Pop Warner And Ayc Nationals

[Flcheer13]

Who's gonna be in Orlando this week? Can't believe it's here! Good luck and be safe on your travels.

 

[FTSP]

We will be there on Wednesday. Can't wait

 

[njallday]

I know this isn't the exact thread for my question, but I didn't want to start a whole new one and it sort of fits

Can someone explain the differences between pop warner and AYC to me? When I was younger, I cheered pop warner, but I recently noticed that that team, as well as numerous other teams in the state, have switched over to AYC. So what is it? Is there a big difference? Why would they switch after so many years? I looked at last years results of nationals (admittedly I haven't checked out this years yet) but it seemed like 80% of the teams were from NJ. Why join a "national" organization if you're only competing against your own state?

I'm just confused. Help

 

[alexacheer2010]

I know this isn't the exact thread for my question, but I didn't want to start a whole new one and it sort of fits

Can someone explain the differences between pop warner and AYC to me? When I was younger, I cheered pop warner, but I recently noticed that that team, as well as numerous other teams in the state, have switched over to AYC. So what is it? Is there a big difference? Why would they switch after so many years? I looked at last years results of nationals (admittedly I haven't checked out this years yet) but it seemed like 80% of the teams were from NJ. Why join a "national" organization if you're only competing against your own state?

I'm just confused. Help

Here's a whole "study" on Pop Warner vs AYF/AYC
http://24.199.21.46/oecweb/PopWarnervsAYF.pdf
Also, I know Pop Warner has so many rules. When my rec team was Keystone League, we could basically do what we wanted for cheerleading and competitions, but Pop Warner has a lot more rules for cheer than they did.

 

[Flcheer13]

Pop warner does have a lot of rules. I feel like the two reasons teams go to ayf/ ayc is 1. No weight limits for football and 2. Going to nationals with a routine you have done all year and finding out something is illegal. Cause it's in a gray area. It's happen to our teams too many times to count. And ayc is very popular for the nj teams NOW. But I have seen alot of parks come back to pop warner the past year. And I hope most do.

 

[mamabear]

I know this isn't the exact thread for my question, but I didn't want to start a whole new one and it sort of fits

Can someone explain the differences between pop warner and AYC to me? .... I looked at last years results of nationals (admittedly I haven't checked out this years yet) but it seemed like 80% of the teams were from NJ. Why join a "national" organization if you're only competing against your own state?

I'm just confused. Help

As an asst coach of an NJAYC team, I can answer it from my perspective. We switched from Pop Warner to the newly formed NJAYC league during its first year (3 years ago). From my understanding several things factored into it- but the two that I will say here, include the fact that AYC holds their Nationals offsite - so it is much cheaper for families than having to deal with the mandatory Disney packages. The other was different weight limits in Football.

As for competing mostly against our own state - you know how competitive NJ cheer is I love the fact that we need to work our butts off for all three competitions. The competition is fierce and often decided within tenths of points between the teams who get to advance to the next two levels. It just makes it even more fun imo.


As for this year's results, I didn't tally how many NJ teams got trophies- but I know that Big East was the most medaled, which we are a part of.

I can't compare the two leagues, since cp started cheering the first year that NJAYC was formed. But, I can attest to the fact that I love AYC, they have offered us support from the local all the way to the National level. We are always able to get answers quickly and have the option to run the routine by a safety judge before it is performed at Nationals

Our organization has sent both cheerleaders and football players to both the local and national all star games and the families who have been part of that said it was an amazing experience too.

 

[mamabear]

wow- I just quickly read thru that document between the two and there is a lot of misinformation regarding AYC on it. smh

It really is sad, because I feel that both YOUTH organizations help the kids and that is what it is supposed to be about.

 

[alexacheer2010]

wow- I just quickly read thru that document between the two and there is a lot of misinformation regarding AYC on it. smh

It really is sad, because I feel that both YOUTH organizations help the kids and that is what it is supposed to be about.

Totally didn't mean to post false info! I don't know anything about AYC I thought I could just help.

 

[mamabear]

@alexacheer2010 - it's ok I could see that you were trying to be helpful. Iwas just surprised at some of what the author was claiming!

 

[njallday]

thanks @mamabear and @alexacheer2010 ! - i don't get into these parts of the boards often and i forgot i posted on here! mama bear, i certainly do know how competitive the youth PW/ACY cheer is in NJ. I only realized in the last month or so that the team i started cheering on many moons ago (and all my rivals) were at ACY nationals instead of pop warner and i was very confused. as competitive as they usually are, when i looked at the 2012 results i was more confused by whether AYC was newer/more prominent on the east coast or if NJ was really just that good since so many of the winners, or top 3 even, in most divisions were from here.

 

[Flcheer13]

I can see why most teams switched to ayc because of nationals cost. I live in florida so the cost isn't that bad for us. Traveling is just a 2 hour drive and one night in a hotel on site. I always wondered how many teams up north and across the USA pay for the trip year after year.

 

[FTSP]

We fundraise like mad to help offset the costs of travel to Nationals.