Not necessarily. Like other sports/activities, cheerleading at the high school level and below is governed by the individual state association you’re in. Additionally, within a state there may be a separate governing group for public schools and private schools. Those associations are responsible for the interpretation of the rules for all sports in their state. Though they may use the same rules as another state (NFHS or USA Cheer), there may be a different interpretation of a rule that has some subjectivity. Further, states may be more restrictive, or even less restrictive, than the national sets of rules. It is important that you know who governs cheer in your state and what rules are followed.

These videos are reviewed by USA Cheer and by members of the NFHS Spirit Rules committee, but they are not binding in every state. They are provided to help educate coaches and rules interpreters about the rules.

Some states, coaches associations, or event producers may explicitly state that the videos on this site are an extension of the interpretations found in the rule book.

Finally, understand that your skill may also be slightly different in a way that makes your version illegal while the version on this site is considered to be legal.

For these reasons, if you are attending a competition, it is important that you clear any skills – especially skills related to recent rules changes or skills you have never seen being performed elsewhere – through your local rules process.  In some cases, that is the state association; in other cases, that is the event producer such as a cheerleading or coaches association.