USASF Rules Change II

The USASF sent the following email to event producers on Thursday, July 19, 2007:

Dear USASF Member Event Producer:

As many of you know, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the “International Open Cheer” divisions being offered for the 2008 Worlds event and the recent decision in June to restrict team sizes and the number of males on each team for those divisions. Several event producers have asked how these changes are to be implemented for divisions they offer at their Worlds qualifying and non-qualifying events, especially since these divisions were not specifically listed on the 2007-08 USASF age grid.

In addition, there was concern expressed about limiting these divisions in size given the time of season when several teams have been picked and choreography has been (or is in the midst of being) completed.

In an effort to address these concerns and to comply with the mandate that divisions offered must be on the USASF age grid, the USASF Board voted yesterday to increase the Level 5 International Open Cheer divisions by two, adding a small and a large component. This decision was an effort to accommodate as many countries as possible, encouraging their participation in the 2008 Worlds. These new divisions and the June voted team size and number of male restrictions have been added to the age grid. Therefore, you will see on the attached grid the following divisions for the International Open category:

Division	Age	# of Males	# of Members
Small International Open All-Girl	14 yrs & Older	No Males	5 – 24 Members
Large International Open All-Girl	14 yrs & Older	No Males	25 – 36 Members
Small International Open Coed	14 yrs & Older	1 – 12 Males	5 – 24 Members
Large International Open Coed	14 yrs & Older	1 – 18 Males	25 – 36 Members

Please note that the total team size dictates small verses large. In addition to that, for the co-ed division there is a limit of total males that may participate on the team.

USASF member event producers are not required to offer all of the divisions above, but may choose which divisions to offer based upon their customers’ needs. Of course, you may offer all four divisions and then roll divisions together (i.e. Small and Large All-Girl become just All-Girl if you do not have enough teams to field 2 teams each in the divisions split out by size) as it states in the division consolidation guidelines.

As a reminder, a USASF-member event producer may only offer divisions from the USASF age grid or combine/split divisions based upon the guidelines contained within that grid, unless prior written approval is granted from the USASF.

The Board and USASF/IASF committees are working hard to establish a timeline that meshes the development of the age grid with the divisions that are set forth for the Worlds competition as well. As you can imagine, given the needs of numerous countries, this is no small task. Although the decisions for these divisions have come late this year, we hope that ultimately these divisions now meet both the needs of domestic U.S. programs as well as those of the various countries who will send teams to the 2008 Worlds event.

The updated grid below (rev. 7/19/07) will be posted on the USASF website early next week.

On a separate note, please remember that the Safety Judges’ Certification Course in Dallas is fast-approaching at the end of August. If you have not yet sent your registration in for representatives of your organization, please contact Jimmie Jo Schmidt (email omitted) as soon as possible to complete all the necessary information.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mike Burgess
Chair — USASF Rules Committee

(See attached file: USASF Divisions – July 19, 2007)

Michael Burgess
United Spirit Association
President