate physical and mental capacity to handle the intensity of practices and performances.

Cheerleading Practice Design Guidelines by Dr Scott Christie rules youhitzero ippmusic com

One of the biggest obstacles in cheerleading is being able to ensure that you have full attendance at practice. A coach constantly has to deal with athletes missing practice due to sickness, vacations, weather, other unanticipated events, as well as injuries in and out of practice. Most of these factors are uncontrollable but a coach does have a significant control over avoidable injuries occurring during practice.

 

To help with achieving full team practices, below are five ways to reduce your athletes’ risk of sustaining avoidable injuries.

 





1. Chunking your practice (10-15 mins sections)

Chunking your practice is good for two reasons. First, by changing up your activities into small 10-15-minute chunks, you can avoid unnecessary mental and physical fatigue that comes with staying on one movement pattern or skill for too long. Secondly, from a memory acquisition standpoint chunking your practices creates faster learning of skills.

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2. Control fatigue

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Pay attention to your athletes’ body language. As a previous coach, I know it is very easy to get upset with the poor performance of your athletes at times and as a result push them harder to help develop ‘mental toughness’. This strategy more often than not will lead to an avoidable injury. Cheerleading requires high power outputs and fatigue will reduce an athlete’s power production significantly which can lead to increased risk of injury (especially near the end of practices).

3. Use vivid visualization

 

Vivid visualization allows for more practice time without actually performing the skill. This can be done at home or at practice once the athletes are too tired to continue safely.

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4. Monitor overtraining

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Many sports have their athletes fill out short mental health questionnaires out on a daily basis. There are many stresses taking place in an athlete’s life outside of cheerleading. It is important to be aware of this and monitor it on a daily or weekly basis. Try to remember that as much as cheerleading is all about the team, a team is still made up of many unique individuals that require different coaching methods.





5. Improving physical fitness

Athletes that are extremely physically fit are better suited to be able to handle the high physical and mental demands of cheerleading practices and performances. Most sports have their athletes work on their fitness between practices, cheerleaders should be doing the same!

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For more information from Dr. Scott Christie please visit our website’s resource page at www.cheerdistrict.com. Interested in implementing training programs backed by science within your gym community? Email support@cheerdistrict.com for more information.

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About Dr. Scott Christie:

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Coaching tips to help keep your team injury free and more powerful

Coaching Tips To Help Keep Your Team Injury Free And More Powerful

Coaching Tips

By Jason Mason

Updated September 21, 2018

You know what’s one thing that can really throw a wrench in your season?

An Injury

It always seems that just as all the gears are turning and your team is starting to gel that someone gets hurt.  Depending on the severity of the injury, you may now have to go back to the drawing board.  You know what this means.

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New stunt groups, rearranging spots, athlete from ripple 1 now needs to remember ripple 3 – which she always forgets.  It’s basically a brand new routine.  You know what’s probably more frustrating than an unexpected an injury?  The fact that it probably could have been prevented.  How you ask?  Properly conditioning your team may be monumental in keeping your athletes injury free.  We’ve provided you with an easy-to-follow guide that help to reduce injury and keep your athletics more powerful.

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Develop a Dynamic Warm-Up/Dynamic Stretch.

This is to get your athletes muscles warm. It is best to stretch when muscles are warm versus static stretching.  This is also a great way to mimic movements that are performed during routines….and perfect them :)

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Take a step back

Many times we go into a season with high expectations. This is great unless you skip over the basics.  Take a step back and look at your athletes movements and their strengths.

Do you see anything common among your athletes?  If so, that is a great place to start.  A couple common issues I see are Squatting ability, Shoulder/back flexibility, Core activation.

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PROGRAM OUT YOUR PRACTICE

Set time limits or set time aside for things that are important and must be accomplished. One being constant improvement on the athletes stamina and power production.  Yes, you are challenged when running a routine full out over and over….However, if your athletes are tired and start to practice bad form.  They are now teaching themselves improper mechanics which lead to injuries.  Save time at the end of practice or don’t be afraid to drop something from your practice and condition where the athletes can be successful by performing at their top ability at that time versus lifting, flipping, twisting etc.

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Open to change

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.  If you tend to have drops, weak tumbling, a sloppy second half of your routine or a mixture of these.  Then it might be time to have a second opinion review your teams.  This consultant should be knowledgeable both in fitness/health as well as understand the cheerleading/gymnastics/dance requirements.

Don’t be afraid of what they might tell you

It could be anything from a couple quick tips for fitness to changing/firing/moving staff members around so they are best utilized.  Sometimes people are placed or hired for a certain part of the job but are a better fit somewhere else.  By putting them where they belong it increases moral and helps them be a better coach.  This gets the athletes excited and doing what they need.  When athletes do what they need and are excited to be there….Well the results speak for themselves.

Number 5 Ipp

Add a strength training day

  • On this day your athletes will work on just strengthening their body. Athletes tend to do the same movements in a sport over and over again.  Strength training allows the athlete to increase the activation/strength of the opposite muscles that are typically used.  These create balance which not only will make them stronger but balance helps prevent injury!

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