All-Star Cheer Alliance 16 Competition

[j4z0n]

If you watch closely (on the december vids thread) brandon did not hit zero. I saw 3 stunt bobbles. Because if they say HIT, I reckon it should have hit SOLID. that's the only "reason" why I think brandon placed 2nd

 

[cheerislife1]

Grand champion TGLC receives Varsity uniforms for Worlds. I think the other Grand Champions received something in addition to a banner.

Did the division winners recieve anything? or just a banner?

 

[FamousxMindset]

I agree with absolutely none of the results, and none of it makes sense to me even after the very biased comments in this thread lol.

 

[Charolais]

 

[Charolais]

Did the division winners recieve anything? or just a banner?

I believe the other Grand Champion, Cheer Athletics Wildcats, received shoes and hair products. Division winners took home a banner.

 

[cheerislife1]

I believe the other Grand Champion, Cheer Athletics Wildcats, received shoes and hair products. Division winners took home a banner.

all they got was a banner? nothing for the athletes on the winning team? seems a little cheap to me.

 

[quitthedrama]

I agree with absolutely none of the results, and none of it makes sense to me even after the very biased comments in this thread lol.

curious - were you there or are you basing it off video?

On a related note, I give myself the "24 hour rule" when I'm angry or upset about something. I gave myself 48 hours to comment on this competition.
There were positives: The concept is great. The level of competition was fantastic. I appreciate any competition who uses the Worlds score sheet for Worlds teams. The competition ran on time for the most part. The event staff I encountered were helpful and polite. The event had priority seating so at least I could see my kid compete. I loved that they posted scores.

That's all I got. The entire weekend was expensive, frustrating and exhausting. The venue is a horrendous location. There is no parking, there is NOTHING within a half mile and it isn't in the greatest area. Getting to and from the venue was difficult at best, especially between 5 and 6 on Friday night. Since there was no parking, it was a $25 taxi or uber from our hotel which was booked through the competition hotel block and a 20+ minute drive to get to the venue Friday night for the gala, or you could choose to walk the 1.25 miles in below 20 degree weather (and then slush and snow on Saturday) amid the trash and rats and sketchiness. Athletes had to pay for their own food and drink at the gala. $3 for a drink, almost $10 for chicken tenders. Unacceptable. The "parent lounge" had 5 tables with a few chairs around each one and a portable "bar" with 2 staff members. The teams who hadn't gone from the "red carpet" to the ball had to struggle to walk through the line of parents waiting to get a drink. We ended up walking nearly a mile - again - to somewhere else to get something to eat.
The competition set up was horrible. Although the near $40 price tag was expensive for one night, I could live with that. I also could live with the "rec" feel of the backdrop, lighting, banners, etc. However, having the mat on a floor with no arena seating (I'm not counting the 5-row high bleachers set way back that maybe sat 50 people total) means no one could see anything, so it was a lot of money to spend to see just about nothing.
@Eyes On The Prize I agree about supporting something other than Varsity - but Varsity had their name all over this so they were involved in some way. The expense to attend this competition was huge and overall the event was subpar. It could be greatly improved without increasing costs.

 

[FamousxMindset]

curious - were you there or are you basing it off video?
I give myself the "24 hour rule" when I'm angry or upset about something. I gave myself 48 hours to comment on this competition.
There were positives: The concept is great. The level of competition was fantastic. I appreciate any competition who uses the Worlds score sheet for Worlds teams. The competition ran on time for the most part. The event staff I encountered were helpful and polite. The event had priority seating so at least I could see my kid compete.

That's all I got. The entire weekend was expensive, frustrating and exhausting. The venue is a horrendous location. There is no parking, there is NOTHING within a half mile and it isn't in the greatest area. Getting to and from the venue was difficult at best, especially between 5 and 6 on Friday night. Since there was no parking, it was a $25 taxi or uber from our hotel which was booked through the competition hotel block and a 20+ minute drive to get to the venue Friday night for the gala, or you could choose to walk the 1.25 miles in below 20 degree weather (and then slush and snow on Saturday) amid the trash and rats and sketchiness. Athletes had to pay for their own food and drink at the gala. $3 for a drink, almost $10 for chicken tenders. Unacceptable. The "parent lounge" had 5 tables with a few chairs around each one and a portable "bar" with 2 staff members. The teams who hadn't gone from the "red carpet" to the ball had to struggle to walk through the line of parents waiting to get a drink. We ended up walking nearly a mile - again - to somewhere else to get something to eat.
The competition set up was horrible. Although the near $40 price tag was expensive for one night, I could live with that. I also could live with the "rec" feel of the backdrop, lighting, banners, etc. However, having the mat on a floor with no arena seating (I'm not counting the 5-row high bleachers set way back that maybe sat 50 people total) means no one could see anything, so it was a lot of money to spend to see just about nothing.
@Eyes On The Prize I agree about supporting something other than Varsity - but Varsity had their name all over this so they were involved in some way. The expense to attend this competition was huge and overall the event was subpar. It could be greatly improved without increasing costs.

I am basing my opinion on videos, score sheets, and a large chunk of my organization's staff that was there competing if that's okay with you.

 

[Lisa Seye]

Strange how TGLC wins Varsity uniforms. Didn't I see recently how they just got new Rebel uniforms?

 

[quitthedrama]

I am basing my opinion on videos, score sheets, and a large chunk of my organization's staff that was there competing if that's okay with you.

Absolutely is ok - I didn't mean anything rude or sarcastic by asking! I was genuinely curious to hear how the people who attended in person and have knowledge (either coaches or judges) felt about the placements. I think sometimes performance factor can get lost in videos which is why I asked if you were there in person.

 

[icequeen]

Strange how TGLC wins Varsity uniforms. Didn't I see recently how they just got new Rebel uniforms?

That was the program uniform from the Orlando location. It's been almost 3 years since they gotten the black so I think a new one was due this year.

 

[CheerInMyHeart]

If I had to post STARS and STAIRS I would say this

STAIRS:
Have signs in the waiting area for when teams come in they know where to wait so the EP aren't running from group to group looking for them which took longer for the red carpet.

Keep the coaches upstairs in the lounge area with more tables and chairs and 2 bars and a different area for the parents with 2 bars (cheer parents like to drink :) )

Raise the stage and get higher bleachers if possible.

Offer the winners of each division something more than a banner.

STARS:
NYC at Christmas was an amazing experience for me and my family.

I pre-purchased my tickets and the walk up and exchange was easy. I know several were not happy that the event sold out but NYC absolutely keeps within Fire Code and the event always advertised to buy early it will be a sold out event. Hope everyone who needed ticket got to see their awesome athletes.

They fact that had all those AMAZING teams under 1 roof in December and everyone did amazing was a OUTSTANDING!!!

I liked that simpleness to the backdrop it allowed me to focus on the teams. I noticed it did change between play in round, cheer&dance round, and finals.


Thats all I can think of for now. Please know this is just MY OPINION hope everyone enjoyed themselves and got home safely.

 

[mamabear]

I could almost cut and paste my comments from Champions League and use it as a review for this weekend.

First and foremost, my daughter and several of her gymmates did not get to watch the Saturday morning play-ins, because they refused to let athletes in who were in FULL uniform and competing later that morning without their wristbands. Their team meeting was scheduled after the play-ins so they would have a chance to cheer on the teams from our gym who were competing, as well as some of our previous athletes who were competing with TGLC. The whole reason that I was excited for this event was so that the younger kids could experience Worlds level teams. Luckily, we did get to see them at night, but several of the youth level kids did not go to that event because they were sold out or because they didn't want to stay out late since they were competing even earlier the next morning. Their one opportunity to see the Worlds teams was by watching the Play-ins and they were denied.

The ticketing procedure was a mess. We arrived when doors opened. (In the snow , at the entrance that they told us to go. Of course that entrance was locked and we had to schlep through wet snow, two blocks to the real entrance.). There were at least 100 people in line in front of us, in the PREPAID line, to exchange paper for bands. There was only one person working the line.

I doubled checked again (since everyone was getting conflicting answers) that level 1-5R athletes needed a ticket to Cheer Alliance that evening and they said yes. Another wasted purchase.My kid walked in with her just her athlete writsband.

They were struggling with sightlines they whole day from the judges table. They took away a row of seating from VIP/parents. About an hour into the Play-in event, they also took our front row along the side of the stage, leaving all of us without seats during the play- in event. About ten minutes later, they came back and put the seats back... which thankfully we reclaimed, but what the heck? lol

They need to add real stadium seating at this event. Sightlines should never be an issue.

Scoring seemed to be very focused on technique. Some of the level 5 scores surprised me, but, I fully admit that I was watching with a spectator's eye, not as a judge or a coach. The divisions that CP competed in, placement seemed right on. Her teams walked away with a first and a second.Imo, that was exactly what they earned.

The announcer needs to stop with the 9/11 comments about security, especially during the Cheer Alliance event. Do not use the fire marshall and terrorism, as an excuse for a crowded venue. If you really cared about safety, we would have been searched at the entrance. The comments about saving seats with backpacks, were over the top. It upset the native NJ and NYC people and put the out-of-towners at unease.

Pros..
The level of talent was amazing! I was blown away by what I saw. I could easily see this event growing into being known as one of the official starts of the season. As I mentioned earlier, our seats all weekend were on the side of the stage. It allowed us to witness the amazing connections that the athletes and coaches have. I could look into the crowds and easily understood how these kids get addicted to cheering. I also loved being able to see the shared moments of the athletes during the performances. The high fives, the words of encouragement shared, the looks at the coaches when some thing went wrong and the elated looks when it went right.

I found myself immersed in Twist and Shout families for most of the weekend. It added some extra joy because they were loving the whole NYC twist to the event. I also fell in love with the Cheer Athletics program. all I can say is WOW.


Top Gun Angels stole the show again during the prom, with their white gowns. They are stunning.

All of the management and staff tried to be helpful...most of the problems stemmed from lack of communication.

We stayed at the Westin Times Square. It was a great experience. Maybe not $600 worth of great ;) but still worth it imo. Parking was right across the street, and we used Uber most of the weekend. The venue was a distance away, but there really was nothing closer to be considered a host hotel.

All-in-all, this event has enourmous potential. It was not bad for a first time event. If they address their communication issues. Update their website with actual information, and work on the seating and sightline issues, then it could be amazing. It also sounds like they really need to up the "prom" event. The gyms want to attend. Make it so everyone wants to!

 

[Momager]

From @quitthedrama and @mamabear 's experience it sounds like they solved exactly none of the problems from last year's Champions League, from a parent point of view. Perhaps a large convention center in a crowded city with transportation and security issues, in addition to the layout of large convention halls, is not the most family friendly way to hold a cheer competition.

 

[DonePaying4Cheer]

F5 had 4pts in deductions, so it wasn't a clean routine. Panthers had 5pts ded, Stars 5.5 ded, and SE 1pt ded. Panthers and Stars had higher raw scores, that's why they placed higher than F5.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Then, they could not have been using the World's scoresheet as we are all assuming. World's scores based on the best routine with the fewest errors. If 2016 World's were scored like this, F5 would not have won.

Frankly, I don't know how F5 got almost as many points in deductions as Panthers.

But, Cest le vie!