All-Star Covid-19 / Varsity Response

[ChicagoCheerDad]

@123jump4!

I hope that I am wrong, but I keep hearing rumors that Nca nationals will not take place in person in Dallas.

I was told this 3 months ago by a gym owner that they were being told it would be virtual but a lot can change in that period of time

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Not sure if it helps to know this or not but if you're wondering about NCA All Star, I do know that NCA HS Nationals just moved dates (but appears to still be in person.)

Wondering if that means same thing will happen for All Stars?

 

[CLynn]

Thanks! Yes I am very concerned about everything around it. Travel and also trying to avoid eating in restaurants, wondering whether Uber is safe etc. I’m not sure if we’re going to go or not. NCA will be around every year. Covid hopefully will not.

That is the way I feel. I've heard if it happens, spectators will be limited and the idea of traveling with all the risk along the way to perform and then just leave is not very appealing. And going with huge crowds is def. not appealing!! Though I think we should be in a much better place with the virus come late February, it doesn't feel like a wise idea to bring thousands of people together from all over the country. I mean really, what could go wrong?? But I am sure others would rather in person at any cost vs virtual. It is NCA after all ;)

@123jump4!

I hope that I am wrong, but I keep hearing rumors that NCA nationals will not take place in person in Dallas.

I was told this 3 months ago by a gym owner that they were being told it would be virtual but a lot can change in that period of time

Housing information was sent and every hotel I looked at was non-refundable. Hope people hold off on booking in that case...

 

[retiredl5cheer]

ICE Barrington, which allegedly has had multiple Covid outbreaks, turned in 120+ medical waivers so that none of their athletes had to wear masks. This put every other athlete that competed at Holiday Classic this weekend, all family members of athletes and all the Varsity employees at risk of being exposed to their viral droplets(cleaning mats and surfaces doesn't do anything to protect from airborne droplets). I am beyond pissed at how irresponsible and selfish they are being. You can also view them ignoring masking for their practices via their instagram page.

Darlene and Jessica need to be held responsible for this, I am going to do what I can to make sure that local media(TV and Newspaper) and local health departments are made aware while my athlete and I are quarantining do to their decisions.

Also to the ICE Barrington parents, some of which I have considered my friend over the years, you know this was wrong but you went along with it. My question is why?

Well that's appalling.

 

[icequeen]

Not directed at you, but maybe I missed the fact that TGLC was walking around the venue without masks. First I have heard of it and normally anons will take that and bash athletes all over social media.
For anyone outraged that they did not wear masks while warming up/competing - do you wear a mask when you are home with your family? These teams spend as much time if not more in close contact with each other as immediate family members do. For anyone complaining that teams are not wearing them while on the floor it seems hypocritical to me if you are doing the same thing around family and friends. Not to mention that athletes from every other sport are not wearing masks while practicing or competing.

TGLC wore masks except for when they performed.

ETA: Apparently their decision not wear mask were agreed upon with their parents.

 

[Keep_Believing]

Housing information was sent and every hotel I looked at was non-refundable. Hope people hold off on booking in that case...

Yes, when Spirit Celebration got canceled in Dallas, many were fighting to get a refund from their stay to play Hotel reservations. :/.

 

[quitthedrama]

If you look on a site like worldometer you will see per population SC has more cases and deaths compared to NC. Again, that is when you sort it by population and not just total numbers. United States Coronavirus: 15,791,742 Cases and 296,361 Deaths - Worldometer

CDC COVID Data Tracker
There has not been a significant difference between the two states in the past several weeks. The case data since Jan is a bit different (SC has 4,961/100,000 versus NC has 4,205/100,000 although still not a huge difference). I follow this information closely each week because MA where I live (and NC) have far more restrictions than SC and I like to compare the data between the two states.

 

[CheerItFullOut]

If a team came off the floor and put their masks right back on, it'd be fine, but I'm guessing some of these teams aren't doing that and think they're "above" mask wearing. Maybe each kid should be required have a plastic bag with their name on it and drop their mask backstage right before they perform so that it's easily accessible after the performance.

Anyone who has ever done a Level 6 routine in their life knows the feeling of barely being able to breathe at the end. Even kids who are genuinely trying to compete in masks are having to pull them down during portions of their routine, especially tumbling. When you are gasping for air, the last thing you want is something covering your face. So I can understand teams not competing with them. But mask wearing should be required when walking through the venue.

So for our virtual game day comp... kids that had not been isolated were tested before... wore masks all throughout socially distanced practice, outdoors and then it was advised they remove masks for “full out routine filming ”- filming that was under 1 min (kids had to remain socially distant, eliminate multiple formation changes & stay 6 ft apart) ...they had to put masks on right after performance was done and sanitize and we had to minimize “cheering” ... yes in -Game Day, but we did what we could.
To an observer of a video, one could say- that team “doesn’t care” they just don’t wear masks... when in reality - a team could believe adamantly in wearing them ALL the time and go off of the directive of our district and local health authorities- (who advise our kids to remove masks during short spurts of vigorous socially distanced activity)

this is just Game Day, High school, let alone a level 6 team.

plainly put, today there’s so many people aching to call each other out. LOOKING for the minute a team or a kid steps “out of line”... true, some teams/coaches/kids in general don’t care... but some people are ready with daggers before there’s even a war which kinda makes me sad...

 

[CLynn]

CDC COVID Data Tracker
There has not been a significant difference between the two states in the past several weeks. The case data since Jan is a bit different (SC has 4,961/100,000 versus NC has 4,205/100,000 although still not a huge difference). I follow this information closely each week because MA where I live (and NC) have far more restrictions than SC and I like to compare the data between the two states.

Fair enough, overall stats can be skewed as some states were hit harder earlier. But the overall point remains that you can't just consider overall numbers but numbers relative to population.

Yes, when Spirit Celebration got canceled in Dallas, many were fighting to get a refund from their stay to play Hotel reservations. :/.

Ugh. that really stinks. I understand it is buyer beware which is why I looked at the refund policy and decided no way, I'd hold off. I am accustomed to premium NCA hotels (omni, maybe Hyatt?) being non-refundable but not all the hotels. That said, those same hotels if booked without a housing company would be refundable so it is such a ridiculous squeeze on parents.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I'd be careful with mask-related finger pointing and such.

I struggle with this because this type of calling out is usually less motivated by wanting to keep people healthy and more about targeting specific programs.

Example: Mega Gym does not wear masks, cue outrage. However, when the mom and pop small gym near you is also not doing it, there is no outrage to be found.

 

[Knowcheering]

there’s so many people aching to call each other out. LOOKING for the minute a team or a kid steps “out of line”... true, some teams/coaches/kids in general don’t care... but some people are ready with daggers before there’s even a war which kinda makes me sad...

Yes. Twitter is enormously toxic, and unfortunately, kids hang out there now instead of these message boards. People there are constantly looking to hate and "cancel" people and find fault with people who are generally doing more with their lives than themselves (they love to call people "problematic"). I'm guessing a lot of kids who sit on Twitter are teased by their "real life" peers or are unhappy with their own lives, and social media gives them an outlet in which they can feel like a tough guy/big shot. So it's no surprise that the mega gyms frequently get called out by the "cheer anons", sometimes for nonsensical things. Fortunately that site is slowly decreasing in popularity with the rise of TikTok or whatever, and I'll be happy when it's gone. But I'd miss Cheer Updates' tweets lol.

So yeah, some people will watch a 3 minute video of a team performing with no masks and then just jump to the conclusion that they don't care about masks and aren't wearing them at all. Hopefully most teams are still being safe even if they choose not to compete with a mask for those 2.5 minutes.

 

[quietmom]

I dunno. I'd like to see a set of rules from Varsity (let's not play semantics..... it's Varsity) stating standard mask rules for spectators, warmups, and when competing on stage. Make it consistent so everyone is on the same page. I'd like to see a standard set of rules for everything related to this situation for spectators, athletes, coaches, parents, etc when it comes to crowd size and everything. Leaving it up to individual competitions, gyms, and teams causes problems and risks. I'd honestly rather just have it consistent, standard, and equally enforced for everyone.

 

[coacha]

I dunno. I'd like to see a set of rules from Varsity (let's not play semantics..... it's Varsity) stating standard mask rules for spectators, warmups, and when competing on stage. Make it consistent so everyone is on the same page. I'd like to see a standard set of rules for everything related to this situation for spectators, athletes, coaches, parents, etc when it comes to crowd size and everything. Leaving it up to individual competitions, gyms, and teams causes problems and risks. I'd honestly rather just have it consistent, standard, and equally enforced for everyone.

The problem with that is location and local rules. Even the NFL has different rules on crowd size depending on where the game is

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I dunno. I'd like to see a set of rules from Varsity (let's not play semantics..... it's Varsity) stating standard mask rules for spectators, warmups, and when competing on stage. Make it consistent so everyone is on the same page. I'd like to see a standard set of rules for everything related to this situation for spectators, athletes, coaches, parents, etc when it comes to crowd size and everything. Leaving it up to individual competitions, gyms, and teams causes problems and risks. I'd honestly rather just have it consistent, standard, and equally enforced for everyone.

I think Varsity is subject to wherever the event is being held.

So even if they tried to issue blanket guidelines, you'd get:

*"Our city doesn't require that, we're not doing it."
*"Our state requires xxxxxxx, this event is unsafe."

Or "we refuse to attend any Varsity events because ..."

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I think it has to be an ownership thing decided with parent input.

Ex:

"Based on what our stakeholders are saying, we are only doing virtual right now."

Or "we're only attending face to face comps with XYZ guidelines."