I think you hit on one part of the problem. Personally I believe there are many culprits with each one pointing fingers at the other saying it is not my fault, while not acknowledging their role in the madness. In the words of Pogo - We have seen the enemy - he is us.
The biggest issue I see IMO is we want Worlds to be a sporting event best of the best only, while those that run it (USASF/Varsity) see it primarily as a business enterprise. As a business they have to sell the dream that you are one of the best of the best to more people because that is how they make their $$$. The chase for the dream is lucrative. They don't care about that team from Janktastic All Stars that got a last minute bid, or You Gotta Be Kidding Me Cheer who is paying their own way on an At Large. Who cares if they only compete one day? Because they are putting $$$ in the pot for them.
We blame the coaches of teams like this for not realizing it, or setting their kids up for disappointment because they wont win Worlds yet we have no problem with the larger gyms recruiting the talent out of small gyms so they can never really build a team up. We dont understand why the small gyms wont just be content being a small Level 1 and 2 gym and sending everybody else up the road to another gym where they can "really shine." Which is nothing more than a backhanded pimp slap at the small gym. They sell the dream of your child needs to be on a Senior 5 team now so they can go to Worlds. If your gym doesn't have one it is a waste of your tine and money to stay there and build one, but go somewhere else.
There is minimal Industry wide training for coaches as well as certification. It either can't be afforded or is too cumbersome to deal with. So where do these coaches go that want to get better? Who want to build a program up the right way? Who want their coaches to be properly trained and certified to whatever levels they have? What about the bi-vocational coaches that can't afford to take off of work to go to the likes of Dorral?
Gyms are routinely dogged out for not having level 5 teams, for not being in Worlds Divisions, not getting a bid, etc. It is not just the kids doing it either. Adults participate as well. We have created the unfortunate mindset that the first time a gym puts together a Level 5 team they must be able to hit the scoresheet tghe first time out like Stingrays, SOT, Cali, or else they should be in the restricted division or in level 4. That to me is pure foolishness. A baby has to grow at the proper rate otherwise it becomes dysfunctional and deformed. Same with gym programs. It takes time to grow a program. We have no patience and no time to let them grow. We all want it all and we want it right now. Patience is no longer seen as a virtue but a vice. The first team I was one of the coaches of that went to Worlds had no doubles on the floor at Worlds. None. The comments we heard in the community and those posted on YouTube, the old boards, etc from the kids from many programs and some adults were beyond painful. If they hurt me as an adult, you know they hurt the kids. Yet that same program has been to Worlds every year since and last year tied for 7th in their division. So the experience of going apparently did them pretty good. Yet we want to deny gyms that ability to have the experience, never knowing what the future of that program will be.
Level 5 has become the holy grail. Any mention of any other division is almost an afterthought, unless it is an issue of excessive crossovers or sandbagging. On this personally I think there should be something more for these levels - even if it is not Worlds so to speak, but the argument is always raised about the costs of flying younger teams all around the country for one event. That parents won't pay that kind of money. And of course that Worlds is only for level 5. So again we put the carrot in front of them that says if you want to be "special" you got to become a level 5.
Then there are some parents that blamed that are pushing for their kids to be promoted faster than they are ready. They are more worried about social promotion of their kids so they can keep up with another child rather than just progress at the safe and proper rate for them. They haven't yet perfected BHS yet they want to be in a Tuck class. Their layout is nothing but a whipped over BHS with no hands yet they are pushing the coaches to get them twisting. They threaten the coaches with leaving if they don't get their way. How can they do that? Because they have already consulted with the other gym and have a placement for their child on the team they want - or so they think. Many times that child will get to practice with the higher team during the summer, only to be dropped down at the end of the summer if they don't fix the skills.
Lastly instead of dealing with the matters that really matter in fixing our rules and governance, the USASF violates its own process to hand down another tone deaf edict that they have to retract and rework. And they still don't get that with the majority while not happy with the rule changes they would adjust, it was the process that ticked everyone off. You say you are doing it for the betterment of the sport - when you only see it as a business - without our input. You offend a majority segment of your client base that you still haven't apologized to, and now you are probably thinking how to keep them from jumping ship.
Rant over. We all need to step away and see what we can do to make it better. Not just for us as individuals but for the industry. If it takes another governing body, so be it. I will continue to make my stands where I can. I will continue to encourage the small gyms and small gym owners to hang in there and don't lose their dream to the power of the conglomerate. I will continue to teach and train athletes patiently knowing I do this because I love working with kids and seeing them successful, whether it is a cartwheel, a front walkover or a double full. To see the smile on their face and to know I positively impacted their life is enough for me to keep at this. I will continue to train the new staff that come to me for help and guidance. I will continue to believe in the power of my dream. To be better today than I was yesterday.
You're my hero and I'll shimmy this until the cows come home..And I don't own cows.
Everything you said can been seen on this board. If its not Lv 5 and moreover, if it's not the powerhouse gyms that are household names, no one has any interest in talking about them. Someone will add a "awesome level 1 team" thread and it's basically ignored or laughed at because the only thing people want to talk about is Lv5 and if you don't have one capable of winning the whole thing,no one is wasting their time on you. That's the theme I see a lot and it's reflective of exactly what you said here. Look at the number of threads that came out about the new tumbling rules. Granted I threw my two cents in there but really....those rules don't effect the majority of our industry, but that's what gets play on the board. It seems to me if you're not in position to win a globe right now, you're not important. That attitude is the same one you're talking about and it's rampant all over the industry.
The parents pushing their kids to be coached in skills they're not ready for. That's in every gym. I think that pressure filters up to coaches and for those just trying to stay in an expensive business during bad economic times, that's likely where some of the blame should fall for putting the janktastic Allstars on the floor. Parents don't get (or dont want to hear) that their kid isn't ready...and still won't be ready even if they move to a mega gym...they just want to say their kid is on a lv 5 worlds team. The competition between parents to have the "best" kid is worse than the competition between kids.
Our gym is in its third year. We could've put together a lv5 in year two, but they weren't ready, so we didn't because we have coaches that are doing this right, whether its popular with all the parents or not. We did put it together for this year and were one of the ones with the at large bid in small coed that everyone is arguing shouldn't be allowed to come simply because we're at large. They've had moments of ridonkulous perfection where they've had an arenas collective jaw on the floor. They've also had moments of total train wrecks through the year as well...but that's exactly what happens to every gym as they grow and progress. I'd venture to say that even happens to the big dogs when they have new choreography or skills added to a routine. Our coaches talked to the judging panels (since they know basically everyone I the industry) for a no biased opinion regarding whether we should go. They were given a unanimous, yes! Even in the track wreck days, it wasn't due to skills, they have those, and they have them technically correct. It was just because it was one of "those days" that every team has experienced at some point and the fact these kids, while they have the skills...this is the first time any of them have ever competed lv5. Its about progression. They're ready for the next step and that's taking their at large bid to worlds and being realistic in the goals we set for a third year gym with a first year level 5.
I might be the only parent on the board who is NOT pushing my kids to level 5. They have time! My daughter is 11 and on our junior 4 which is appropriate for her. She has a consistent and technically correct standing tuck. Her layout is an actual "layout" in practice....it doesn't tend to be so in competition when she doesn't think it through. Hence....she is NOT READY TO SPIN. And thankfully our coaches are on the exact same page. She is a beast of a base. That girl can base anyone, and that stunt will hit if she has to give life and limb to have that happen. My son is 13 he's on a junior 3, his tucks are monstrous, his standing tucks are amazing..his layouts are not set high enough yet consistently. Body position is fabulous, set is too low....hence he's not ready to spin either. I'm good with that. I want a technically correct, hollow body, spotted ( meaning him spotting his set, not a coach spotting him) layout where he blocks, rides, spots, pushes his hips and produces a hollow body position. When he has that consistently....then I will let him spin, not a second before. Gratefully, that is EXACTLY how our coaches coach. Why can't that be good enough for now, he's 13?!
Why can't parents look at their kids objectively and have what they are capable of doing today be "good enough?" for today. They'll get to lv 5, we have the most amazing coaches in the industry and that will happen. But it will happen safely, when they're ready and when they can not only throw that skill correctly, but with the technique to have it score on the floor. They have time. I don't need my 11 year old on a lv 5. And gratefully, I could care less that my child isn't important to the sport as a whole because right now all she has is a layout and a standing tuck. I'm good with that. If everyone else could just be objective about what their kids can do and what they shouldn't do yet it would be a less dramatic industry.
Sorry...your rant got me ranting. I'm done now :D
