- May 10, 2011
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Congrats alexamarysouza, saw CSAs Facebook post. Looks like CSA is in sweep-ville again today and congrats on your S2 victory. Are you guys going to Orlando? Saw where they said you qualified. Video?!
All-Star Uca Nov 17
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- May 22, 2011
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I know! My hubby graduated from there, and is getting his PhD from there. Been a PACK girl my whole life! Thanks! We are doing Cheersport tomorrow-lot closer!
- May 10, 2011
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Is he screaming at the TV like I am....2 plays, 123 yards and TWO touchdowns, baby!! Go STATE!
- May 22, 2011
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YES! And my brother too!
- May 10, 2011
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well, I'm screaming at them for the entirely opposite reason now. smh.
- May 22, 2011
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Agreed! UGH!
- Jul 10, 2011
- 2,606
- 3,946
- Thread starter
- #22
Thank you!! And I'm actually also on S3! Well I'm not sure how it'll play out, maybe it'll be an option if we don't get summit bids, but I've heard this national is super expensive and our owners don't like to put things like that on our parents.
Oh and they did hand out medals this year to winners...when I walked up to my dad with my 2 on my neck he asked me if I could peel the top off and there'd be chocolate on the inside...they're sooo small I've literally never seen medals this small haha.
twas a great day :D
- Apr 3, 2011
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Did they announce high points at this competition? Or do they not do that?
- Jan 25, 2010
- 93
- 159
Sm Jrs - Ladies of Fire = Grand Champs
- Dec 17, 2009
- 153
- 158
Congrats to all of the teams that competed at UCA. I was very impressed with the Carolina Spirit teams that I saw. It was refreshing to see a program in the shadows of CEA step-up and put on a great performance. I took notice of this program at Battle Under the Big Top last year and was not only impressed with what they put on the mat, but also what seems like great kids and parents off the mat. Congratulations CSA and keep up the great work!
- Dec 17, 2009
- 153
- 158
Also wanted to add that how mediocre this event is, or at least how it didn't really even come close to what we should be expecting from a company with as much stature as UCA.
The set-up was such that the parents were required to sit in the seats at least 50 feet away from the floor-level mat, leaving a huge empty space between them and the mat. I was told that they do this so the judges can see the entire floor. Common sense would tell you to simply move the judges' tower closer to the mat. The nice young man wearing the Varsity shirt said that they need that space for the seats as we both stared at the couple of hundred seats with nobody in them and wondered how badly they really need those seats. For the record, I watched those seats all day, and the only people who sat in them were people who just really looked like they were just trying to stay awake. They weren't there to watch what was happening on the mat, because there was no way to see it anyway.
Speaking of the judges tower, I am not even sure how the judges could even see what was happening on the mat. There was no stage lighting whatsoever, so the only hope was to rely on the ceiling lamps that were lit at the same consistency throughout the rest of the building. I felt like asking everyone in the parent section to download a flashlight app onto their smartphones to help illuminate the stage. I swear that if these event producers just spent 20 minutes at each competition as a spectator, they would get a feel for some of these set-up shortcomings and make adjustments.
Someone already mentioned the medals being so small. I couldn't agree more. Why even bother? If you are going to splurge on $2/kid for an award (that's probably being generous) that probably won't make it out of the back of the minivan, why not spend an extra $1 and give the kids a t-shirt or something they will use. Surely Varsity has ocean-shipping containers full of $2 t-shirts from some SE-Asian country somewhere in their compound. Use some common sense.
The atmosphere in the special event center was easily one of the most boring, mundane, and lifeless that I have seen in nearly eight years of doing this. When the MC has to ask three times, "is everyone having a good time!?!?" and gets no response, there might be a problem. I am guessing that because the sound system was so bad (or in fairness, probably the acoustics of the building) that nobody heard him the first two times. When they did hear him the third time, they probably realized that they really weren't having a good time, so to be polite, they simply didn't respond. I did actually hear a couple of moans and some people saying 'no'.
Dear UCA, my suggestions for this event/venue are as follows:
If you are going to insist on having this competition the same weekend or adjacent to a Cheersport event, you can probably expect that your attendance will go down (enter CEA not going to Cheersport, everyone (mostly) else does drama). The building with the current layout, therefore, will be too cavernous to create an exciting atmosphere and will probably just get worse than it already is. You need to set your stage on the side wall to eliminate one of the bleacher walls. Force everybody onto one side of the bleachers. Pull the bleachers out on the ends of the other wall to make the seating simulate a horseshoe pattern (Spirit Sports Myrtle Beach does a good job with this). If you are not going to invest in bringing stage lighting to these local events you will not have to worry because the 'stage lighting' is already set-up in that arena for HS basketball games (it really is, just look up). Your problem is that these lights are pointing in the wrong direction for your current set-up. By rotating the stage you will be able to shine lights on the attention of the kids who deserve to be treated like the rock stars that they are. You will argue that there won't be enough seating. Based on this performance, I have a feeling that attendance will be the least of your worries. You really need to create a better atmosphere. By making it feel busier than it is, you will create that atmosphere. Everyone will be closer to the stage making it louder and more intimate, and just more enjoyable.
To close this, let me just say that I love watching my kid perform more than just about anything in the world, whether it be in a showcase setting, a local event, or in the arena in Dallas. That being said, the MC did a great job of keeping the 5 or 6 of us who were actually listening to him read out the college football scores throughout the day. I think for the first time ever, I actually wondered how much more exciting it would be to be watching a football game on TV than sitting in that arena on that day.
The set-up was such that the parents were required to sit in the seats at least 50 feet away from the floor-level mat, leaving a huge empty space between them and the mat. I was told that they do this so the judges can see the entire floor. Common sense would tell you to simply move the judges' tower closer to the mat. The nice young man wearing the Varsity shirt said that they need that space for the seats as we both stared at the couple of hundred seats with nobody in them and wondered how badly they really need those seats. For the record, I watched those seats all day, and the only people who sat in them were people who just really looked like they were just trying to stay awake. They weren't there to watch what was happening on the mat, because there was no way to see it anyway.
Speaking of the judges tower, I am not even sure how the judges could even see what was happening on the mat. There was no stage lighting whatsoever, so the only hope was to rely on the ceiling lamps that were lit at the same consistency throughout the rest of the building. I felt like asking everyone in the parent section to download a flashlight app onto their smartphones to help illuminate the stage. I swear that if these event producers just spent 20 minutes at each competition as a spectator, they would get a feel for some of these set-up shortcomings and make adjustments.
Someone already mentioned the medals being so small. I couldn't agree more. Why even bother? If you are going to splurge on $2/kid for an award (that's probably being generous) that probably won't make it out of the back of the minivan, why not spend an extra $1 and give the kids a t-shirt or something they will use. Surely Varsity has ocean-shipping containers full of $2 t-shirts from some SE-Asian country somewhere in their compound. Use some common sense.
The atmosphere in the special event center was easily one of the most boring, mundane, and lifeless that I have seen in nearly eight years of doing this. When the MC has to ask three times, "is everyone having a good time!?!?" and gets no response, there might be a problem. I am guessing that because the sound system was so bad (or in fairness, probably the acoustics of the building) that nobody heard him the first two times. When they did hear him the third time, they probably realized that they really weren't having a good time, so to be polite, they simply didn't respond. I did actually hear a couple of moans and some people saying 'no'.
Dear UCA, my suggestions for this event/venue are as follows:
If you are going to insist on having this competition the same weekend or adjacent to a Cheersport event, you can probably expect that your attendance will go down (enter CEA not going to Cheersport, everyone (mostly) else does drama). The building with the current layout, therefore, will be too cavernous to create an exciting atmosphere and will probably just get worse than it already is. You need to set your stage on the side wall to eliminate one of the bleacher walls. Force everybody onto one side of the bleachers. Pull the bleachers out on the ends of the other wall to make the seating simulate a horseshoe pattern (Spirit Sports Myrtle Beach does a good job with this). If you are not going to invest in bringing stage lighting to these local events you will not have to worry because the 'stage lighting' is already set-up in that arena for HS basketball games (it really is, just look up). Your problem is that these lights are pointing in the wrong direction for your current set-up. By rotating the stage you will be able to shine lights on the attention of the kids who deserve to be treated like the rock stars that they are. You will argue that there won't be enough seating. Based on this performance, I have a feeling that attendance will be the least of your worries. You really need to create a better atmosphere. By making it feel busier than it is, you will create that atmosphere. Everyone will be closer to the stage making it louder and more intimate, and just more enjoyable.
To close this, let me just say that I love watching my kid perform more than just about anything in the world, whether it be in a showcase setting, a local event, or in the arena in Dallas. That being said, the MC did a great job of keeping the 5 or 6 of us who were actually listening to him read out the college football scores throughout the day. I think for the first time ever, I actually wondered how much more exciting it would be to be watching a football game on TV than sitting in that arena on that day.
- Jul 29, 2011
- 256
- 212
Yes. Carolina Spirit Athletics Mini Level 1 and Senior Coed 4 won levels 1 and 4. Level 2 was a Jr 2 from CEA and I am unsure about level 3.
- Jul 10, 2011
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- Thread starter
- #28
Another thing about the whole "priority seating"...so there was a team from a certain unnamed big gym before one of our teams, and then another one of their teams after our team, so those parents (all 100+) decided to stay in the first few rows of priority seating instead of being courteous and moving back a few rows for us. They were yelling and screaming at us to sit down when our team came on and were down right RUDE to us when we asked if we could sit there. So the people standing there like hawks running that section couldn't tell them to move? Got even more aggravated when said "attendants" wouldn't let me exit out of the left side when I said my seat was literally right behind her...no, I had to walk all the way around the judges tower to get to my seat that was 5 feet away to begin with...so it was such an issue for that, but they couldn't tell those parents to move? that's annoying. and when we were sitting on the floor (may I remind you we're in our brand spankin' new 330 dollar uniforms on that gross floor), there was a row of curtains that served absolutely NO purpose, and they couldn't even open the curtains for us to see through. really? UGH. done venting, but seriously.this competition.
- May 10, 2011
- 5,994
- 24,173
One of my absolute pet peeves. There are no squatters rights in priority seating. If you're not there to support the team that is CURRENTLY on stage....get out and let their people (even if its only 6 families) be front and center. Courtesy.
- Feb 18, 2011
- 2,236
- 3,892
This. it'also quite rude for athletes from a rival gym to hang out in priority seating in front of parents from the team that is on the stage, and openly criticize the team on the floor.
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