College Should The Uca And Nca College Nationals Merge?

[ScottyB]

Could they go to NCA? It's not the same, and it's probably cutting it close to send in a video, but at least it would be something.

it is still up for debate i guess from what I hear, I am hopeful there is some option. But at the same time I have zero faith in the admin above the coaches so who knows

 

[King]

@ScottyB Being involved with an Athletic Administration now I can tell you that how to sell cheerleading to them and their importance is one of the most important parts of being a cheer coach. NCA/UCA/Varsity should really have a class or invest on how to sell how a successful spirit program improves ticket sales for basketball and football. It is NOT a direct relationship and needs some selling prowess, but can be done. We have had to aggregate and organize all our info up on the spot and dig Tech Cheer out of a hole the last coaching regime dug. We weren't allowed to compete or do any harder skills than basic shoulder stands. Now we are competing twice (CHEERSPORT and NCA), have recruits looking into us, and slowly getting more funding for the spirit program as a whole (cheer, dance [who we hope to have compete one day], appearance squad, mascots).

Ignoring all the other pieces and differences between UCA / NCA and focusing strictly on timing I think UCA is at a huge disadvantage. We had looked at going UCA when I first got hired but decided it is just too difficult timing wise for very little payoff. NCA being in April allows us to extend and time out our season better and match the allstar season. Choreographers, music producers, and working exhibitions in general is all timed out so nicely for NCA. As well I can give my athletes an Xmas break which is more attractive when talking to recruits and especially working around bowl games and basketball games. I found very little advantage to going to UCA at all outside of being less about tumbling and not needing to hire a choreographer.

 

[ScottyB]

@ScottyB Being involved with an Athletic Administration now I can tell you that how to sell cheerleading to them and their importance is one of the most important parts of being a cheer coach. NCA/UCA/Varsity should really have a class or invest on how to sell how a successful spirit program improves ticket sales for basketball and football. It is NOT a direct relationship and needs some selling prowess, but can be done. We have had to aggregate and organize all our info up on the spot and dig Tech Cheer out of a hole the last coaching regime dug. We weren't allowed to compete or do any harder skills than basic shoulder stands. Now we are competing twice (CHEERSPORT and NCA), have recruits looking into us, and slowly getting more funding for the spirit program as a whole (cheer, dance [who we hope to have compete one day], appearance squad, mascots).

Ignoring all the other pieces and differences between UCA / NCA and focusing strictly on timing I think UCA is at a huge disadvantage. We had looked at going UCA when I first got hired but decided it is just too difficult timing wise for very little payoff. NCA being in April allows us to extend and time out our season better and match the allstar season. Choreographers, music producers, and working exhibitions in general is all timed out so nicely for NCA. As well I can give my athletes an Xmas break which is more attractive when talking to recruits and especially working around bowl games and basketball games. I found very little advantage to going to UCA at all outside of being less about tumbling and not needing to hire a choreographer.

I know the hole you speak of, KU was in it the 2 years prior to my freshman year. The rebuild is tough which i partially why I am so critical of the Administration's choices. 2 years ago when I was the Asst Coach at KU, while at UCA camp we went over information about showing the benefits of a program that competes, etc which was great and gave us some insight to better put ourselves in positive light within the AthDept. Funny thing is, the Coordinator of the Spirit Squads was sitting in on the coaches meeting and apparently ignored everything said lol.

After the head coaches dug KU out of the hole they were in from previous years, where they were an NCA school, they decided on UCA because basketball is such a huge piece of KU Athletics. The squad is used for a good showing at March Madness events, which requires the athletes to miss weeks of practice at a time to then come back for 5-7 days before Daytona, etc etc...so it was decided that UCA would be a better fit. KU isn't the greatest at football so that wasn't a big worry but even when we went to the Orange Bowl (08), everything went smoothly leading up to Nationals.

It had worked fine for all the years I was there and was coaching (7 total) but during those years there were some threats about not competing anymore because the AthDept didn't want us going. To us alumni and current team members it seems that they finally had an excuse to prevent the team from going and are leaning on the weak excuse pretty hard. (They also said no to Cheersport and NCA)

There definitely are advantages and disadvantages to both UCA/NCA depending on the squad need. It just is killer that the Administrators above the team don't want feedback or to even listen when talking about the benefits of competition for the school. #Frustrating

 

[King]

I know the hole you speak of, KU was in it the 2 years prior to my freshman year. The rebuild is tough which i partially why I am so critical of the Administration's choices. 2 years ago when I was the Asst Coach at KU, while at UCA camp we went over information about showing the benefits of a program that competes, etc which was great and gave us some insight to better put ourselves in positive light within the AthDept. Funny thing is, the Coordinator of the Spirit Squads was sitting in on the coaches meeting and apparently ignored everything said lol.

After the head coaches dug KU out of the hole they were in from previous years, where they were an NCA school, they decided on UCA because basketball is such a huge piece of KU Athletics. The squad is used for a good showing at March Madness events, which requires the athletes to miss weeks of practice at a time to then come back for 5-7 days before Daytona, etc etc...so it was decided that UCA would be a better fit. KU isn't the greatest at football so that wasn't a big worry but even when we went to the Orange Bowl (08), everything went smoothly leading up to Nationals.

It had worked fine for all the years I was there and was coaching (7 total) but during those years there were some threats about not competing anymore because the AthDept didn't want us going. To us alumni and current team members it seems that they finally had an excuse to prevent the team from going and are leaning on the weak excuse pretty hard. (They also said no to Cheersport and NCA)

There definitely are advantages and disadvantages to both UCA/NCA depending on the squad need. It just is killer that the Administrators above the team don't want feedback or to even listen when talking about the benefits of competition for the school. #Frustrating

Honestly asking because while we are not consistently going to the tournament I think we will eventually get back there because we are ACC and have been to the top before and I wanna know the challenge ahead of time:

I start my college routine in August. We got our choreography in October. The skills we are competing we have been doing, among others, all of football season. Our routine is, IMO, so hard for us we couldn't hit it until March, maybe. By April we will have competed once, exhibitioned at halftime twice, and whatever else we can at local gyms for practice and recruiting. That is all figuring we make the Final Four (granted we havent made it yet and wont for a while). Does two weeks in March that you miss hurt that much? I am asking strictly to prepare if necessary.

 

[Ashley]

Honestly asking because while we are not consistently going to the tournament I think we will eventually get back there because we are ACC and have been to the top before and I wanna know the challenge ahead of time:

I start my college routine in August. We got our choreography in October. The skills we are competing we have been doing, among others, all of football season. Our routine is, IMO, so hard for us we couldn't hit it until March, maybe. By April we will have competed once, exhibitioned at halftime twice, and whatever else we can at local gyms for practice and recruiting. That is all figuring we make the Final Four (granted we havent made it yet and wont for a while). Does two weeks in March that you miss hurt that much? I am asking strictly to prepare if necessary.

:eek: We never started our routines until January! Of course, we also didn't run full out until Spring Break and were barely hitting our routines in Daytona...

 

[King]

:eek: We never started our routines until January! Of course, we also didn't run full out until Spring Break and were barely hitting our routines in Daytona...

Exactly.

What if everyone is doing it wrong.

 

[King]

:eek: We never started our routines until January! Of course, we also didn't run full out until Spring Break and were barely hitting our routines in Daytona...

Man that answer seems pretentious huh?

 

[Kentucky Girl]

The Kentucky Wildcats are also not very good in football but in basketball (not just the men's team but in recent years the women's team as well) is where we tend to dominate. Almost every UK fan (myself included), student, and alum (which includes actress Ashley Judd) would tell you that they enjoy basketball more than they do football.

To the best of my knowledge, UK began competing at the UCA College Nationals since the Nationals' inception back in 1984. A year later, UK won the first of its 19 Division I-A Championships and are looking to get its 20th in January.

Imagine if UK faced U of L in the very near future, I wonder who would win? Hmm...

 

[King]

UK is undoubtedly a fantastic program, but is it at all concerning there are very few programs even close to UK? U of L has a lot more consistent challengers and teams that can beat them, even though they are the perennial favorite. But no one has beaten Uk straight up ever and that is not a good sign of health of a competition.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

UK is undoubtedly a fantastic program, but is it at all concerning there are very few programs even close to UK? U of L has a lot more consistent challengers and teams that can beat them, even though they are the perennial favorite. But no one has beaten Uk straight up ever and that is not a good sign of health of a competition.

UK is like the Orange of UCA College. ;)

 

[King]

UK is like the Orange of UCA College. ;)

Except Orange has lost many a competition. They are a great strong team but have been beaten quite a few times.

 

[Kentucky Girl]

Except Orange has lost many a competition. They are a great strong team but have been beaten quite a few times.

Like they did last year by Memphis?

 

[King]

Like they did last year by Memphis?

Kentucky didn't hit and Memphis was a super team made up of old UK boys. So much so that varsity created a rule that made a lot of them in eligible to compete ever again.

 

[ScottyB]

Honestly asking because while we are not consistently going to the tournament I think we will eventually get back there because we are ACC and have been to the top before and I wanna know the challenge ahead of time:

I start my college routine in August. We got our choreography in October. The skills we are competing we have been doing, among others, all of football season. Our routine is, IMO, so hard for us we couldn't hit it until March, maybe. By April we will have competed once, exhibitioned at halftime twice, and whatever else we can at local gyms for practice and recruiting. That is all figuring we make the Final Four (granted we havent made it yet and wont for a while). Does two weeks in March that you miss hurt that much? I am asking strictly to prepare if necessary.

I can't say that I know for certain if missing those two weeks would hurt or not as we hadn't ever gone to NCA in April while I was a part of the team. For stuff leading up to sweet 16, elite 8, and final four, those weeks are heavy with traveling for 6-12 of the cheerleaders. Then it leaves the decision of do I send the not as talented team members who aren't prepping for nationals to the events and hope they still leave a great impression at alumni events/rallies and on CBS or do I hope my talented kids are that talented that they can jump back into competition prep mode after being gone for so many days?

That said, U of L has been consistently doing well in March Madness play in recent year, I wonder if those weeks have been an issue for them? Also will it for OK State this year if their bball team goes as far as expected?

So many questions with so few answers! lol

 

[King]

I can't say that I know for certain if missing those two weeks would hurt or not as we hadn't ever gone to NCA in April while I was a part of the team. For stuff leading up to sweet 16, elite 8, and final four, those weeks are heavy with traveling for 6-12 of the cheerleaders. Then it leaves the decision of do I send the not as talented team members who aren't prepping for nationals to the events and hope they still leave a great impression at alumni events/rallies and on CBS or do I hope my talented kids are that talented that they can jump back into competition prep mode after being gone for so many days?

That said, U of L has been consistently doing well in March Madness play in recent year, I wonder if those weeks have been an issue for them? Also will it for OK State this year if their bball team goes as far as expected?

So many questions with so few answers! lol

I think U of L can absorb it because of the size of their program, of which we are trying to grow ours to 50 people (25 per squad). Having a Gold (D1A small coed) and White (hopefully eventually a competing intermediate coed) will allow us the freedom to do handle all any possible tournament run. Because of the surface restriction, what skills we do at appearances are not that big a deal based on skill level. We have program wide standing tucks and basketball stunts. As for motion and appearance no one is allowed in the program if they don't meet an acceptable level of competence in that area. We would probably rotate through different groups going on the trip and I would probably base it around routine groups so when someone is missing it wouldn't mess with practice as much. Same with women's bball. (I am discussing this out loud so I know the idea makes sense for when it does happen)