Some other perspective relating to my team in particular I’d like to make a few points… Our teams recent performance, placement, and bid have been called into question, Based on our score, placement, and skills being performed. Which right off the bat I don’t get, we scored respectably well on a major companies score sheet!?!? Our score on the Jam Brands scoring scale would have put us in bid range at Jamfest SuperNationals, and COA Midwest Nationals, both earlier Jam Brand competitions for bids, and probably would have given us great opportunities at many other bid nationals as well… So the end of the year bid issue some have and minimum score qualifier requirement probably wouldn’t be issues for us since our overall score would have been competitive in general and at earlier events in the year.
As far as our placement at our bid qualifying event, it was low in our division, and yes we earned a bid… But the teams in our small sr 5 division at our event at years end ALL but one have earned a bid and will be attending worlds… This was a deep, tough, and high scoring division that will field over 15% of the Small Sr performers at worlds. We placed low in a division, with a high score, filled with level 5 teams that will be attending worlds, I think that speaks something about the level of competition, in which we held our own… Teams that finished with high division placements in weaker divisions or divisions with only 2 or 3 teams at the same event with lower scores earning bids don’t get singled out??? Division placement seems moot when there is a division top to bottom with more skilled teams in it than any other and also when the bids at the event are being awarded based strictly on score not placement. We weren’t even the 6th out of 6 at large bids awarded, we earned the 3rd of 6 at large bids by score, and finished ahead of MANY other level 5 teams that were also praying for a bid and worked to earn their invitation to worlds. Tell those teams that the bid earning teams above them got bids “defaulted” to them.
As far as the skills in our routine and not being a level 5 team – our coaching staff studied the jam brands scoring scale very carefully to put together level 5 stunts/pyramid/jumps/ tumbling ratios to score well at this event. Our routine and team was criticized here as not worlds caliber based on our performance… However, we put our routine together to do well at this event on this level 5 scoring rubric, to say that our stunt was not worlds caliber and not level 5 doesn’t seem right in my opinion because the elements we performed at our event scored above a 9.5 + on 10 point scale in the difficulty ranges for level 5. The sequences were set up in this way by design and not for lack of skill. As I said before in a previous post ,double ups and high to high tick tocks are very sexy, but there are other level 5 elements that will help put you in ranges both at jam brand events and at worlds. It floors me that so many people don’t understand that many of these perceived elite/world’s caliber stunts they see are actually legal in level 4. Full up/level 4, switch up and tick tocks/level 4, even 1 and ½ twisting transitions are ok at level 4. Our routine and its elements were set up for our qualifying event, our elements for our worlds routine will be set up off of that scoresheet. Long story short, as a coach with a team scoring above the 9 range raw score on the jam brands level 5 scoresheet, I feel that alone speaks for a teams legitimacy, and if we didn’t have a girl trip and fall to the floor stepping into standing tumbling and another trip to the floor in her dance of all places and have silly deductions, we would have easily finished with final scores above 9 and higher placement in our tough division. Not trying to make excuses, but our routine was competitive at our event, at level 5, and will be updated to maximize the worlds scoresheets in the weeks we have to prepare.
No we don’t have delusions of grandeur, of top 10… But this is where our team is in its evolution, we are building and growing and this experience will benefit these kids more than they can even appreciate yet. And I know this from experience. The first year our gym took a lv 5 team to worlds it was on an at large bid, and we earned it respectively at Supernationals with a decent showing. We had no expectations of placements or making finals, even though we had hoped for it. When they started announcing teams for finals we were huddled together hands cluched, heads down, breath held - hearing our name called for finals is a moment I will never forget, the best one I’ve ever had in cheer ever, and something I want to share with this team now or even next year. We ended up placing 6th in prelims easily making it into finals. That team that made finals came back changed and so happy and motivated for the next year. The only way a coach can give the gift of those magical moments to their athletes is to put them in those situations… That’s the road we are on, maybe we won’t make finals this year, maybe our moment is a little bit further in our future, but the experience of being at worlds WILL change these kids in a positive way and push us to improve and grow in the following year, and the Worlds Experience will only push them harder and faster towards their goal. Our moment is out there.
Our season has been SOOOO Challenging, and I will spare the long version, but our team has fought so hard to get where it is at now. These kids deserve everything they have worked for and earned and can’t wait for WORLDS.
