All-Star 2019-2020 Teams

[WuToDouble]

Can we get back to finding out if there is a wiki for teams this year?

@King

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

It’s that time of year again: music release time.

Would I age myself horribly if I said most of it sounds the same to me? Lots of “crowns” and “queens” and “rings” and laser sounds. That’s not to say it’s bad —I know I’ll be singing all of it into my laptop come April — but it all does sound very similar. And it makes me wish even more that they hadn’t taken commercial music from us.

Speaking of which, I’d be very interested to know how WCSS got to use the snippet from “Oh What a Night.” I know it’s just a half second long and serves as a hat tip to 2015, but I’d have to think it qualifies as a music rights thing?

 

[DonnaM]

Especially when a bunch of teams have the same snippets. So it’s not only similar sounding, but the SAME music mixed different ways.

On music rights, you can get them for public performance/use-you just have to pay licensing fees. A cover usually costs less than the original. And as soon as admission is charged, that pushes it out of educational use, so even school cheer teams get hit with it if they want to compete.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Especially when a bunch of teams have the same snippets. So it’s not only similar sounding, but the SAME music mixed different ways.

On music rights, you can get them for public performance/use-you just have to pay licensing fees. A cover usually costs less than the original. And as soon as admission is charged, that pushes it out of educational use, so even school cheer teams get hit with it if they want to compete.

There should be an unspoken rule that says you can’t have “queen” or “baddest whatever” or anything that suggests you’re the best in your lyrics if you didn’t win the year previous. You can still say stuff along the lines of “taking back what’s ours” or “you better enjoy it while you can” or whatever, but nothing that suggests you won if you didn’t. It can be a low-key perk of winning Worlds: you get to be the only team that gets to brag and have it be true.

 

[cpersichilli]

Soooo... no wiki yet?

 

[icequeen]

Super seniors are moving from medium to the open division after Majors.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Super seniors are moving from medium to the open division after Majors.

Whoa.

 

[quitthedrama]

Super seniors are moving from medium to the open division after Majors.

It's been a trend for senior teams to move to open and I get the reasoning, but I still hate to see it, especially for signature teams, and I consider Supers one of those teams.

 

[CLynn]

It's been a trend for senior teams to move to open and I get the reasoning, but I still hate to see it, especially for signature teams, and I consider Supers one of those teams.

The reasoning is what in this case though? I knew they were switching but not following closely enough to know why.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I noticed the move to OPEN with the exodus from Small All Girl to OPEN AG and it is becoming more common.

I also can't really figure out the why.

Is it age grid? I could see the advantage in having no upper age limit. If your flyers are 14 and you have the ability to have bases in upper college (beyond 19 year olds who are super senioring) that could work in your favor.

Is it competition? I feel like who is in what division HAS to play into it on some level.

 

[quitthedrama]

The reasoning is what in this case though? I knew they were switching but not following closely enough to know why.

I noticed the move to OPEN with the exodus from Small All Girl to OPEN AG and it is becoming more common.

I also can't really figure out the why.

Is it age grid? I could see the advantage in having no upper age limit. If your flyers are 14 and you have the ability to have bases in upper college (beyond 19 year olds who are super senioring) that could work in your favor.

Is it competition? I feel like who is in what division HAS to play into it on some level.

Opinion only, but based on what I have seen (I'm no longer involved in allstar as of this year but I imagine the trend has continued) it's lack of eligible athletes. The diehard "generation" is 20-24 age range - they are hanging in there because of their true love of the sport. The 14-17 age range seems to have burnt out - both athletes and parents (Summit - who needs worlds when you have been to "the big or big enough one" multiple times already, lots of options for high school kids as far as activities go; for parents the expense, the frustration of the industry - STP, late music, uniforms, etc. ) The younger generation seems to be more concerned with ambassador branding type roles versus hours of blood sweat and tears that it takes to get to the highest level. There are TONS of level 1-4 teams especially in D2. The NT divisions are two of the biggest Worlds divisions. It's hard to field a team of more than 25 in the regular senior Worlds divisions now. I don't know if that's good or bad for the industry.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Opinion only, but based on what I have seen (I'm no longer involved in allstar as of this year but I imagine the trend has continued) it's lack of eligible athletes. The diehard "generation" is 20-24 age range - they are hanging in there because of their true love of the sport. The 14-17 age range seems to have burnt out - both athletes and parents (Summit - who needs worlds when you have been to "the big or big enough one" multiple times already, lots of options for high school kids as far as activities go; for parents the expense, the frustration of the industry - STP, late music, uniforms, etc. ) The younger generation seems to be more concerned with ambassador branding type roles versus hours of blood sweat and tears that it takes to get to the highest level. There are TONS of level 1-4 teams especially in D2. The NT divisions are two of the biggest Worlds divisions. It's hard to field a team of more than 25 in the regular senior Worlds divisions now. I don't know if that's good or bad for the industry.

Thoughts:

1. I agree that SO MANY THINGS are vying for their time in HS. Most single-activity/sport kids quit by HS to do other things. It wasn't uncommon for my cheerleaders to be involved in at least 2 other clubs. A lot of parents are into prioritizing what is attractive to colleges, too. Headed into HS, if your child can't balance that sport, and has to choose between say, all star cheer, Model UN, and being dual-enrolled at the community college maintaining a 4.0, usually cheer is not going to win. Especially if she has already won Summit (or even Worlds depending on age.)

2. People (some parents, industry people, etc.) underestimate the pull of KIDS AND TEENS JUST WANTING TO DO REGULAR THINGS. There are kids who have been Level 5/6 athletes on for a very long time and in the gym ALL WEEK from K-8th grade. They hit HS and they quite literally see other people having fun (going to dances, being free to hang out, dating, etc.) and they want that. It's an easy choice when it has already taken a toll on your body, finances of your parents, etc. They likely are HAPPY to hear that Suzy wants a break.

3. NT is probably a big draw because it capitalizes on those who are probably in the diehard generation 20s but whose bodies can't handle tumbling in Open. I can bet it also capitalizes on the senior age bracket who maybe is a Level 6 stunter but has never had the $$ to put in the work to get tumbling. I have not decided if the division is beneficial or not. Its initial purpose was to open another avenue for teams from other countries to compete, yes? Is that what's happening? Or is it just becoming saturated with US teams?

 

[CLynn]

Opinion only, but based on what I have seen (I'm no longer involved in allstar as of this year but I imagine the trend has continued) it's lack of eligible athletes.

I hear what you are saying and agree with @oncecoolcoachnowmom in general re: H.S. students, sports, priorities etc. But in this specific case they are going to Majors with a medium team so clearly they have enough age eligible athletes. I guess they feel they will be a stronger team with the competition in open compared with dropping to say small or xsmall? I am not sure if any of these trends are positive for the sport. It is becoming way too fractured imo.

 

[california cheer mom]

Opinion only, but based on what I have seen (I'm no longer involved in allstar as of this year but I imagine the trend has continued) it's lack of eligible athletes. The diehard "generation" is 20-24 age range - they are hanging in there because of their true love of the sport. The 14-17 age range seems to have burnt out - both athletes and parents (Summit - who needs worlds when you have been to "the big or big enough one" multiple times already, lots of options for high school kids as far as activities go; for parents the expense, the frustration of the industry - STP, late music, uniforms, etc. ) The younger generation seems to be more concerned with ambassador branding type roles versus hours of blood sweat and tears that it takes to get to the highest level. There are TONS of level 1-4 teams especially in D2. The NT divisions are two of the biggest Worlds divisions. It's hard to field a team of more than 25 in the regular senior Worlds divisions now. I don't know if that's good or bad for the industry.

Agreed. Our gym has hard a hard time filling worlds teams this year, especially boys. There's really only one other worlds team in the area and they had to switch to open to get any boys at all.

 

[Knowcheering]

USASF and IASF keep creating more-- and separate-- divisions despite shrinking fields, and the competition gets further diluted.

The Summit is also to blame for smaller Level 6 fields. When you give kids an end-of-the-year trip to Disney as soon as they get to Youth Level 1, they won't have as much incentive to work up toward Level 6. You'll see some kids inspired to continue striving for Worlds success, but others will be content with one or two trips to Florida and then quit.

Levels 1-3 should feel like introductory levels, but instead they are cutthroat and full of bid-chasing. Competition schedules used to be a healthy mixture of local 1-day comps and a few 2-day comps instead of this continuous bid chasing at 2-day "Nationals" that occurs now from the time a kid is in Youth Level 1. This burns out both kids and parents and kills some of the incentive to ever get to Level 6. And gyms have no choice but to fill their competition schedules with constant 2-day Nationals because this Summit bid-culture has essentially killed off 1-day events and meaningful local competition. I've never seen so many lower level teams compete against themselves at in-state competitions as I do now. Without any real local competitions, a sport is very expensive and time-consuming. The sport in general felt healthier before the Summit.

Also, the non-tumbling divisions may serve a purpose, but they also create an easy avenue for cheerleaders to get to Worlds without having to obtain many Level 6 skills. It's easier than ever to make it to Worlds, and that's not a good thing.

The younger generation seems to be more concerned with ambassador branding type roles versus hours of blood sweat and tears that it takes to get to the highest level.

So true. The number of little kids claiming to be "cheer models" and ambassadors on Instagram (with accounts run by their delusional stage moms) is staggering. Why ever strive for Worlds success when you can pretend to be famous and important on Instagram at 8 years old?