All-Star Small Gym Divisions

[CharlieCheers]

We do work just as hard. Trust me!! We just don't have the numbers to be very selective!

I don't mean this in a negative way to any small gym!

 

[CGAcheer]

I can see both sides of this. I coach at a small gym, but we always want to be competitive with the big gyms out there. Since we're in Wisconsin, there's generally not enough teams to split into small gym and large gym at the competitions we go to so it's not really an issue for us except when we go to the US Finals and maybe 1 of our Chicago comps. I do have to say that it can be VERY difficult for us small gyms to compete with the big gyms- especially at comps like the US Finals. We had our first senior team this year, and it was a huge mix of ages and talents. The ages on the team ranged from 11-18, and the tumbling ranged from level 1 to level 4. For the most part, we ended up pretty good because the girls worked really hard all year and many improved their tumbling. The biggest difference for us is that we didn't have a huge pool of athletes to choose from, and since it was our only senior team, we ended up having to put all athletes on this team. We were a senior 3, but we definitely had a few girls that belonged on a level 2 team. The small gyms don't have the luxury of putting every athlete on a team that's level appropriate for them, and I think that's what makes the big gym vs. small gym debate so tough. I like for my girls to compete against the big programs sometimes, but other times (and particularly at big competitions like US Finals) I think it's fair to have a separate division for the small gyms.

We did US Finals in 2010 in Orlando, our Jr 1 won the overall champion for the entire US Finals and our Sr 2(our highest level team) won first in Orlando. We had a total of 42 kids that year. We did NOT enter the small division, if we had our Sr 2 honestly probably would have come in 2nd.

This year we had about 60 kids in our program and had at least 1 team ranked in the top 25 in each of the US Finals monthly level rankings that we did a qualifying competition in and none of our teams had full squad skills.

This year we'll have around 90 kids and will officially be a "large" gym

 

[CGAcheer]

Unfortunately, the upper level kids probably wouldn't stay, then you wouldn't have enough for even a lower level team. Then your program never grows. I think small gym should be 50 athletes or less.

We are lucky enough to be an hour away from any large gyms. The only girl who drove from here to one of those gyms was a level 5 that had just moved here and our highest level that year was sr 2. The next year she joined our Sr 3 team and had a great time, progressed, was a leader and was challenged in the routine, not to mention, saved a ton on gas and she has now graduated and made her college team.

 

[cheerluv]

Hmmm, LOL...ok????? As far as illegal cheerleaders using false birth certificates go, I'm sure those offenders will be caught...afterall we live in a very small state where EVERYONE knows EVERYONE....(gotchya)

Actually was not pointing any fingers....thats not what we do. My point was that there are MANY more issues in the Cheer world than who is small/large gym! There has many talks about teams using older kids on teams that are not legal to cheer there. For example....the college team at NCA college Nationals.....I am sure this happen more than we know. To me thats HUGE ISSUE.. more than small/large divisions.

 

[WyldWon]

Actually was not pointing any fingers....thats not what we do. My point was that there are MANY more issues in the Cheer world than who is small/large gym! There has many talks about teams using older kids on teams that are not legal to cheer there. For example....the college team at NCA college Nationals.....I am sure this happen more than we know. To me thats HUGE ISSUE.. more than small/large divisions.

Obviously issues with cheer are important to people in different ways! If everyone played fairly in the first place ,energy can be focased on the bigger issues such as a fair scoring system. My child no longer cheers and I am not associated with any gym so my opinions are mine alone~

 

[cheerluv]

Obviously issues with cheer are important to people in different ways! If everyone played fairly in the first place ,energy can be focased on the bigger issues such as a fair scoring system. My child no longer cheers and I am not associated with any gym so my opinions are mine alone~

I agree with you, I am all about a better scoring system.

 

[JulieP]

We did US Finals in 2010 in Orlando, our Jr 1 won the overall champion for the entire US Finals and our Sr 2(our highest level team) won first in Orlando. We had a total of 42 kids that year. We did NOT enter the small division, if we had our Sr 2 honestly probably would have come in 2nd.

This year we had about 60 kids in our program and had at least 1 team ranked in the top 25 in each of the US Finals monthly level rankings that we did a qualifying competition in and none of our teams had full squad skills.

This year we'll have around 90 kids and will officially be a "large" gym

I am not saying it's not possible to do well- I think it's just really difficult to do well at the bigger competitions when you're in our shoes. Congrats to you for making it happen- I am still working at it!

 

[hopskipandjump]

I've been thinking about this forever, and i really agree that there shouldn't be small gym divisions because it really limits your competition, and it really is an easy win. But you have also have to stop and think about it being a business too, because if competitions didn't have small gym and large gym then less teams would go which means less money for the company. For example if NCA didn't have small gym divisions at nationals i am sure a lot of those teams wouldn't go to NCA which ultimately is losing money for the company. But i know a lot of strong small gyms that can hang with the large gyms, i think they should get rid of small gym division because it pushes athletes to work harder and it gives the athletes goals to strive to be at their fullest potential. thats just my opinion though.:)

"it really is an easy win" This is SO not true. Particularly in the lower level divisions.

 

[Mingo_VCE]

"it really is an easy win" This is SO not true. Particularly in the lower level divisions.

sorry, you are right its not an easy win, maybe i was a little bias. the reason is that there is a small gym in our area that uses their level 5 kids on a level 2 and they frankly do it to win. i really didn't mean to offend anyone i'm sure small gyms work as hard as large gym kids