Posted by request from Cassie Bienvenue from ECE!
Home from Atlanta after what was one of the best weekends our C5 and J5 kids have ever had! Having read lots of mixed reviews surrounding The Champions League, here is what stands out in my mind.....
Caliber of the teams - 30 amazing teams competed back to back in a 3-hour span. At Worlds or any other event, watching this would have taken several days and multiple arenas. Yes, there were some mistakes made by teams but they were minimal & when is this not the case! Best 3 hours of cheerleading I've ever watched live!
Pre-Event Planning - Every coach and gym owner involved in this league had the ability to be as involved or as uninvolved as they wished. Every aspect of the competition was voted upon by us & explained to us every step of the way. We had the opportunity to contribute our ideas and suggestions as each decision was made. This is something I've never seen happen before and it was by far the most refreshing aspect of the event for me. We were able to give input into the scoring system & our ideas were implemented. We were able to vote upon who would be chosen to judge the event, how the event would run, what additional perks would surround the competition, etc. In an industry where we are often simply dictated to, the entire concept felt empowering to us! Who would not prefer a democracy to a dictatorship!
Involving the Athletes - Prior to the CL, each team selected a "captain". These kids had conference calls just like the coaches & gym owners. Most importantly, they had the opportunity to contribute. For as long as they have all been cheering, I don't know that they've ever been asked by an event company what they want most in a competition. This time, they were asked and their suggestions were implemented! Most impressive is that when they were asked what kind of an award they wanted - they voted to give to charity rather than receive medals, rings, jackets, etc. Because of their pre-event involvement, they made connections and developed friendships with athletes from all over the US - not via social media but by actual conversation. People can knock the prom and the red carpet entrance but this is something they enjoyed. It was an extra and it did not take away from the fact that they all wanted to compete & hit routines the following day. There was a huge sense of community Friday night in GA & the memories that these kids made with their competitors & friends is something that they likely won't soon forget.
Scoring - An extreme amount of effort was made to get the scoring right & most importantly, to give the coaches absolutely every tool necessary to succeed. Whether you agree or not with the results, I saw more care at this event in furnishing coaches with the knowledge necessary to succeed than at all others combined. Here is why - prior to the event, we were given the chance to submit a video & script of routine. If we took this opportunity, we then received a complete breakdown of our difficulty scores prior to the event, giving us the ability to make changes, etc. Most importantly, no surprises!! Round One was scored for difficulty only. Meaning - all of the skills were counted, etc so that in the later round, judges could concentrate entirely on the routine being performed, execution of skills, choreography, etc. We personally loved this format and I saw very few coaches challenging skill ranges as we all knew exactly how we'd score going in. I can imagine that it made the jobs of the judges much easier as well and allowed them to fully concentrate on the routines being performed as opposed to counting skills throughout.
Logistically there were definitely some issues that arose but in my opinion, these are easily fixable for the future! I support this competition 100% and thoroughly enjoyed our time competing at the Champions League! I give
Tammy Van Vleet, Tate Chalk, and Nfinity a ton of credit for not only putting on such a spectacular event but for putting some power back in the hands of the gyms! Big shout out as well to
JR DjRizz Locklayer for editing all of our mixes for film! I cannot wait for Thursday
#cheernightout!!