All-Star Cheer Athletics (questions/rumors)

[CoachTamara]

@BlueCat What were your feelings on Worlds 2017? Highs and lows for your program? Favorite moments?

 

[BlueCat]

@BlueCat What were your feelings on Worlds 2017? Highs and lows for your program? Favorite moments?

Much like every big competition, there were ups and downs for us. We are extremely proud of the overall performance of the teams, but there are always moments of sadness. Watching our teams was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Several of our teams had very uncharacteristic mistakes that kept them short of their goals, but several teams had some of their best performances of the season.

That seeming "randomness" is part of the sport at this point. In order to be competitive at the highest level, you have to have enough difficulty scattered throughout your routines that going mistake-free is not a given. Any one skill may hit 99%+ of the time, but you have so many different skills in that 2.5 minutes that even a 99% consistency isn't enough sometimes.

I think the logistics side (registration, running on time, scoring process, awards, etc) was less terrible than it has been in the past, but that is a VERY low bar to hurdle. I have to acknowledge improvement, but it is still far below what our sport deserves. When I catch back up a little, I hope to have a more complete review of this.

 

[Keep_Believing]

What do you think of the age changes that were just released?

 

[BlueCat]

What do you think of the age changes that were just released?

Which version? I am generally in favor of having tighter age restrictions, but understand that can make it tough for some gyms in some situations. If I were on the board again and charged with making that decision, I'm not sure what I would vote. I would need to do a ton more research before making a decision that affected so many folks. You would think that the board would have full access to the statistics that the USASF should have available. (How many teams registered in which divisions, what ages those athletes are, etc....). That would be crucial to deciding age-bracket questions.

That being said, if you are going to have gyms split into different "classes" (D1/D2) because of the differences in their resources, I don't see why you couldn't have different age floors for some divisions. I've already put forth a rough suggestion for how I would split D1/D2 and it included the general idea of adjusted age grids. This is an oversimplification of the issue, but generally the larger gyms are in favor of smaller age ranges and the smaller gyms want a more wide-open grid.

I don't know what kind of time pressure the board felt, but surely they didn't think that changing the grid twice right around tryout season was ideal. I'm sure they meant well, but they had to have understood the disruption this has caused. This strikes me as an example of an event-producer driven organization and board not being in touch with the needs of gyms.

 

[Atxmom]

Bluecat... tried to search for answer to this but was unsuccessful. Spirit/team gifts, cheer sisters etc...does CA require athletes to participate? I've heard that reps collect money for every comp. I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun and my cp is fine not participating. If she wants to something I'm don't have a problem buying it, but I have a problem w/ buying trinkets that we will never use.
No offense intended, it's just not the way we have raised her. We don't put value in material things. We have enough blankets, pajamas, pillowcases, survival kits, inspirational quotes etc and she doesn't eat sweets. I've also seen some teams (lower level, not worlds) purchase additional practice wear. Are we allowed to opt out or is this frowned upon?

 

[BlueCat]

Bluecat... tried to search for answer to this but was unsuccessful. Spirit/team gifts, cheer sisters etc...does CA require athletes to participate? I've heard that reps collect money for every comp. I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun and my cp is fine not participating. If she wants to something I'm don't have a problem buying it, but I have a problem w/ buying trinkets that we will never use.
No offense intended, it's just not the way we have raised her. We don't put value in material things. We have enough blankets, pajamas, pillowcases, survival kits, inspirational quotes etc and she doesn't eat sweets. I've also seen some teams (lower level, not worlds) purchase additional practice wear. Are we allowed to opt out or is this frowned upon?

Because it has gotten out of hand (in some cases), we are instituting a hard cap on the maximum that any athlete can spend on "team gifts" in a year at all gyms. Additionally, contributing to the team gift fund is optional. (However, everyone on the team must receive each gift.)

 

[justpeachy]

Because it has gotten out of hand (in some cases), we are instituting a hard cap on the maximum that any athlete can spend on "team gifts" in a year at all gyms. Additionally, contributing to the team gift fund is optional. (However, everyone on the team must receive each gift.)

I appreciate this and I hope it catches on everywhere. I love doing fun things for my kid as much as the next person, but isn't getting to participate in allstar cheer enough?

*steps off soap box*

 

[TXcheermom]

Bluecat... tried to search for answer to this but was unsuccessful. Spirit/team gifts, cheer sisters etc...does CA require athletes to participate? I've heard that reps collect money for every comp. I don't want to ruin anyone else's fun and my cp is fine not participating. If she wants to something I'm don't have a problem buying it, but I have a problem w/ buying trinkets that we will never use.
No offense intended, it's just not the way we have raised her. We don't put value in material things. We have enough blankets, pajamas, pillowcases, survival kits, inspirational quotes etc and she doesn't eat sweets. I've also seen some teams (lower level, not worlds) purchase additional practice wear. Are we allowed to opt out or is this frowned upon?

My daughter was a cheetah for two years and on claw 6 for one..

I can def speak on this :)
The money collected really isn't for trinkets
Most of the money collected is used for
Nca show off outfits
Worlds show off outfits
And outfits for when they are at worlds.

So in the sense of trinkets, it's def not toys, gadgets, and such. :)

 

[CheerDivaMom88]

My daughter was a cheetah for two years and on claw 6 for one..

I can def speak on this :)
The money collected really isn't for trinkets
Most of the money collected is used for
Nca show off outfits
Worlds show off outfits
And outfits for when they are at worlds.

So in the sense of trinkets, it's def not toys, gadgets, and such. :)

It sounds like on the worlds team this is the case but definitely not the case for lower level from previous 2 years experience.

 

[TXcheermom]

It sounds like on the worlds team this is the case but definitely not the case for lower level from previous 2 years experience.

Yes 3 years Worlds team at Ca
It was always outfits for showoffs that the money was used on. Or sweats for the cold weather at the majors :)

Not sure what the younger teams do :)

 

[BlueCat]

It has gotten to the point where it is affecting some parents' ability to pay for the season and discouraging some from even trying out. Teams don't need to buy new outfits for every occasion.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

It has gotten to the point where it is affecting some parents' ability to pay for the season and discouraging some from even trying out. Teams don't need to buy new outfits for every occasion.

I have to give you props for identifying that something like this has become an issue, and for addressing it. Cheerleading is SO expensive already, and I know some parents are barely scraping by.

 

[MakeYourMark]

It has gotten to the point where it is affecting some parents' ability to pay for the season and discouraging some from even trying out. Teams don't need to buy new outfits for every occasion.

In this case, will CA only be requiring the year-long practice wear? And not get specialized outfits for Majors/NCA/Worlds etc..

 

[BlueCat]

In this case, will CA only be requiring the year-long practice wear? And not get specialized outfits for Majors/NCA/Worlds etc..

No, we have a cap on what they can spend. If they choose to use that towards practice wear or specialized outfits, they can, but they likely won't be able to afford complete new and different outfits for every single event. (Which is OK.). There isn't a particular need to have a Major outfit, an Alliance outfit, an NCA week outfit, and a Worlds outfit that are all different from each other. (In addition to the 4 standard ones they already have.). If a team really feels the need to get an outfit that is different from the rest of the teams, then can (within reason), but they don't need 4-5 of those unique outfits.

A few parents love the idea of getting new outfits all the time. Most don't.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

It has gotten to the point where it is affecting some parents' ability to pay for the season and discouraging some from even trying out. Teams don't need to buy new outfits for every occasion.

This phenomenon has made it into HS cheer as well.

I try to keep it simple because let's be honest, school cheer need not be as expensive as a full season of all stars. We have 4 sets of practice wear that doubles as camp wear. We usually do new uniforms every other season. They have 3 bows. We generally do not change warm ups so you only need to re-purchase if yours does not fit or something. They also have a cheer sweatshirt or extra tee shirt that most of them choose to purchase.

But there are programs whose apparel costs rival that of some Worlds teams. A coach friend of mine that I met at a conference recently shared that her athletes purchase:

3 sets sublimated type camp wear.
3 sets of practice wear.
uniform (new every season)
warm up (new every season)
5 practice or game bows
state practice wear (2 sets)
nationals practicewear (2 sets)
special nationals bow
AHS cheer sweatshirt
AHS cheer sweatpants
Homecoming bow
Homecoming cheer tee shirt

Why?

The most interesting part of this discussion is that oddly enough, the parents WANT and approve of all these things.

I have found the same for my program, to some extent. While I have most who are happy I do not require that, I do have a few who ask why I don't "have them get cute bows for camp?"

Because money, Barbara.