All-Star Controversial Topics From 2017

[Keep_Believing]

Parents pressuring small gym for a higher level, threatening to leave for a big gym, also saying they are okay losing and just want the experience of a higher level (when in reality they weren't okay being last), promising to stay in tumble classes and put in extra time with their stunt groups (most didn't keep their word) , and a couple strong athletes quitting (on a small team a couple strong bases is a huge hit) = need to drop a level. Can't put all the blame on the Coach. Will say lessons were learned and that mistake has not been repeated.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

I understand the reasoning behind this, but the reality is that sometimes things happened during the season that precipitate the need to change levels or divisions. Maybe the coaches lose a few good tumblers/stunters due to injury, quitting, moving, etc. I don't think the team should be made to compete j3 the remainder of the year when they really don't have the skill level to max the scoresheet.

I'll play devil's advocate here...why not?

In every other "sport," when a team has a star player(s) quit or get injured, they're forced to compete at less than full strength. Why should cheer be any different?

 

[cherita.cheerology]

Parents pressuring small gym for a higher level, threatening to leave for a big gym, also saying they are okay losing and just want the experience of a higher level (when in reality they weren't okay being last), promising to stay in tumble classes and put in extra time with their stunt groups (most didn't keep their word) , and a couple strong athletes quitting (on a small team a couple strong bases is a huge hit) = need to drop a level. Can't put all the blame on the Coach. Will say lessons were learned and that mistake had not been repeated.

We can't let parents run our sport [emoji17] it's sad that things like this happen. I don't know when parents stopped allowing coaches and teachers to do their jobs. Entitlement at its finest. When those parents leave, they'll understand their child doesn't belong on said level. But yes, that's a learning lesson for your gym and hopefully lots of more people.


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[Cheerfun2]

Except what if there is a gym that CONTINUALLY does this, not bc they made a "mistake" but bc they think "hmmm, at XYZ comp, there are only 2 teams in this lower division. Let's drop down to win and scoop up the bid." Bc, indeed, there is such a gym. I certainly won't call them out, but Sandbaggers Allstars know who they are.

 

[cherita.cheerology]

I'll play devil's advocate here...why not?

In every other "sport," when a team has a star player(s) quit or get injured, they're forced to compete at less than full strength. Why should cheer be any different?

You're right at that as well! But honestly, it's because we allow parents to have a say in what goes on in our gyms. I mean "our" as an industry. Just like the Raiders this year. They lost Derek Carr and essentially failed the rest of their season even though they made it to playoffs.


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[rosecheers]

I think that you should have to register but this season we had a lot of Mid season athletes join full year which made our program much stronger which allowed us to jump from 2 to 3. I think you should have to send a petition to usasf as to why you are switching divisions. But I also think it is unfair for d2 gyms to chose which comps they are d2 and when they are d1 they should have to declare that at the beginning of the season too.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

You're right at that as well! But honestly, it's because we allow parents to have a say in what goes on in our gyms. I mean "our" as an industry. Just like the Raiders this year. They lost Derek Carr and essentially failed the rest of their season even though they made it to playoffs.


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This is why cheer will never be accepted as a sport. Too many ways for people to make the competition easier to accommodate their hurting egos.

 

[Keep_Believing]

I'll play devil's advocate here...why not?

In every other "sport," when a team has a star player(s) quit or get injured, they're forced to compete at less than full strength. Why should cheer be any different?

When stunts become obviously unsafe , you admit you made a mistake, you need to put safety before pride of staying your current level.

 

[cherita.cheerology]

This is why cheer will never be accepted as a sport. Too many ways for people to make the competition easier to accommodate their hurting egos.

Wow [emoji15] you said it best.


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[Keep_Believing]

In a small town, dropping a level was embarrassing. Egos had to be put to the side.

 

[Ashley]

Except what if there is a gym that CONTINUALLY does this, not bc they made a "mistake" but bc they think "hmmm, at XYZ comp, there are only 2 teams in this lower division. Let's drop down to win and scoop up the bid." Bc, indeed, there is such a gym. I certainly won't call them out, but Sandbaggers Allstars know who they are.

Then make a rule about the number of times you can change levels (maybe only allow it once). You can't legislate sandbagging. Those who want to sandbag will just be level 2 all year instead of dropping from level 3.

 

[Lablover]

What if they are not successful in their level? A few seasons back one my CP's team started as a r5. The goal was to work hard and become a strong r5 by end of the season. Unfortunately, that never happened. They struggled, got last place repeatedly, and had an extremely low raw score. Finally excepted they had no business being a r5 with just a handful of athletes with r5 skills, bumped down to a 4. They kicked but as a 4, but should have never been a r5.

Totally agree.

I'll play devil's advocate here...why not?

In every other "sport," when a team has a star player(s) quit or get injured, they're forced to compete at less than full strength. Why should cheer be any different?

That's not completely true in youth sports. In youth baseball you can drop divisions (i.e. AAA vs AA) and certain tournament companies allow you to self select your division 1,2, etc and you can change for each tournament if you really wanted. Further for soccer tournaments you can pick the division you register for.

 

[Ashley]

This is why cheer will never be accepted as a sport. Too many ways for people to make the competition easier to accommodate their hurting egos.

This is not at all why cheer will never be accepted as a sport. It's not accepted because we're a performance sport scored by a panel of judges rather than objective scoring (goals, runs, touchdowns, etc). And because there's not a clear separation from sideline cheer.

Other sports don't have different skills you're allowed to do at different levels. You play the same sport regardless. The closest thing you could compare cheer to is gymnastics or figure skating and those are more or less individual sports.

 

[Pebbles49]

On the subject of switching levels, I think sometimes a gym signed new athletes or hope to keep athletes by promising higher level teams during tryouts and when these athletes or hooked in with already signed contracts and large money paid... the big switcheroo happen... You know, this cannot be called a mistake, Hmm!

PS: when gyms are operating like this, they should be forced to stay in their projected team divisions or not allowed to drop down for big meets that offer bids, like NCA, as a penalty...

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Totally agree.


That's not completely true in youth sports. In youth baseball you can drop divisions (i.e. AAA vs AA) and certain tournament companies allow you to self select your division 1,2, etc and you can change for each tournament if you really wanted. Further for soccer tournaments you can pick the division you register for.

Unless youth baseball has changed from when I was umpiring and coaching, we had to register our athletes with the organization, and only so many athletes registered at say AAA could be on a team competing at the AA level.