Wow, I missed a lot during this snow storm.
I just read through the pages I missed and have come to be a little confused.
1. I really believe the information can NOT be entered by a gym/family member/anyone of any relation to the athlete. PERIOD. This would eliminate any bias and/or direct line to cheat.
2. If something similar is occurring in MANY other sports (people keep referencing soccer, though I know of at least 3 more sports that have the same system) it could be implemented in cheerleading. Soccer is a much larger sporting universe than cheerleading, so if it can be done there (and it can - my ex boyfriend is on the U-23 national team and I have friends who are playing pro ball right now and they are ALL tracked under US Soccer), I have no doubt it would work with cheer.
3. Cost wise, it would be difficult to assess. A certain number of people would be needed at first to help enter data (which does not need to be a huge salary or money pit), but after the system continues to run itself, the staff can be cut back to include key personnel (designers/programmers). If the information stays in the system and only needs to be updated each year (not re-sending in all the papers, etc) there is no reason to keep all the excess staff on board all year.
4. If raising the cost of all stars will deter parents and future cheerleaders from the sport.. so will the abundance of cheating. Each competition I see more posts/complaints of "they had an athlete that was __ years old on a team for __" or "that athlete isn't even the right age" or "they aren't even on that team in the first place!.." First of all, at least around here (I won't and can't speak for many others), all star cheerleading is EXPENSIVE and I'd say almost a majority of parents who have their children in the sport aren't going into bankruptcy or even close to it because of it. It's a privilege and can be taken away on a moments notice.. and even though there are girls who fund raise a majority of their expenses, there are 15 more who don't. Around here (and it's even present on the boards - check the Random forum), all star cheer is for girls/guys who's parents make decent money; the girls I've cheered with wear Ed Hardy or Twenty8Twelve, have the newest and latest and greatest phone (iPhone/Droid/Blackberry - seriously, a 10 year old with any of the above is ridiculous anyway) or laptop, etc. That being said, obviously it's different all over the country and with each individual situation, but going into all star you should have some idea of much it costs - though I personally think any parent complaining about a $20 fee/whatever it may be for a tag to prevent cheating and streamline the sport would be crazy. Parents (especially those who have multiple kids) might even be expecting something like this/wondering why it didn't exist before if they have kids playing soccer, hockey, or any of the above fore-mentioned sports.
I just want to say I LOVE this discussion and can't wait to see where it ends up going in the future :)
