Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006 | 7:21 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The association that governs high school sports now is proposing tougher regulations over cheerleading, stunt and drill squads.
And that has sparked the opposition of longtime Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, who calls it "over-regulation."
Carpenter, elected in 1986, said, "We've gotten along without them (regulations) for many, many years. I don't see why we are trying to regulate cheerleaders now."
The proposed rules of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association came before the Legislative Committee to Review Regulations on Wednesday and were scheduled to take effect Thursday. But the committee deferred approval because nobody from the association was present at the meeting to answer questions.
The association is a private, nonprofit group composed of 98 schools and sets the rules for interscholastic athletic activities. It is required to submit its regulations to the legislative committee for approval.
Jay Beesemyer, the association's assistant director, said the cheerleading groups apparently wanted the regulations. "They want to be recognized like all other sports if they are ever going to have a state championship in cheerleading," Beesemyer said.
The regulation would apply to a school's "spirit squad," including cheerleading, stunt, dance and drill teams.
The proposed regulation would, for instance, limit a season for a spirit squad from the beginning of the first day the football team begins noncontact practice until completion of the state basketball tournament.
"I've seen the cheerleaders in Elko practicing before the football team was practicing," Carpenter said. "I don't know why we need to put these types of regulations on cheerleaders."
But Beesemyer said the association is trying to "give kids a fair shot." He said if these teams practice during the summer, the association gets a call from a parent that her daughter never got a chance to try out.
There is a lot of out-of-season participation by spirit teams now, Beesemyer said.
These regulations, he said, were developed with comments from coaches and others. The association has not recognized spirit teams as a sanctioned sport, Beesemyer said.
"You can only have so many" regulations, Carpenter said. "If the schools can't take care of the cheerleaders, we can't expect them to educate the kids."
The proposed regulation limits a student to 15 days during the summer to take part in activities or conditioning at a spirit squad camp. Each varsity squad that performs cheers or stunts is limited to 20 members; the junior varsity and freshmen teams are restricted to 12 members.
Spirit squads would be prohibited from taking part in competition not sanctioned by the association. Those that violated the rule would be subject to a $500 fine.
The next meeting of the legislative rules committee has not been set.
Cy Ryan can be reached at (775) 687-5032 or at [email protected].
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