Just went to our first competition this past weekend. My gym is in Florida.
Here are my observations as a coach - the good, bad and ugly.
Positive:
- Spectators- It was basically cheer on speed. Spectators were not allowed inside the venue until 15 minutes before their team competed. Spectators had to prepurchase their tickets online and then were scanned in through their phone. My boyfriend attended as a spectator and said the staff were extremely efficient in escorting fans in and out as quick as possible - a la "cattle heard style" according to him lol. Masks were strictly enforced.
- Warm ups - Again, super efficient. Teams weren't allowed in until 15 minutes before their warmups. Everyone was distanced, my team wore masks during the entire warm up process. We had little "Covid bags" for each kid. Right before they were about to go on, they put their masks in their covid bag, competed, and then immediately got their covid bags again to mask up. Seems like most teams wore masks while in warm ups, which I was pleasantly surprised about.
- Awards - Virtual. Enough said. Super easy, super safe for our team. We tried to be in and out.
Negative:
- Spectators - Because fans couldn't enter the actual arena until 15 minutes before their team performed, it lead to a MASSIVE crowd outside the venue. It's Florida, so it was gorgeous outside, and it turned into a tailgating experience more or less. No masks worn outside, lots of people around, hair and makeup was getting done, people were eating, parents were talking... that was alarming. It was wall-to-wall with parents, coaches, team mates, family members... pretty chaotic given how orderly it was inside the actual venue.
- Warm ups- while kids were great about the masks, I can't say the same for the coaches. Lots of coaches walking around maskless and nothing was done. Seeing this, I swear coaches will be the reason these comps keep getting cancelled, not the kids.
- Awards - As mentioned, because of the virtual awards, it basically lead to a tailgate experience. Between that and the Bucs vs. Packers game, the parking lot literally had tents with chairs and laptops and a ton of people watching awards and the game and sharing food with other teams and such.
These are just my observations. This was a local NCA competition... just from my personal experience, I can't imagine having a safe and healthy Cheersport/Worlds/Summit. The local crowd was hard to control, I can't imagine this on a national level. But this was just my personal take away from the one-day comp we had here.