BlueCat
Roses are red, cats are blue
- Dec 14, 2009
- 4,503
- 19,507
they dont always get at large. yes, many do. but a team from my gym pretty much always gets a partial paid bid every yr.
also paid bids arnt given out very often because competition programs are obviously not as big and they are in the States.
So if you feel that teams are being cheated positions in finals. switch divisions and leave internation to true international teams. and not enter international b/c its easier
The division was absolutely NOT created to give teams from any particular country a "chance to win". It was created because teams with that particular set of age ranges did not have the opportunity to compete at all. Many teams included athletes that were over 18 and did not fit anywhere in the division grid. USASF set up the new age bracket to give them the opportunity to compete. It had nothing to do with giving them a better chance to place high.
The US "International" teams are competing in those divisions for precisely the same reasons that the non-US teams are: they have athletes over 18. They can't simply "switch to a harder division" because they don't necessarily fit into those age ranges.
I continue to feel that basing finals on the addresses of the gyms rather than score is unfair. Why should the 4th highest scoring team (often in the top 10% of all scores in the division) sit in the stands while teams that finished 30+ places behind them compete in finals? Once the competition starts, results should not be affected by where your gym is located.