All-Star International Team Exception To Nca's Level Eligibility Policy

[ASCheerMan]

The same day that NCA posted this season's Level Eligibility Policy (http://nca.varsity.com/all_star_nationals.aspx), I flew to Vancouver, Canada to speak at a conference and credential coaches. Born from my discussions with them was the idea to exclude international teams from this new policy (if you drop levels, you must first compete that team at their new level prior to attending NCA All-Star Nationals) since the international structure is vastly different than ours. Many international teams compete UP during the season (3 girls have tucks, so the entire team goes level 4) and make it a habit to compete down at NCA Nationals.

Apparently, most international teams do drop down a level before arriving in the US in an effort to remain even remotely competitive. International Teams are evolving at a different pace than Americans (there are certainly a few exceptions to that statement) and anyone thats had the priveledge to watch international teams compete with us would likely agree there isn't a sandbagging strategy in play when these teams come to the US.

We are likely going to exclude them from this new policy, given this information and the complicated financial implications if teams in other countries are forced to add events to their schedule or even travel to Dallas early just to satisfy the policy' requirements.

Am I forgetting or missing any reason why this exclusion doesn't make sense or is unfair? If you have any comments, please share soon so I may include them in our discussion this week.

 

[King]

The same day that NCA posted this season's Level Eligibility Policy (http://nca.varsity.com/all_star_nationals.aspx), I flew to Vancouver, Canada to speak at a conference and credential coaches. Born from my discussions with them was the idea to exclude international teams from this new policy (if you drop levels, you must first compete that team at their new level prior to attending NCA All-Star Nationals) since the international structure is vastly different than ours. Many international teams compete UP during the season (3 girls have tucks, so the entire team goes level 4) and make it a habit to compete down at NCA Nationals.

Apparently, most international teams do drop down a level before arriving in the US in an effort to remain even remotely competitive. International Teams are evolving at a different pace than Americans (there are certainly a few exceptions to that statement) and anyone thats had the priveledge to watch international teams compete with us would likely agree there isn't a sandbagging strategy in play when these teams come to the US.

We are likely going to exclude them from this new policy, given this information and the complicated financial implications if teams in other countries are forced to add events to their schedule or even travel to Dallas early just to satisfy the policy' requirements.

Am I forgetting or missing any reason why this exclusion doesn't make sense or is unfair? If you have any comments, please share soon so I may include them in our discussion this week.

My cousin is half Irish. What does that mean for me?

 

[scottish_cheerleader]

As an international cheerleader .... Im torn part of me feels we should have the same rules world wide (we are getting there in the uk but only our age divisions are different now)

I have a Junior 3 team who would be very competitive in level 3 in america! BUT i am on the senior team who have gone level 5 for the first year, we have a handful of girls throwing running fulls, less than half the team throw jumps to a tuck. I would happily let my j3 stay where they are and take them to the states ... but senior i would probably see us dropping back to level 4 as we would have our butts kicked by 99% of teams.

we also have few and far between competitions here! our cheer teams will compete 3 times this season one in march and 2 in june... thats it! so if we were to come to NCA we would have to compete in the states right before the competition just to be eligible... this seems a bit silly

I can only speak for my team, but we would drop to a level where we are most full out.. at home we out grew that level stuntwise therefor moved up, for us to compete level 5 at NCA would be a very expensive trip to have no chance of even placing. ( i know its all about taking part etc but lets be honest we all want a trophy!)

 

[leighhhhhhhh]

I completely agree with this. Although I'm from somewhere too far to compete at NCA, I understand the reasoning behind it.
International standards are getting better, but still way behind the US. I think its mainly tumbling, probably due to facilities & the fact some people begin cheering in their 20s over here.
In the UK for example, you will not find a level 5 team with more than half team fulls (closest we get is Ascension Eagles, or Unity but they are a national team). And this continues further down the levels. Even the top all girl 5 team over here has no doubles & only 2 fulls. Our scoresheets reflect this difference, so to go to a scoresheet where tumbling is a large percentage, to be at any chance of placing dropping levels would be necessary. I think this is a nice amendment for any international-ers

 

[ASCheerMan]

My cousin is half Irish. What does that mean for me?

That depends. Does your cousin live in New England?

 

[Stuntmandan]

As a international coach i am all for the same rules for everyone. If you choose to go compete in the USA then you should have to follow the same rules as the teams there. IMO if you have to drop your team down a level just to go compete in American then what ever level you drop to should be the level of your team because if your team was truly level 5 (or what ever level) then you shouldn’t have to drop down a level.

 

[King]

I think the concern is that because there is a much less developed cheer culture and way fewer teams in international countries that a lot of the behaviors that say Zimbabwe would do is not motivated by the same things someone in Georgia would be motivated by. Zimbabwe may have only two gyms in the entire country and those two teams compete level 5 the whole year. But when it comes to visiting the us and competing they would drop to level 2 to be competitive, not with the idea of sandbagging to win.

 

[Stuntmandan]

I think the concern is that because there is a much less developed cheer culture and way fewer teams in international countries that a lot of the behaviors that say Zimbabwe would do is not motivated by the same things someone in Georgia would be motivated by. Zimbabwe may have only two gyms in the entire country and those two teams compete level 5 the whole year. But when it comes to visiting the us and competing they would drop to level 2 to be competitive, not with the idea of sandbagging to win.

I do understand what you are saying. Im just not a huge fan of having two sets of rules

 

[King]

I do understand what you are saying. Im just not a huge fan of having two sets of rules

I think this is a case of the least worst solution. At this moment, with the scoresheets as they are and the tracking system as it is for teams this solution is the one that works the best. But it isn't permanent and sets up for growth.

It's also enforceable. I hate unenforceable law (makes no sense to me).

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

I think this is a case of the least worst solution. At this moment, with the scoresheets as they are

Why does the ISASF not implement standards across the board (including the US) with respect to levels and age divisions?

 

[ASCheerMan]

It's also enforceable. I hate unenforceable law (makes no sense to me).

I can only half shimmy this post, King. Unenforceable rules have merit and send a strong message. That being said, you still receive a half shimmy for generally supporting my positions and opinions.

 

[King]

I can only half shimmy this post, King. Unenforceable rules have merit and send a strong message. That being said, you still receive a half shimmy for generally supporting my positions and opinions.

On that note would you mind outlawing brushing off your shoes at the end of a tumbling pass (I don't care if you enforce it... it just bothers me).

 

[kristenthegreat]

That depends. Does your cousin live in New England?

I wouldn't be surprised. There are TONS of Irish people here (including my best friend)