okay, so i've got a mouthful to say... you may agree or disagree, its whatever.
1. the uniform changes: well, we could have seen this coming honestly. does it suck? yeah. can we live with this change? yeah. i think this is simply a repercussion for teams pushing the creativity a little too far.
2. the misc bows, makeup, etc. : don't really have much to comment on this.... sure, all that stuff is great, but without (to be ranted about in number 3), all of this means nothing.
okay, so for number 3:
sppweoutepowtgjs;lgjsoignslmv;ls. okay. that was me getting the run my mouth without a filter out of the way. honestly, all these tumbling rule changes? OUTRAGEOUS. to me, this is a complete and total insult to this sport. essentially, athletes are being punished for being talented, for working hard, for having dedication. is this sport filled with injuries? yes. but is it the athletes' faults? in my opinion? NO. absolutely not. (sorry coaches, about to come down on you hard) but to me, those injuries are a result of poor coaching. there's this little thing called prevention, and it's not hard, and it goes a loooooong way. Injuries aren't happening because of these skills, injuries are happening because there coaches out there not implementing proper technique or prevention. wanna know the solution to this? HAVE ATHLETIC TRAINERS ON STAFF. I have been saying forever that I want to see this happen, and now, it's not too far off from being realistic. too many coaches aren't implementing proper conditioning and training, and THAT is why athletes are getting hurt. not because they can do cool tricks, but because they are not being taught the tricks properly, or being conditioned to prevent such wear and tear on the body while doing them. the USASF also needs to go back to enforcing credentialing of coaches. but the way I look at it, it's alot easier to credential someone to coach cheerleading than to "teach someone" to be an athletic trainer, because the latter of the 2 is not possible. athletic training is a medical field and it requires a college degree. and after you graduate? you have to pass the BOC to become certified. as for coaching? honestly, you could pick up any person, a football player, an actress, etc. and guess what? you expose them to the sport, and you can teach them to coach. now you have a person with a medical degree that is relevant to sports, don't you think he or she will already know quite a bit about cheer without even stepping a foot in the door? the answer is yes. so what am I suggesting? make it mandatory to have an athletic trainer on staff. they will make sure to implement proper training and conditioning, something alot of coaches dont do because they think it cuts into precious practice time. but I guarantee you have an AT, and you'll see a difference.
and on a separate note: i have been in this sport a good number of years and have watched it grow immensely. when i first started allstars, it was chaos. these rules just pissed alooooooot of people off, and the way i figure, its going to make coaches and companies alike make rash decisions. what am i talking about? boycotting. they don't like the rules? fine. they 1. won't follow them. or 2. won't participate in events. this is going way backward. we are trying to conform, have a governing body, and this is exactly what we dont need.
okay, hopping off my soap box. better believe I'm not done with this though. You will see this being implemented if I have anything to do with it.
