All-Star Usasf Feedback

[TNcheermom]

I felt like the new age grid was going in a positive direction with the bottom ages raised. Now we're pretty much back to square one with that. I really wish USAF would have left the Junior level at 8 as that seems much more of an appropriate spread than a 5 year old with a 14 year old.

I agree with the majority on scoring transparency.

 

[justpeachy]

If you're going to make rules, enforce them.

 

[tumbleyoda]

That is a very interesting point for #5.... I definitely see where you are coming from in however I'm just thinking about one particular athlete that I have who is going on her 5th year at level 1. She has very proficiently mastered that level with darn near perfect walkovers but cannot back handspring and is not even close to it (even though we've been working towards it for a few years). Some of it her dedication to learning it but some of it also stems from a mental block. I would not want to move her up to level 2 because she wouldn't be able to participate in any tumbling and full squad sync'd passes are becoming more and more important.


ETA: Or would you only need to move a certain percentage of athletes up from that team to comply? Would have to change mid-season?

We all have athletes like this. It would have to fleshed out more. Much more. In no way do I think it is perfect, but it is just a thought to realistically address both the D1 complaint of lack of competition and gyms just languishing in D2 that are for lack of better words become the CEA, CA, Brandon, World Cup etc in term of wins at the end of year competition. Meaning they are expected to win. One of the best things about D2 so far is the unpredictability over just who will win. Doesn't matter if you are a wild card or full paid, you feel you have a fair shot. While we do it in Power tumbling and it catches some athletes like you mention (I have one struggling now because he was mandated up) it does prevent the sandbagging issue to some degree.

My initial thought is that it not athlete based but team based or program based (still thinking it through) and it would be for the following season. We are not talking about moving athletes UP but rather teams OVER from D2 to D1 under the stated circumstances. You still would place your athlete on the appropriate team for the following season where they belonged. The loop hole would be for example you won Small Mini 4 so now you go Large Mini 4 to stay in D2. (yes I know there is no Mini 4 - just an example)

It is just an idea.

 

[DaniV]

We all have athletes like this. It would have to fleshed out more. Much more. In no way do I think it is perfect, but it is just a thought to realistically address both the D1 complaint of lack of competition and gyms just languishing in D2 that are for lack of better words become the CEA, CA, Brandon, World Cup etc in term of wins at the end of year competition. Meaning they are expected to win. One of the best things about D2 so far is the unpredictability over just who will win. Doesn't matter if you are a wild card or full paid, you feel you have a fair shot. While we do it in Power tumbling and it catches some athletes like you mention (I have one struggling now because he was mandated up) it does prevent the sandbagging issue to some degree.

My initial thought is that it not athlete based but team based or program based (still thinking it through) and it would be for the following season. We are not talking about moving athletes UP but rather teams OVER from D2 to D1 under the stated circumstances. You still would place your athlete on the appropriate team for the following season where they belonged. The loop hole would be for example you won Small Mini 4 so now you go Large Mini 4 to stay in D2. (yes I know there is no Mini 4 - just an example)

It is just an idea.

Ahhhh, that makes way more sense. I was wondering if that is what you meant (adding/changing levels) but in the case of our gym, we already offer all levels in Junior and Senior since we are D1 and have enough athletes to appropriately place everyone pretty much in all levels (no sandbagging needed).

For D2 gyms, I totally see how this would make more sense logistically. And I would LOVE to see this go in to effect to some aspect for gyms that don't offer all ages or all levels. This would prevent gyms who choose to compete at lower levels only so they could win everything and anything even though they have a lot of athletes who have beautiful level 4 or level 5 skills.

 

[SthrnCheerMom]

Put me own for the age grid back to what was previously released. I also agree with either D1 or D2. If you are eligible for D2, then you should compete at D2 as well as with other D2 teams at comps.

 

[KPep]

Let canadian teams cross the border and get a bid. If they beat american teams, they deserve to win. We have to travel like crazy sometimes to go to a competition bid (we have a big country, heh) and for a lot of us just going to the US would be much simpler. And it's not like we can't keep up with the american teams...

Review the bids declarations with the EPs. Teams with the highest scores should get the bids. It's not normal that a team getting last place in its category leaves with a bid when 4th place in another one and higher score leaves with nothing.

Oh and get rid of that 3 per country rule. It's Worlds. The best of the best.

 

[cupieqt]

Jumping off this: minimum scores to receive said bid. We had a local team here that won a bid by default and had one of the lowest scores of the entire competition. This had to be an embarrassment to the EP.

I miss the old "Scoreboard" from the all star competitions of yore. I loved when my teams had to beat a minimum score in order to be ranked if they had no competition in their division. And Large coed 4 was a rare team at locals back then.

Bring back the scoreboard for official placements!

 

[Natalia5]

USASF is a complete joke.

Change the age grid, then change it back. Even though it was less than a month later, some people had tryouts in that time. Which power-gym wanted it changed back, and why?

No transparency in scoring. Does Live! Still exist? That was how competitions should be ran. Do your routine and go sit in the winners circle like Secretariat until someone comes along and outscores you.

Get rid of that damn 18-page rubric. There's been less documentation on Benghazi. In the meantime, if a category is worth 5 points, make it worth 5 points. If you're going to automatically score everyone between a 4 and a 5, then make the friggin' thing worth 1 point.

Age floors should be a real thing. 18-year old males shuttle launching 11 year old
Females in baskets is a safety issue... not to mention it makes the males look like total pansies, no matter how high they throw her (yea, we can all tell how old she is from the crowd).

Enforce the rules all year long. If Worlds and the Summit have rules about organized entries and over celebrations, enforce that poop in October. If Worlds and the Summit have rules about out of bounds, then I should get a deduction for stepping off the mat at Christmas. If you're not going to enforce it, take if out.

I'm sure I have more. I'm exausted

I wish there was a drop mic emoji... well said.

 

[STAR Cheer Mom]

Transparency in scoring. Anyone should be able to access both the overall scores and the breakdowns for every competition.

Some sort of rule in place to address sandbagging. No gym should be getting away with level 5 kids on a level 2 team.

Tighter age divisions

Less conflict of interest. No company should be able to own both the event producer and gyms competing at said event. No company should be bankrolling people who make safety decisions.

I am with you on the sandbagging!! AND For Level 1 teams also!

 

[cheermomforever]

Let canadian teams cross the border and get a bid. If they beat american teams, they deserve to win. We have to travel like crazy sometimes to go to a competition bid (we have a big country, heh) and for a lot of us just going to the US would be much simpler. And it's not like we can't keep up with the american teams...

Review the bids declarations with the EPs. Teams with the highest scores should get the bids. It's not normal that a team getting last place in its category leaves with a bid when 4th place in another one and higher score leaves with nothing.

Oh and get rid of that 3 per country rule. It's Worlds. The best of the best.

Yes to top teams getting bids! Why does an AG team who placed 10th get a FP bid over our I5 team who was 4th! No more declaration due to division!

 

[Natalia5]

The big gym/ small gym issue always come up about how certain rules and restrictions would either hurt or help a small gym, etc. I would like to see the USAF put a "this exception applies to small gyms only" disclaimer on the changes.

 

[NJ Coach]

Judges association...that actually trains judges and is completely separate from the EP...like what they do with Safety judges now, just include panel judges. Once that happens, scores will be transparent. I'm convinced the reason scores aren't now is because of the lack of acceptable judging.

 

[Ashley]

Let canadian teams cross the border and get a bid. If they beat american teams, they deserve to win. We have to travel like crazy sometimes to go to a competition bid (we have a big country, heh) and for a lot of us just going to the US would be much simpler. And it's not like we can't keep up with the american teams...

Review the bids declarations with the EPs. Teams with the highest scores should get the bids. It's not normal that a team getting last place in its category leaves with a bid when 4th place in another one and higher score leaves with nothing.

Oh and get rid of that 3 per country rule. It's Worlds. The best of the best.

Let American teams across the border for bids too then (I had this debate with Spring on ASGA).

There's like 3 events in Canada within a 7 hour drive from my gym. This season we drove 6 hours to Atlantic City and 9 hours to Maryland. May as well drive to Canada.

 

[KPep]

Judges association...that actually trains judges and is completely separate from the EP...like what they do with Safety judges now, just include panel judges. Once that happens, scores will be transparent. I'm convinced the reason scores aren't now is because of the lack of acceptable judging.

It's explains why so many judges come from here...

 

[california cheer mom]

If you're going to make rules, enforce them.

So much word to this. The cover up rule comes to mind.