All-Star Jambrand's Major Prize.....

[yojaehs]

Wow ticket sales probably covered their expenses. Who is their accountant??? Smh

The accountant was probably on point and said "here is the money" and that money looked prettier in pocket than over seas. Jamfest is responsible for leading to believe one thing and not following up.

 

[SheCheers]

The accountant was probably on point and said "here is the money" and that money looked prettier in pocket than over seas. Jamfest is responsible for leading to believe one thing and not following up.

I wasnt very clear. I meant Jam's expenses... The venue the salaries, the set up, the judges..they had to have known there was nothing left to send 72 people to Europe! Seriously. $10/ a seat would not cover it all...

 

[yojaehs]

Ok, I need to make this clear, I am not part of CEA or CA nor any team that competed at the Majors. I heard 1,000s of positives about the event itself. My team competed and won super nationals so no I'm not "bitter" about my team. Honestly, I'm over the "I'm an EP and here is what I'll tell you and you will deal with it" mentality that is running rampid in our industry. Also, I don't make competition schedules at my gym but I will tell you that when my gym personally gets treated with disrespect we don't return. We will probably go back (as I said I have no real say) but if my gym is asked to participate in the Majors I will have clear written and signed documentation of all details before my team pays to come exhibition for nothing. I'm sad this is happening bc I like others was a huge fan of what the Majors "could be" for our industry. I hope they right their wrong doing.

 

[AScheer]

I'm glad this is being discussed, but it still seems like there isn't a lot of buzz and there should be. I don't think there would have been anything wrong with Jamfest being upfront and saying you only get ___. False promises and wording things to mislead people is one sure way to lose customers. If I were a UK coach and I had planned and paid for this event on the promise that US teams would be there teaching clinics/performing/meeting my athletes, I would have a major issue if that weren't true. I believe one UK coach said that this event is really pricey compared to other UK competitions. If I'm shelling out the money, I better get what was advertised!

Maybe its because I'm from the South but when you invite someone somewhere, its implied that they are the "guest." When I invite a friend on vacation, I don't turn around and ask them for rent & gas and then once we get there make them work for me. I think its incredibly rude/bad business to invite a team overseas, make them pay, and then make them work for you while there with nothing in return. Its like these kids are the JamBrands show horse. Also keep in mind that the US season is over and by the time this event happens it will have been for over a month. Its asking a lot for these athletes/coaches to still be committed to their old team while practicing with their new. I don't know for sure but some of these athletes may be on college teams preparing for their new season.

Its a shame that what I feel was once a great company is starting to tarnish their name. Because of many past issues with JamBrands I had already taken them off our competition schedule last season and didn't miss them at all. We again don't have any JamBrand events on the calendar this year either.

 

[ufomom]

Not only that, but for the kids and families are going, after all the money they are going to spend to go there, they are going to want to vacation. If a family is shelling out big bucks to stay in a hotel, why would they want to waste a day of their vacation to put on a cheer clinic for someone else who has screwed them? It would cost that a kid and parent about $250-$400 to spend THEIR day putting on that clinic. Airfare, hotel, food, transportation. I priced tickets to England the weekend of the Majors. They were $1300 on that weekend.

 

[scottish_cheerleader]

I think that the way this has been handled by jamfest has not helped. Nothing has been publicised after the main event.

I am a coach/competitor for a UK level 5 team, we were so excited at the prospect of the majors and what we could learm from these athletes. On average for my team our entries are £119 per head. add travel and hotel etc we are nearer to £450 per athlete. we have at least a 5.5 hour drive to get there. but we as a team thought this was worth the money for the experience, last year was a great event, it has a better staging than most UK competitions and the kids LOVED it! Having spoken to jamfest they have said that due to the event being 2 days and having the cost of the larger arena for double the time is the reason for the increase in fees from last year.. ok i can accept that.

we then paid our money and stayed up all night to watch the majors and find out who we were getting to see in june! my kids were unbelievably excited!! its all the spoke about for agesssss!

and if it wasnt for me being on the boards we wouldnt know that these teams werent really coming! from what is still advertised on the website (JAMfest Europe - Cheer and Dance Competition Liverpool, England) we are expecting both teams to put out competition routines then host a clinic.
from a UK perspective myself, my kids, their parents all feel let down we feel we will not have the experience we signed up for.

to add further, they have spoke about a reciprocal trip for a level 5 uk team. now my kids know its their first year at level 5 and their are teams who will most likely outscore us BUT its something to aim for, to work hard for.... and how do i use this as an incentive when really the top american teams have had nothing like what they were promised

I feel for CEA and CA i feel the disappointment for their kids is far worse than ours, they built up the majors to be such a great event... which it was on the night. but since then i feel that these kids and their families have been left in a hard situation.

if this had been pulled off it would have been a trip of a life time for the american athletes! they would have come and had hundreds of kids who are just in awe of them! for us we would have had a learning experience and the excitement of a name you have watched on youtube for years being announced and the team is there in the arena for you to see! so much of this could have been handled better, so much should have been made more open and so many promises should have been kept.

i can only hope that the athletes that can come over have a blast, enjoy their trip and i know for certain my rockstar girls cannot wait to meet you!!!

 

[kristenthegreat]

Shameful. Just downright, terrible, horrible, no-good-very-bad shamefulness. I just..CAN'T wrap my head around this one. First prize is advertised as _____ . Then at the ACTUAL EVENT, the announcer drops hints about it not being a full-paid trip. THEN, it turns out, lo and behold, it ISN'T full paid, and the money given barely covers 1/3 of expenses. And the cherry on top? They would THEN be expected to work a clinic that JAMFEST is getting money for, of which they would not be able to see one cent. There is NOTHING about this that is ok. Period. The extra sprinkles being that these Euro teams are being offered a 'reciprocal' trip that is being billed as the same as ours. Good thing for the 'board, so everyone now knows the TRUTH. If I were ANYONE who participated in the Majors, win or lose- my letter-writing arm would be sore from overuse and my fingers would be cramping at my keyboard. Because this could have been happening to YOU. THIS is how your events are treating your fellow gym owners, and what's bad for one is bad for all. What's to say they won't pull something like this again? These teams might still go to some capacity, and Jamfest might still get their benefits?

 

[Aussiekat]

I really wonder how Jambrands thinks this is all going to play out when no CA Panthers and only part of CEA Coed show up in the UK… :cow:

 

[njallday]

At this point, if I were one of those 14 kids whose parents/fundraising made it work and are attending, I would not be working the clinic. If you were not shelling out money, it'd be different... you'd be reciprocating for the thousands of dollars per athlete that jambrands payed to get you there. I'd be more than willing to donate my time for that. But if I (my parents) payed $3000 or more to get me there, I would sure as heck be spending my time sightseeing and exploring Europe, not inside of a convention center never seeing the light of day.

Granted these kids love the sport, and may want to work the clinic and meet other kids who love cheer just as much as they do. (And I hope they do since the European teams paid so much to go to the clinic and see these athletes), but ethically I wish they wouldn't. I wish they'd demand to be paid for their work or SOMETHING.

 

[CoachTamara]

After reading all this, one thing that keeps bothering me is that these are the companies that we are forced to give money to if we want to compete... Shady, do-anything-for-a-dollar companies that do what is best for them and NOT what is best for the sport.
Don't like Varsity? Go to Jambrands! Don't like Jambrands? Go to Varsity. What if I don't like both? At the end of the day, I have to choose one because these are the competitions offer me more benefits than a small EP, and my parents don't want to be stuck in a high school gym against ourselves. It's time for a new, big event producer to come about that can give us the same feel as a big competition without the crazy price and actually take care of the customers. I'm looking at you Nfinity, because someone with a big name has to do it.

 

[tumbleyoda]

Despicable. Jamfest had an opportunity to truly change the game AGAIN and AGAIN they blow it.

 

[yojaehs]

After reading all this, one thing that keeps bothering me is that these are the companies that we are forced to give money to if we want to compete... Shady, do-anything-for-a-dollar companies that do what is best for them and NOT what is best for the sport.
Don't like Varsity? Go to Jambrands! Don't like Jambrands? Go to Varsity. What if I don't like both? At the end of the day, I have to choose one because these are the competitions offer me more benefits than a small EP, and my parents don't want to be stuck in a high school gym against ourselves. It's time for a new, big event producer to come about that can give us the same feel as a big competition without the crazy price and actually take care of the customers. I'm looking at you Nfinity, because someone with a big name has to do it.

I'll shimmy only bc there isn't a "hug" button! This is why I am annoyed, bc owners/coaches are cornered. Yes, there are options, but unless EVERYONE (which isn't going to happen) says "No, we aren't going to your event unless X,Y,Z" they will continue on. There are SEVERAL EP's that have been boycotted by some "big named" gyms, and they are still around bc all they are going to do is prey on the "next gym". Please people, DO YOUR RESEARCH, speak up!!!

 

[The Sixth]

we then paid our money and stayed up all night to watch the majors and find out who we were getting to see in june! my kids were unbelievably excited!! its all the spoke about for agesssss!

This part here is one of the sadder things to know happened. And I'm sure you were far from the only gym who did this. I've seen how a lot of the International athletes get when they meet US athletes at Worlds. So I can only imagine what all those kids who don't have the opportunity to come here must have felt.

As much as I'm sure they'd be happy that something is better than nothing, I'd almost wish whatever kids planning to go from CEA would reconsider. I think there will be much less backlash for Jambrands as long as they provide something along the lines, regardless of how remote it is, to what they advertised.

 

[The Sixth]

I'll shimmy only bc there isn't a "hug" button! This is why I am annoyed, bc owners/coaches are cornered. Yes, there are options, but unless EVERYONE (which isn't going to happen) says "No, we aren't going to your event unless X,Y,Z" they will continue on. There are SEVERAL EP's that have been boycotted by some "big named" gyms, and they are still around bc all they are going to do is prey on the "next gym". Please people, DO YOUR RESEARCH, speak up!!!

Stop posting please. My finger is getting tired of hitting the shimmy button!

 

[5-6-7-8]

I would LOVE to see the US teams turn around and say, "sorry, can't raise the money. No one is going."