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Be the Referee: Cheer Safety
February 17, 2016
This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl explains how rules in competitive cheer keep Michigan's athletes 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.
This format is exclusive to Michigan and just another way that high school sports take the extra step to make the games our children play as safe as they can possibly be.
Past editions:
Feb. 11: Primary Areas - Listen
Feb. 4: Block/Charge Calls - Listen
Jan. 28: Dive on the Floor - Listen
Jan. 21: Hockey Officials' Options - Listen
Jan. 14: Recruiting Officials - Listen
Jan. 7: Wrestling Weight Monitoring - Listen
Dec. 31: Respect for Referees - Listen
Dec. 24: Basketball Instant Replay - Listen
Dec. 17: Basketball Communication - Listen
Dec. 10: Basketball Excessive Contact - Listen
Nov. 26: Pregame Communication - Listen
Nov. 19: Trick Plays - Listen
Nov. 12: 7-Person Football Mechanics - Listen
Nov. 5: Make the Call: Personal Fouls - Listen
Oct. 29: Officials Demographics - Listen
Oct. 15: Make the Call: Intentional Grounding - Listen
Oct. 8: Playoff Selection - Listen
Oct. 1: Kick Returns - Listen
Sept. 24: Concussions - Listen
Sept. 17: Automatic First Downs - Listen
Sept. 10: Correcting a Down - Listen
Sept 3: Spearing - Listen
Aug. 27: Missed Field Goal - Listen
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Be the Referee: Volleyball Obstruction
By
Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
September 23, 2021
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 – Volleyball Obstruction - Listen
Ever wonder why in volleyball some balls hit into obstructions remain in play, while others are replayed, and some end the rally?
If a ball hits an obstruction over a playable area during a rally, and then is played by the same team, it has the same status as any other hit. However, that isn’t the case in all other instances.
If the ball hitting the wall or an object attached flush to the wall doesn’t actually interfere with a player’s legitimate effort to play the ball, the ball is dead and a loss of rally and point shall be awarded. If it does interfere with the playing of the ball, a replay is declared if the wall is less than six feet from the boundary.
If the ball hits a suspended backboard over the playable area, a replay will be declared as long as the referee believes the ball would have remained in play. Serves that hit any obstruction are a loss of rally and point.
Previous editions
Sept. 16: Catch or No Catch - Listen
Sept. 9: Intentional Grounding – Listen
Sept. 2: Pass Interference – Listen
Aug. 26: Protocols and Mechanics – Listen