i understand alot of you. but i heard they are also doing this rule to end some stereo types of cheerleading. like showy outfits and outrageous makeup. ..just a thought..
I get this, and I'm not sure it's outside of the USASF scope of power, but I'm still not sure who we are trying to "please", or why they are trying to please said people. I truly feel that if they are trying to legitimize the sport there were other things that would be a better start. (Independent governing body, universal scoring etc.)
I don't know anything concrete about who actually supports crop tops and who doesn't and who lobbied for this rule, but it doesn't seem incredibly reflective of the people I know. Not that this means much in the scheme of things. I think that one of the concerns is really that a choice was made without any real show of the reasoning behind it, which makes people uncomfortable.
I can see benefits to it, if I look hard enough, but not enough consistency or explanation to convince me that this is a choice that had to be made. My impression is that the business bottom line came into play more than anything else, and that isn't my favorite part of this. I like the idea of attracting more people to cheer I suppose, but without better rules for competitions, better means of gauging true competitive structures (no more of the different strokes for different folks stuff) and rules in place to handle what are truly commercial endorsements, having more people involved doesn't do much in the way of improving my personal Cheer experience. I'd like to have more than ticket sales and event fees to show for it, I guess.
I am not opposed to the USASF making the rules we go by, but I kind of think there is a bit of hypocrisy by the USASF and their councils, and committees here. I think they are trying to preserve the the performance aspect of cheer, in that they are trying to preserve the independent EP format, with the production values, the ticket sales, the individual profits, and keep competitions as events, while trying to make it seem like they are a sport, and I would prefer this wasn't the case. I can see it either way.
I don't mind being a performance sport, so to speak, but if we are performers, than we don't need to impress the general public. If we are not a performance sport, and are aiming to be considered as a "legitmate" support than we have to abandon our current EP structure, and I don't seen anyone in a hurry to do that. I honestly wouldn't mind that either. I'm okay becoming more sportslike (for lack of a better word), but that means that the people who make the uniforms, manage the sports arenas, sell the tickets etc have to become independent of the people who govern the sport.
Maybe I'm missing a huge piece of the long term planning here, and I wouldn't be sad to find out that I had completely misjudged the situation, but for now this is how I see it.