All-Star Nca Nationals 2021

[kayemm]

The cheerleading fandom is never going to grow much further than the moms of the competitors and former/current cheerleaders if they continue to make it this inaccessible and difficult to watch. Compare this to a sport like gymnastics that has a ton of fans who have never put on a leotard.

100% this. Here in the UK many of our athletes idolise the big names in the US, but yet never actually get to watch them compete properly and just make do with what clips they see on Instagram and Tiktok. Equally about as many athletes, especially younger ones, don’t know anything about cheer in the US at all! It feels so weird to me as when I was a teen and cheer was new here it was pretty easy to find American teams on YouTube and the Worlds video on demand service was only about $15 for a whole year of access. How do we expect our sport to grow and also for people to take it seriously if it’s expensive and difficult to actually watch.

Obviously cheer here is on a much smaller scale than in the US, but all our virtual competitions this season have been free to watch for everyone.

 

[UCFKnights07]

are there any results out yet? or when is that suppose to happen?

 

[Knowcheering]

are there any results out yet? or when is that suppose to happen?

They are starting to release the results, but only lower levels so far. Level 6 Awards start tomorrow at 11AM Central time and then will last until about 3:30PM. It's a very long process.

 

[DonnaM]

I remember being able to find some of the big competitions on ESPN. Honestly, CP might not have been in cheer had it not been that I knew what competitive cheer was.

 

[Lower Level Queen]

Just got 7th/7 at my first NCA with a 97. I think I get it now lol.

 

[cac4life]

my friends team came in 2nd by less than 1 point!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Has anyone had a chance to watch LAG6 VIDEOS?

Not sure when the results post.

I was completely unprepared for how hard it is to make predictions based on videos with low to no mistakes.

I did get a chance to quickly watch videos and if I had to predict:

1. WCSS.
2. Orange
3. SE
4. Panthers?

Of course these are all by the TINIEST MARGINS I'm sure.

Also I find it adorable when teams try to make it like a real NCA with lights/walk outs/etc.

 

[Sterling von Shimmer]

Quite a few surprises in the awards today. This virtual comp thing continues to throw me for a loop. Every time I think figuring out who won will just be a case of connecting the dots, I’m proven wrong.

Was also impressed with SE’s performance even though I don’t think they’ll repeat. Those cross tumbling passes were practically mirror images of each other. I’m usually pretty anxious watching tumbling land, but when theirs is on I physically feel the same relief and comfort I do when watching Steel. It’s seamless.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

DUMMY QUESTION -

I see that athletes have trophies and jackets already!

I assume the coaches knew the result and just had to keep it secret from the kids?

I could never. I would be dying to spill it!

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Update - when you post your predictions and they are way off.

The actual results:

1. SE
2. (TIE) WCSS & Panthers
3. Orange.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

Random - I am seeing SO MANY TIES across divisions.

 

[Knowcheering]

I've seen kids posing with their trophies and gold medals and wondered if they already received them, or if they were just using their NCA trophies they won in previous years for photos. If they've already received this year's awards, that's a big secret for the coaches to keep. It would have been difficult to go over a week without dropping any hints even if you were truly trying to keep the win a secret.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I've seen kids posing with their trophies and gold medals and wondered if they already received them, or if they were just using their NCA trophies they won in previous years for photos. If they've already received this year's awards, that's a big secret for the coaches to keep. It would have been difficult to go over a week without dropping any hints even if you were truly trying to keep the win a secret.

Yea, I'm fairly certain most people are using stuff from previous years.

 

[Knowcheering]

Random - I am seeing SO MANY TIES across divisions.

Yeah there's an incredible number of ties. With most teams not having any deductions, I guess that makes ties more likely. Also, I feel like the sport has already kind of outgrown the Varsity scoresheet. So many teams are bunched together and are separated by such minuscule margins. Kudos to the judges for being able to keep track of who is placing ahead of who when there is such little room for separation.

Some of the Level 6 divisions like XS Coed seemed to be scored on the conservative side. Meanwhile in Level 4 D2, someone got a 99.7. Not even Brandon SB came close to that. You can't really compare scores across levels, but just looking at Level 6-- Non-Tumbling teams often end up with the highest scores because they're only doing half the Lvl 6 content and it's easier to be perfect. And this isn't a good trend; you don't want to discourage cheerleaders from tumbling lol. I'm glad NT divisions weren't included for Level 6 Grand Champion. The scoresheet is about perfection and comparing you to whoever you're against, but there's little room to account for your actual routine and content, which is why scores can fluctuate dramatically from week to week for virtually identical performances and so many teams end up separated by like 0.1. There's no way to invent a perfect scoresheet though, especially not for a sport like cheer where there's so much going on in a routine. Personally, I find it easier to judge who is better than who without a scoresheet at all lol. Usually the judges get the order right.

 

[BlueCat]

Random - I am seeing SO MANY TIES across divisions.

There is only one performance and a single score this year. In normal years, you have two scores, each weighted different from the other, that are combined via a formula. That leads to a much bigger variety in what the final scores can actually be in a regular year.