All-Star Warmup Standards

[DJ]

My favorite is actually Allstar Challenges BUTBT.

Of course I also think there should be set times between teams and mandatory break for judges every set number of teams.

Sounds like you're an advocate for

 

[ChoreographyInTheBack]

One thing that really made me mad at one competition was a really skinny tumbling warm up mat... It was one panel and raised.. I had to go back and start my combination pass again because it went MAYBE an inch crooked, and i didn't feel comfortable tumbling out of it because i nearly stepped off when turning out of one skill into another... Lovely.

 

[cheerheart4life]

I think there needs to be a MAX waiting time between warmup and competing as well. I've had to wait over an hour before. That's just ridiculous!! If teams have to wait that long they should be allowed a re warmup of some kind

 

[magical mom]

Today at USA in San Diego, CA we had a horrible warm-up area. The worst thing is that our warm up with my level 4 team was outside at 8:00 am with the weather being 50 degrees. Our kids couldnt even get warm, hold the foot while stuntung, or tumble with out their teeth chattering. It was extremly unsafe. They walked right into the arena and went straight on the floor. We didnt have that great of a performance and the kids looked like they were just not thawed out. I dont mind if its outside in Southern California when it is nice, but 50 degrees in San Diego wet air is not good. It just wasnt right.

 

[AllstarObsession]

I think there needs to be a MAX waiting time between warmup and competing as well. I've had to wait over an hour before. That's just ridiculous!! If teams have to wait that long they should be allowed a re warmup of some kind

and no parties in between teams! ive had that happen to me sooo many times, break because little kids need to throw beads off the stage while we're behind the curtain.

i like limited time on deck and up next, its probably the worst part of cheerleading EVER. i dont want to stand there for 20 minutes because I might throw up or die.

 

[AllstarObsession]

Today at USA in San Diego, CA we had a horrible warm-up area. The worst thing is that our warm up with my level 4 team was outside at 8:00 am with the weather being 50 degrees. Our kids couldnt even get warm, hold the foot while stuntung, or tumble with out their teeth chattering. It was extremly unsafe. They walked right into the arena and went straight on the floor. We didnt have that great of a performance and the kids looked like they were just not thawed out. I dont mind if its outside in Southern California when it is nice, but 50 degrees in San Diego wet air is not good. It just wasnt right.

ive always hated USA competitions. their warmups and venues and organization.

some that ive been to have 2 sides to the floor and you have to face side "A" or "B". so confusing.
and team pictures are literally right after you perform. like I cant breathe yet, im not ready for pictures.

 

[cheerheart4life]

and no parties in between teams! ive had that happen to me sooo many times, break because little kids need to throw beads off the stage while we're behind the curtain.

i like limited time on deck and up next, its probably the worst part of cheerleading EVER. i dont want to stand there for 20 minutes because I might throw up or die.

Exactly. Teams get all worked up. Ten minutes is long enough

 

[cheerforeverever]

and no parties in between teams! ive had that happen to me sooo many times, break because little kids need to throw beads off the stage while we're behind the curtain.

They do the throwing out beads/shirts/teddies thing a lot of times when judges need extra time to calculate scores/switch divisions/etc.

 

[AllstarObsession]

They do the throwing out beads/shirts/teddies thing a lot of times when judges need extra time to calculate scores/switch divisions/etc.

i get that. but why didnt we start warmups 20 minutes later so we wouldnt have to just stand there? they should incorporate those breaks in the warm-up room too.

 

[cheerheart4life]

They do the throwing out beads/shirts/teddies thing a lot of times when judges need extra time to calculate scores/switch divisions/etc.

That's why they should video the teams as they perform and then go back and score later if they have to. I get waiting so it's fresh in their mind, but that's not fair to the athletes.

 

[marissa.d]

lol i went to a competition in sandusky ohio and the first warm up we had there was a huge glass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling

I went there when i was with Sharks, and the team i coached threw a straight ride basket to warm up and the flyer hit it.. they were marking the routine and didnt even think to look up on the full mat of course, who would!

 

[ssccxnce]

I went there when i was with Sharks, and the team i coached threw a straight ride basket to warm up and the flyer hit it.. they were marking the routine and didnt even think to look up on the full mat of course, who would!

lol oh it gets worse their actual gym we couldnt even run the full routine cause they took place in that outdoor dome thing and my base group and i thought we had enough height for a pike basket... we were wrong our flier got a concussion but competed like a champ

 

[canttouchthis]

i went to this one comp. and we were competing early in the morning for god knows why and we literally had 4 minutes on each mat. we were a small coed team. how is that like even possible?

 

[King]

So I have been thinking about this and while warmup requirements NEED to be standard, it isn't attacking the head of the problem. The issue is we have a supply chain problem. (follow me along here).

You see the main bottleneck is how close teams compete back to back. For instance (excluding judging panels and that business) if one team competes ever 5 minutes that means another team needs to finish warming up every 5 minutes. We have two separate events that have to have a similar output.

Now when running a competition you want as MANY teams to compete in short a time as possible because the more teams that compete the more successful your competition can be. If your competition can output 500 teams in an hour (just a wild example) they can be more profitable than competitions that put out 300 teams an hour. So the goal is to have as many teams compete on one competition floor in a row as possible back to back.

Let's shorten the competition time and say a competition had teams compete every 4 minutes instead of 5. In an hour competition A can only output 12 teams but competition B can output 15 teams. Let's say those teams are all small (20 kids and full) and pay $100 in registration. Competition B is making 6 grand more an hour than competition A (all factors being the same). Times that by a 10 hour competition thats 60 grand more a floor. Times that by 5 floors... you can see the money went up tremendously and that is an increased output.

But by shortening the time between teams competing you also constrain the time put on warming up. Now warmups must produce a team to compete every 4 minutes instead of 5. The best way to do that is shorten warmup times.

Now shortening by 1 minute may not seem like a lot, but if the warmup area is constrained (meaning small) and you are not able to put up many warmup stations that means every team has 1 less minute at each station. What if there are just two full floors to warm up an entire competition on? That means each team now gets just 8 minutes instead of 10. To a coach and a team warming up that is EXTREMELY stressful and unsafe.

Also throw in the fact that competitions do reverse order of placement OR switch day 1 and 2 orders.

So I have a comprehensive proposal. From the moment you walk into warmups to the moment you compete should be as standardized as possible. When you go play basketball in a tournament it's the same warmup, same quarter length, and same everything. Because companies are so protective of their scoresheets (of which if we had the data I believe we would find little variation in output) we can leave those alone for now.

So here is my idea.

One team is allowed to compete every 4 minutes (seems like I'm going against my suggestion earlier, but hold) as long as divisions alternate. If divisions don't alternate a team goes every 8 minutes. (you HAVE to state this because you know some comp somewhere would have the same division teams go back to back and it would be a hot mess).

Every hour and 30 minutes there is a 20 minute break (for the judges AND to catch teams up).

Warmup times are 12 minutes (or more) and meet my earlier requirements.

Thoughts?

Food for thought - You can see the scoring philosophies affecting warmups and placements. Because NCA allows few crossovers (and makes no promises there is lots of time between your crossovers performance time) they do reverse order of placement on day two from day one (the MOST accurate way to score). Because CHEERSPORT allows multiple crossovers it cannot do reverse placement order. It has to do order from day 1 to day 2 to ensure crossovers make it through, and then hence 50 50 scoring. It is a trade off really. NCA I believe produces the most accurate results, but CHEERSPORT is, logistically speaking... perfect.

 

[yojaehs]

We have dealt with so many disastrous warm-up set ups over the years. We have made our own adjustment and requiring "our minimum" before we will register at an event. I think ALL events should require their minimum warm up stations and times be posted on their websites. Simple solution, if their warm-up isn't up to your standard, don't register.

My minimum is 6 minutes on 3 stations. 1. A two strip stunt mat. 2. A two panel wide corner to corner length spring strip. 3. A full flat floor with music.

Again, this is our minimum. Yes I agree that there could be a lot more offered, but I coach a large level 5 with 36 members and in my experience I feel comfortable that kids can be prepared in this amount of time. I do agree that water should be provided, a trainer should be present both in warm ups and competition venues.

I suggest my 3 stations X 6 minutes for several reasons. 1. I feel comfortable that a large team can warm up in this amount of time. 2. I have set up events in the past. If your looking for more than a full floor for competition, a 2 strip tumbling strip, and 12 flat rolls you are looking at an increased cost. Yes I know we pay but every truck, every worker costs money. I have heard the arguments that venues can't fit this warm-up set up, IMO change your venue or don't host a comp.

I'm not disagreeing with you kingston just shedding light from another perspective.