SACRAMENTO–A bill by California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) to make cheerleading a high school sport was approved by full State Senate today on a unanimous 40-0 vote. The bill will now be considered for signature by the Governor.
Assembly Bill 949, known as the California High Schools Expanding Equality Respect and Safety (C.H.E.E.R.S.) Act, requires the California Department of Education to develop guidelines, procedures, and safety standards with the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) for high school cheerleading. Additionally, AB 949 will allow student athletes that participate in cheerleading to earn physical education credit for their competition cheerleading activities, which is currently afforded to athletes of other CIF sports.
“Cheerleaders are some of California’s best competitive student-athletes, yet they’re performing without the very basic respect and safety standards that other student-athletes enjoy,” said Gonzalez, who has participated in cheerleading as a high school and collegiate-level cheer athlete, a high school cheerleading coach and a parent. “With the C.H.E.E.R.S. Act, California high schools will help student athletes overcome old stereotypes that are risking their health and safety and provide them the respect that all students who compete in sports deserve.”
Cheerleading is the cause of nearly two-thirds of all catastrophic sports-related injuries involving female high school athletes and cheerleading injuries result in almost 37,000 emergency room visits a year according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an increase of almost 400 percent since 1980.
AB 949 was co-authored by a bipartisan coalition of 11 legislators, including the bill’s Senate principal co-author, Sen. Ricardo Lara. (D-Long Beach).
“The current lack of appropriate safeguards results in too many injuries,” said Lara, who was also a former high school cheerleader. “This bill is about safety, access, equal opportunity and – most of all – respect. Go, fight, win!”
Several other states – including Michigan, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Dakota, Alaska and Virginia – already recognize cheerleading as an official sport. However, California has excluded high school cheerleading from the formal safety standards and regulations of the California Department of Education, which oversees the CIF.
