Cheering on the Sidelines

 I had a call this morning from a coach whose athletic director has forbidden the cheer squad from standing on the sidelines at the football game. This decision was made as a safety concern for the cheerleaders. I agree with the athletic director. Her question was how can her cheerleaders see the game to know what cheers to yell--offense or defense--if they are standing behind the players? My cheerleaders cheered on a track that encircled the football field. They were generally behind the football team--maybe from the 20 yard line to the 50. I don't recall them having trouble seeing the game--but I may have a faulty memory! Do any of you have suggestions to help this coach?

Debbie Bracewell

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written by Heather Mitchell, October 02, 2008
Since my kids cheer in the same place that Debbie's did I can agree with her. The only thing is that our new stadium will not have a track and most of the fields we travel to don't have tracks. For those that a track is not an option, when we are at those fields as the players come to our end of the field I have the back row looking over their shoulder at the field to keep everyone alert. This has worked well becuase if the players are coming their direction they work to get their cheerleading teammates out of the way also. I do know that it is harder to figure out what is going on in the game when we are on the track, but that is where I try to help out. I sit with my kids at the ballgame, so I try to relay to them whether we are offense, defense, need a 1st down, made a 1st down, or simply when we should be kneeling because someone is hurt. It is nice to be on the track because I do not worry about them being on the highlights of the evening news being taken out by a football player! smilies/smiley.gif
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written by Tanisha Langehennig, October 07, 2008
We have a track and we have never had a problem with the cheerleaders being on it in the past. There is about a 5 1/2 yard distance between the track and where the players stand, and a concrete trench, for draining off the water when it rains.

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