Be the Referee: Cheer Safety
January 30, 2020
This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis explains how competitive cheer rules have been written to keep participants as safe as possible.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment - Cheer Safety - Listen
Cheerleaders – usually at the college level – get in the sports headlines whenever an accident occurs causing a serious injury. In Michigan, the sport of Competitive Cheer doesn’t make the news in that regard. Why?
Because this sport, created by Michigan schools, has built in safety guidelines for competition – including the proper matting, rules which prohibit dangerous stunts, and safety judges observing the routines whose responsibility is to detect, record and report safety violations when they occur and to penalize those who commit them. Middle school Competitive Cheer is more restrictive, allowing the focus to be on the fundamentals that will provide a safe foundation when these athletes transition into high school and beyond.
This format is exclusive to Michigan and just another way that high school sports take the extra step to make the games our athletes play as safe as they can possibly be.
Past editions
Jan. 23: Goaltending - Listen
Jan. 16: Wrestling Tie-Breaker - Listen
Jan. 9: Pregame Meeting - Listen
Dec. 19: Alternating Possession - Listen
Dec. 12: Ratings - Listen
Dec. 5: Video Review Success - Listen
Nov. 28: More Injury Time - Listen
Nov. 21: Football Review - Listen
Nov. 14: Sideline Safety - Listen
Nov. 7: Officials Playlist - Listen
Oct. 31: Most Important Line - Listen
Oct. 24: Automatic 1st Downs - Listen
Oct. 17: Catch Momentum - Listen
Oct. 10: Golf Rules Changes - Listen
Oct. 3: No Tackle Box - Listen
Sept. 26: You Make the Overtime Call - Listen
Sept. 19: Swimming Finishing Touch - Listen
Sept. 12: Curbing Gamesmanship By Substitution - Listen
Sept. 5: Football Safety Rules Changes - Listen
Aug. 29: 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
Be the Referee: 40-Second Play Clock
August 29, 2019
This week, MHSAA Assistant Director Brent Rice explains the change in football to a 40-second play clock.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment - 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
One of the rules changes in high school football this year involves timing between downs.
All varsity games will be played with a 40-second play clock that begins after the conclusion of the previous play, with exceptions for things like timeouts, penalties, measurements and at the start of a period – when a 25-second count will be used.
In experiments in Michigan over the past few seasons, the 40-second play clock proved to improve the pace of play and consistency between plays because it is not dependent on the referee’s subjective signal. And while some schools may choose to purchase visible play clocks for their fields, it is not required. The Back Judge, who has the primary responsibility for the play clock, will signal at 10 seconds and count the last five seconds.