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
Be the Referee: Tackle Box
September 16, 2014
This week, MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl discusses the differences between high school and college/NFL rules when it comes to a quarterback's movements within and outside the "tackle box."
"Be the Referee" is designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating and to recruit officials. The segment can be heard on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the school year on The Drive With Jack Ebling on WVFN-AM, East Lansing.
Below is this week's segment - Tackle Box - Listen
Today we are going to talk about the rules that govern the quarterback, specifically when the quarterback is being rushed and is looking to throw the ball away and avoid the sack.
Under both pro and college rules, they have what’s called the tackle box. When the quarterback gets outside of the original position of the offensive tackles and throws the ball and it reaches the original line of scrimmage, there is never a foul for intentional grounding. However, under high school rules there is no such thing as a tackle box.
If the quarterback is either in pocket or scrambles outside of the pocket and now is trying to throw that ball away to avoid the sack, there always must be a receiver in the vicinity of the pass to avoid an intentional grounding foul.
Past editions
Aug. 25 - Targeting - Listen
Sept. 4 - Concussions - Listen
Sept. 11 - Pass Interference - Listen