All-Star No Competition At Competitions?

[HeyMom]

YES. That NCA jacket and trophy are everything. My cp prefers it to Summit, and with the crossover rules I feel it is the most level playing field you will find.

^^Same for my kid. That jacket means more to her than a Summit bid/win.

 

[DropAndRun]

That has to be really annoying if your kid is not there competing on at least one other team (ex: Crush and YE.) Otherwise, you just paid $x,000 to go to FL to basically pick up rings.

There were very few, if any, that didn’t cross. We were already going for R5. Ive always told Drop I’ve felt like that year she went and collected the ring they should have earned the year before when they took summit away from them. They were unstoppable that season, but they disbanded the team before Summit in favor of other teams and sent us across town to The One instead. It was Drops first year on YE and it was devastating! Going back that next year was almost like closure in a way.

 

[Sparkle Mom]

Also I feel like it depends on the division. Some have tons of teams. Others have one or none. (Ex: when was the last time you saw more than one Y4 at an average sized event?)

Only time I ever saw 5 youth 4 teams in a division is when my CP was on youth 4 it was bizarre!

 

[Sparkle Mom]

Wanted to add I think gyms are between a rock and hardplace. If you have the skill set to field a youth 4, junior 5r and/or junior 5 (some of the smallest divisions) then the gym gets called out for making teams solely to win jackets, backpacks and rings and on the flip side if you put these higher skilled younger kids on levels 3 and 4 teams the gym gets a reputation for sandbagging.

I certainly agree with this. I love watching those divisions and I hope they are able to stay around even if they remain on the small size.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

I recognize that there are some divisions in which you are always going to have limited competition.

Ex: Junior 5, Mini 2, Y4, etc. There are just not that many and you cannot control how many choose to travel, enter, etc.

However, I've never understood WANTING your kid to have limited competition or complaining that there are too many teams.

This reminds me of pageant world.

I help put on a LITTLE MISS MIDDLE SCHOOL charity pageant associated with a middle school in my district of employment.

EVERY YEAR, no fewer than 2-3 girls will withdraw 4 weeks before the pageant because:

*THERE ARE TOO MANY GIRLS IN SUZY'S AGE GROUP. (I'm talking there are 5 girls competing in 10-12 and Suzy's mom thinks that is too many.)
*Suzy just turned 10 and mom does not want her to compete in 10-12. She'd rather her compete in 7-9 with fewer kids.
*Certain Awesome Girl is entering, they just found out, and they do not want to compete against her.


I've never understood it because I've always felt like you should want your kid to compete against the best. Pulling a kid for these reasons is basically saying "I do not want to play because I think my kid is going to lose and I have no confidence in her abilities."

 

[BlockHead]

Question: ARE KIDS EVEN EXCITED TO WIN (EXAMPLE) NCA or other big comps anymore ( like Cheersport?)

(Serious question. All I really see these days is excitement over bid reveals, getting paid, going to Worlds, scoring for bids, etc.)

The excitement of winning bids has ruined so much of the fun of just old fashioned competition. My daughter is on a junior team at her gym. Where she goes, junior teams are not eligible to receive Summit bids. The owner of our gym wanted to kind of bring back the old days of when teams only worried about their placement at their weekend comp, not what happens during Monday night bid reveals. My CP was kind of bummed because she would have received an at large bid at her last competition. We don't really have any other gyms in our area that she can go to. She ages out of junior this season, so she can bid chase next year.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

^^^That's interesting.

Are there any other gyms that LIMIT Summit bid chasing/ACCEPTANCE to certain teams?

I like the idea in theory but I also wonder:

How would you decide what levels and age groups go or don't go?

Ex: You could say NO YOUTH OR JUNIORS, but then here comes a Junior 5 parent saying "My higher level child should be able to go to this event because she cannot go to Worlds."

You say "Levels 3+ only" and here comes a Senior 2 parent saying that her kid's final season should end with Summit because she ages out. Or Level 1 parents feeling like their kids aren't a priority.

Any way you slice it, someone is going to be upset/want to move gyms because Summit.

 

[LabbyGirlMOM]

My daughters team went to Jam fest and they got 2nd to an amazing team but the way the girls, coaches and parents acted you would have thought they had received 1st place they were over the moon with their placement. Some kids/gyms still value placements.

 

[BlockHead]

^^^That's interesting.

Are there any other gyms that LIMIT Summit bid chasing/ACCEPTANCE to certain teams?

I like the idea in theory but I also wonder:

How would you decide what levels and age groups go or don't go?

Ex: You could say NO YOUTH OR JUNIORS, but then here comes a Junior 5 parent saying "My higher level child should be able to go to this event because she cannot go to Worlds."

You say "Levels 3+ only" and here comes a Senior 2 parent saying that her kid's final season should end with Summit because she ages out. Or Level 1 parents feeling like their kids aren't a priority.

Any way you slice it, someone is going to be upset/want to move gyms because Summit.

Absolutely no youth or junior teams at our gym can go to Summit. I really don't mind. I was not a fan of Summit a couple years ago when we went. When your kid tries out at our gym, you can put in a request that your child be on a senior team, but there is no guarantee. If we had a J5 team, they would not be eligible for Summit either. They are no different than a J2.

We probably lost some kids at our gym due to this new rule at our gym. I will secretly be the parent next season hoping that my CP does not get a Summit bid since she will age out of junior.

 

[alpaca]

Wanted to add I think gyms are between a rock and hardplace. If you have the skill set to field a youth 4, junior 5r and/or junior 5 (some of the smallest divisions) then the gym gets called out for making teams solely to win jackets, backpacks and rings and on the flip side if you put these higher skilled younger kids on levels 3 and 4 teams the gym gets a reputation for sandbagging.

At what point is a team sandbagging? Would it be when 25% of the team has higher level skills, 50%, 75%? I'm curious what people think.

 

[mama2twinsplus1]

Wanted to add I think gyms are between a rock and hardplace. If you have the skill set to field a youth 4, junior 5r and/or junior 5 (some of the smallest divisions) then the gym gets called out for making teams solely to win jackets, backpacks and rings and on the flip side if you put these higher skilled younger kids on levels 3 and 4 teams the gym gets a reputation for sandbagging.

If you have enough athletes to make a team for their skill level, then they should be on that level team. If you have just a handful of athletes, less than 5, then they would have to be placed on the team that’s the highest level at your gym. But gyms don’t like to make small teams because if they loose an athlete to injury or other factors then you risk the team folding.

 

[oncecoolcoachnowmom]

If you have enough athletes to make a team for their skill level, then they should be on that level team. If you have just a handful of athletes, less than 5, then they would have to be placed on the team that’s the highest level at your gym. But gyms don’t like to make small teams because if they loose an athlete to injury or other factors then you risk the team folding.

Wanted to add I think gyms are between a rock and hardplace. If you have the skill set to field a youth 4, junior 5r and/or junior 5 (some of the smallest divisions) then the gym gets called out for making teams solely to win jackets, backpacks and rings and on the flip side if you put these higher skilled younger kids on levels 3 and 4 teams the gym gets a reputation for sandbagging.

I know people HATE this but this is where I think the multiple teams/multiple kids method comes into play and can actually work.

Put those kids on a small J5, cross them over to a larger Level 4.

The thing about putting higher level kids on lower level teams is, yes they're higher level but they aren't magically just going to make the team win.

 

[SharkDad]

Sounds like this hasn’t changed from 10 years ago.

Sigh...if only this industry organized itself like a sport

 

[Mndl]

At what point is a team sandbagging? Would it be when 25% of the team has higher level skills, 50%, 75%? I'm curious what people think.

I think it's sandbagging when you deliberately put together a team where nearly everyone is two or three levels below their skill level. Example: CP's former gym put together a Senior 1 team made up of level 3 and 4 athletes, or a gym makes a level 2 team up of level 4/5 athletes.

 

[fullinitup]

I never thought I would see the day where there are the same amount of small all girl teams as large all girl teams competing at NCA.

Personally, I think they need to kill some divisions that have and will continue to be so small. (Ex: Large mini 2, large youth 3/4 and just have small as an option.) It’s frustrating for parents to consistently spend all this money to compete against no one. Removing a few divisions and not adding any new ones for a while would be nice. It’s suppsoed to be competitive cheerleading and there’s nothing wrong with having deep divisions in my opinion.