Cheerleading Gone Serious.....

believe it or not some parent coaches will actually sneak in older kids to gain a competitive advantage-that is the reason for this. It happened on my son's soccer team. This kid was amazing and scored most of the goals in that game thus leaving the rest of the kids to just run around. NEver underestimate a parent who is living out their childhood again for what they will do for a bit of glory. Welcome to kid's sports :-)

standard for most sports. I just registered my 3.5 year old for soccer through the city soccer association and they required this information as well.

Yes - they need the birth certificate to validate age and the health insurance card because at the end of the day, all sports carry some risks and they need to make sure they are covered in case of an emergency. This is standard operating procedure for any sport my kids have done, and the more dangerous sports (hockey and lacrosse) actually require that you pay a membership to join a governing association (USA Hockey, for instance) so that in the event of catastrophic injury, you are covered under the association's insurance.

There is nothing really "private" about either piece of information. It's not like they're asking for her SSN, which I would be reluctant to supply anyone.

I have never had to provide proof of insurance, but a birth certificate is standard. My daughter's dance company carries them for the entire troupe in case there is a question at a competition.

Sorry to tell you this, Molly, but your daughter will never get to do anything for the summer if you don't hand over a copy of your health insurance card for her. Even the "Y" makes you do that for summer camp.

Cheerleading, along with swimming and hiking and anything physical, can lead to injury. They have to be able to take your child to the hospital and they have to know that your child is really your child, and the person who is on that card when they take your child to the hospital. It's a shame that they are asking for the birth certificate, but she doesn't have a drivers license to ask for instead.

Dawn

I know when we sign our kids up for their sports, soccer and baseball, we have to provide a copy of birth certificate and give insurance info, in case of emergency, although we are always there with our kids during their sporting events. I know the birth certificate is because they have to verify age.

Standard, but 3 copies is silly.

They have to be able to prove your child's age and that they are eligible. They may need the insurance information for their insurance purposes in case she gets injured so they can work together to get the bills paid.

The 3 copies is silly of course, they only need one, they can copy it if they need more than one. Ours are $10 each for certified copies.

This is standard for any activity like soccer or anything else they have an age limit to.

I'd ask why they need 3 copies. But for insurance purposes is the main reason they need those two documents... and for identity reasons.
I have to ask for a birth cert to make sure the parents are the ACTUAL parents of the child.

My daughter is a varsity cheerleader through the school system. We did not have to give birth certificate to prove age because she has been in the same school district all 11 yrs so far.

We do have to sign boatloads of forms, especially providing insurance info in case of injury, forms releasing the school from liability is she is hurt, emergency contacts, releases for photos to be in the paper, medical history... every 2 yrs an actual physical is required, etc.

There is a lot of paper work involved at the school level and I would assume there is a lot for summer cheer, competitive cheer, etc. I don't understand 3 copies of everything. Why can't they make a copy if needed?

I do not give out daughter's SS number.

Cheerleading does have a lot of injuries.. we've been to the sports orthopedic too often. Fortunately nothing serious.

Have fun!

Pretty standard in sports. I think in my lifetime I have heard of more cheerleaders dying in the sport than any other sport. It is dangerous.

I had to do the same thing when my older daughter played soccer. The good news is it is usually registered with a regional organization so other than insurance updates you don't have to do it again.

Personally I loved the waiver I had to sign. My brother is an attorney and I had him look it over. I asked did I read that right? That pretty much the ref can open up on them with an automatic weapon killing the team and I have no right to sue. He went into a mess of legal reasons why I could still sue but the wording of it did pretty much say they were liable for nothing.

When my daughter did swim team and traveling soccer we had to provide a copy of her birth certificate to prove her age. They said it was because some parents try to put their older kids in a younger age group to give them a competitive edge. Nice, huh?
This cheer program must be fairly competitive as well if they're asking for this!

Yes they want birth certificate to varify age and that she is competing in the right age divition and if it's questioned they have it. And the ins is in case something happens to her they can have her treated. I would not freek out about it.

Standard procedure for lots of sports. I'd say get used to it if you expect your kiddo to be involved in activities.
It's not sensitive information just proof of her age and confirmation that she's medically covered. You would want them to have that informaiton if she got hurt.

All a formality I guess...Its more because of the liability. Believe me I bet these people will not even look at these items unless needed.

I remember last year signing a paper for my daughter to play soccer at school for Kindergarten and it basically stated in many different ways that after signing you do not hold the school accountable for death due from playing soccer. Goodness....I never thought soccer could be so brutal in Kindergarten. :)

My daughter did competitive cheer for a year, and we did not have to provide a copy of her birth certificate. For absolutely every activity my kids have ever done, we have had to provide copies of our health insurance, though. That is fairly common.

What I'd offer to do, maybe, is *show* them a copy of her birth certificate, and just tell them that you have concerns about having a copy of it floating around. I believe they just need to verify her age (in cheer, you have both younger kids whose parents think it's okay to say the child is older, and then older kids whose parents put them in a younger group - competitive cheer is a weird deal for sure).

My daughter has been in cheerleading for four years now and I have never had to provide her birth certificate. I write down our health insurance info on the medical release, but I do not have to provide any copies. That sounds very crazy to me!!! I totally agree with you not handing copies of those things over to strangers!!!!