FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
The Department of Student Programs Membership-Participation Form is now available online and has been posted to each of the Academic Competitions page and through several other links on the IASP web site.
This electronic form allows your school to join the Department of Student Programs (a required step for participation in any contest or other program) and then also enter all academic competitions. Schools will be billed after the form is submitted.
Yes! The Department of Student Programs Membership-Participation Form is now available online and has been posted to each of the Academic Competitions page and through several other links on the IASP web site.
Beginning in late August, confirmation lists are posted on the specific event pages to list which competitions have been entered. The top of each confirmation list will show when it was last updated.
Prior to the contest, a roster collection form will be shared with all participating coaches, grouped by host site, which will allow submission of student names and names of the coaches. Coaches will be able to make changes to this roster up until the beginning of the competition.
Invitational contests are locally organized competitions, which may be used as practice rounds or League/County/City championships. All details of these contests including procedures, schedules, participating teams, and awards are at the discretion of the local host. The web page dealing with each specific contest includes information on which invitational contests are scheduled. There are links to the forms necessary to purchase invitational contest questions on each contest page where questions are available: Senior Academic Spell Bowl, M.A.T.H. Bowl, and Junior and Senior Academic Super Bowl. Invitational word lists for Elementary and Junior Spell Bowl are created by the local hosts.
Host sites are not officially announced until after the contest entry deadline. Although many schools compete at the same site each year, there is no guarantee of which site your school will be assigned to until after we can coordinate with the hosts.
Teams are most often assigned to the closest host site to your school, although time zones, available space, and other factors will also be considered. Details of the contest and host site will be sent by email to coaches listed on your Membership-Participation form after host sites have been determined. If you would like more than one coach to receive the information or change the coach listed on your Membership-Participation form, send that information by email to chammer@iasp.org (make sure to include the coach’s name and email address, contest name, your school name, and your school city).
General starting times are listed below (Eastern Standard Time), although it is best to check with your host coordinator to confirm starting times at your site. Check-in times are generally 1 hour before the beginning of the contest. Ending times depend on procedures used and the number of teams at your local site – check with your host coordinator for an estimate.
- Elementary Area Spell Bowl – 5:30 p.m.
- Junior and Senior Area Spell Bowl – 5:30 p.m.
- Senior Spell Bowl State Finals – 11 a.m.
- Junior Spell Bowl State Finals – 3 p.m.
- Senior Area Academic Quiz Bowl – 9 a.m.
- Junior Area Academic Quiz Bowl – 9 a.m.
- Senior Academic Quiz Bowl State Finals – 9 a.m.
- Elementary Area M.A.T.H. Bowl – 5:30 p.m.
- Junior Area Academic Super Bowl – 9 a.m.
- Senior Area Academic Super Bowl – 5:30 p.m.
- Senior Academic Super Bowl State Finals – 11 a.m.
Each competition has a maximum number of students that are eligible to participate on the day of the competition (check the appropriate Coach’s Handbook for specific numbers), but you may have additional students involved in practices and invitational competitions that you may include when submitting your team’s roster so they would be eligible to participate during the contest should you need to make a change the day of the competition. Elementary level competitions allow schools to enter more than one team per contest, with no limit to the number of teams allowed from a single school. Junior and Senior level competitions allow up to 2 teams per competition, however only 1 team per school will be considered for statewide results and invitations to State Finals contests in each competition.
Teams who have a smaller number of students ARE allowed to compete without a “full” team, and are still eligible for all awards. Allowing even a few interested individuals to compete can help build the team and increase interest for following years. For instance, Spell Bowl teams can allow a few individuals to compete then leave the team’s table empty for the remaining rounds. M.A.T.H. Bowl and Academic Super Bowl teams may send as few as one student to the competition table during a round, or may decide to leave their competition table empty during a round.
Senior Academic Spell Bowl, Junior Academic Spell Bowl, Senior Academic Quiz Bowl and Senior Academic Super Bowl teams can qualify for State Finals competitions based on their Area Competition score. Before the Area competition, the IASP office will announce a specific number of teams which will advance to State Finals. Junior Academic Super Bowl, Junior Academic Quiz Bowl, Science Bowl and M.A.T.H. Bowl statewide results are determined by compiling all of the results from the local area sites from across the state.
Each competition has a posted timeline which lists competition entry deadlines, website posting dates, and any other contest-related dates. Check the Calendars & Timelines in the “Overview” section on each student program page to see more.
The best place to find answers is by reading a Coaches Handbook, which are available on each competition’s web page. Handbooks are updated each year, and any item which is new for this year is in italics. If you’re not able to find the answers you need on the IASP website or Coaches Handbook you may also inquire by email to jslinker@iasp.org, aproper@iasp.org or chammer@iasp.org.
SENIOR CLASSIFICATIONS:
Class #1 = 1080 and up
Class #2 = 612 – 1079
Class #3 = 356 – 611
Class #4 = up to 355
JUNIOR CLASSIFICATIONS:
7-8 enrollment
Class #1 = 480 and up
Class #2 = 300 – 479
Class #3 = 171 – 299
Class #4 = up to 170
6-7-8 enrollment
Class #1 = 720 and up
Class #2 = 450 – 719
Class #3 = 256 – 449
Class #4 = up to 255
ELEMENTARY CLASSIFICATIONS:
The Elementary level has five classes, based on what grade levels are housed in your school. Eligible students are considered to be those in grades 4-6, regardless of whether students from all of those grades are included on the roster. (Ex: If your school is a K-6 building, but your team only consists of 4th and 5th graders, you would still count the 6th grade enrollment when determining your team’s class color.)
Blue Class: Teams from buildings that house up to and including 6th graders, 187 Eligible Students and Up
Green Class: Teams from buildings that house up to and including 6th graders, 186 Eligible Students and Down
Orange Class: Teams from buildings that house up to and including 5th graders, 163 Eligible Students And Up
Red Class: Teams from buildings that house up to and including 5th graders, 162 Eligible Students And Down
Yellow Class: Teams Including ONLY 4th graders, regardless of size of school
The enrollment number used is always the number submitted to the DOE the PREVIOUS school year. Click here for frequently asked questions regarding the Elementary Classes.
We will post a confirmation list on the website and update that as registrations come in.
We will post roster submission forms on our website and email all coaches once those are available.
They are events that we help to promote for Indiana schools and they are not required. These contests are independent of the Indiana Cheer Championship events that we sponsor. No scores from these contests can be directly translated to our Indiana Cheer Championship events.
To gain points in the stunting category, you would need at least the minimum needed to perform the stunts you wish to perform legally. There is no limit to the number of team members you may compete with. The roster forms only have space for 30 names, but if you have more than that when submitting your roster, please email Chris at chammer@iasp.org to add the additional names.
All important contest dates can be found on the timeline.
Classes for Junior High teams are determined by the school’s enrollment. There is only 1 class for Junior High Time-Out, Freshman and Junior Varsity. Varsity teams are broken down into 4 all-girl divisions by the school’s enrollment, with an additional Coed division that is a single division regardless of school size. High School Time-Out teams are broken into 2 divisions, by enrollment. Partner Stunt Groups will compete in either the all-girl division or the coed division. A complete list of the divisions and enrollment numbers is below.
Junior High Small – up to 700 students
Junior High Large – 701+ students
Freshman – Regardless of team or school size
Junior Varsity – Regardless of team or school size
Junior High Time-Out – Regardless of team or school size
Varsity A – 1,801+ students
Varsity B – 901 – 1,800 students
Varsity C – 501 – 900 students
Varsity D – up to 500 students
Varsity Coed – Regardless of team or school size
High School Time-Out Small – up to 900 students
High School Time-Out Large – 901+ students
Cheerleading is not regulated by a governing body in Indiana. Rules and regulations are issues to be dealt with at the local school level.
At this time, the state of Indiana does not require cheerleading teams and coaches to follow any specific regulations during sideline activities at their school’s athletic contests. IASP recommends that all teams follow all rules in the current edition of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Spirit Rules Book. Teams are required to comply with the NFHS Spirit Rules Book when participating in the Indiana Cheer Championship.
Viewing the NFHS Rules Update Video is required of coaches of all teams who participate in the IASP-sponsored cheer competitions. Coaches who choose not to participate in IASP-sponsored competitions are still welcome and encouraged to review the video. The recording is posted to the cheer page of the IASP website.
Visit www.iasp.org/cheer for more information about the requirements for competing teams.
IASP recommends coaches register for the NFHS Cheer and Dance Safety Certification course. This is NOT a requirement to coach in Indiana, though. In order to compete in the Indiana Cheer Championship, you just have to verify that you have viewed the current Rules Update video for that year, which is led by our Lead Rules interpreter. You may contact NFHS to learn more through their education web site at www.nfhslearn.com.
The Indiana Cheer Championship events are typically held the last weekends in October through the first weekends in November, with exact dates depending on where the IHSAA Calendar falls.
Exact dates for each year’s contests will be shared in the timeline and the 2-year calendar, which are both linked on the Indiana Cheer Championship website, www.iasp.org/cheer.
We are proud to offer competition opportunities to a wide variety of squads: Varsity (A, B, C, D, Coed), High School Time-Out Small & Large, JV, Freshman (pending a minimum of 5 enrolled teams), Jr. High Small and Large, Jr. High Time-Out, All-Girl Partner Stunt Group, Coed Partner Stunt Group, and Individual (HS Seniors only).
The entry form will be updated late summer and can be found at www.iasp.org/cheer. For coach reference, the previous year’s entry form will remain linked throughout the year, and will be identified as “new” once it is updated for the current year.
Contact the Indiana Association of School Principals, Department of Student Programs at chammer@iasp.org or jslinker@iasp.org or (317) 891-9900 ext 207 or 220.
Yes! IASP maintains a list of cheer coaches who wish to receive information about upcoming events. Click here to submit the information form to add your information to the mailing list!
Join DSP
In order to participate in Department of Student Programs (DSP) sponsored academic competitions, cheer competitions, Martin Luther King Jr. Essay contest, and any other DSP programs, schools must maintain a current membership in DSP.
