Cheerleader gets hurt.

[JRutledge]

This was an interesting situation that made me think what others might do.

I had one of those double dip games, the JV then the Varsity game. One of the Cheerleaders during the JV game was doing a move and fell to the floor. Actually, she was thrown in the air by her fellow cheerleaders and they did not catch her in the basket apparantly. They tried to get her up but she was struggling. Now she eventually had to be stablized on the court and we could not continue until this young lady was helped off the court by an ambulance.

Now as an official, what responsiblity do we have when it comes to the health of this young girl or a cheerleader? Now the girl did not get hurt directly as a result of the game, but we had to hold up the game anyway. What responsiblity if any do we have to make sure her needs are taken care of? Are there any rules or interpretations that cover this kind of injury of a non-player? I know in football it is required that we "observe" the actions of the medical professionals in order to determine if the proper things are done to insure the health of an injured player. I believe we are suppose to do the same thing as it relates to basketball (at least by practice). So do we have the same responsiblity with a cheerleader? Does states have rules or practices that cover this?

Peace