All-Star What Should Penalty Be For Cheating?

[cheerKT]

Do gyms have to turn in athlete's birth certificates to each competition company? If they do, do the companies just not check/don't care? If the company does get legal documents of each athlete, shame on them for letting this many people slip through the cracks. Or does the company just get the age, and if it is called into question they require a birth certificate?

 

[MissBee]

Well, what else is there?

cut off their hands

 

[Mr.Kevin]

Aim lower.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

How hard is it to turn in someone else's birth certificate to the company? Not hard at all. And if they're willing to cheat I'm sure they're willing to lie too. Its not as though birth certificates have pictures on them. So I'm not sure the event producers are really at fault. Most of them just ask for birth cert. numbers. It'd be so tough to prove but I think if you do then the punishment should be drastic. And if innocent ppl are getting punished too then its that much more likely that the gym wont do it-- because they've got 100 parents with credit cards saying "oh no you don't...not with my kids chances on the line..."

 

[cheerlove]

what about crossovers at worlds? i know there are definately some because if you watch the tapes there is a girl that performs twice on two total different teams but the same gym. im leaving names of anything out because i dont want any drama but how do worlds officials not notice when the teams register for worlds? the rules strictly state no crossovers or the whole gym cannot come to worlds the next year

 

[travnation80]

this is horrible and people are a mess one win is not worth losing your entire program over, because once exposed you will forever be known as the gym that cheated. the Event company should make them return their win and give it to the second place team and all the perks that go with it.

 

[MissBee]

They should have to hang a banner for 4 seasons outside of their gym that says "We cheated by using age ineligible athletes"

 

[newcheerdad]

I think you want any penalty to be significant, but not overly punitive, because you don't want to necessarily penalize an entire gym for the actions of a few.

I know U.S. Soccer and most state sanctioning bodies dictate that a team that fields an ineligible player has to forfeit any games that player played in. For me, forfeiting a competition title and/or a Worlds bid seems like a reasonable punishment. Maybe stricter penalties, like being banned from Worlds for a period of time, is warranted if there are numerous infractions.

But as stated above, you first need to have mandatory athlete registration. Without that, it's really hard to enforce any rule.

 

[MissBee]

I think you want any penalty to be significant, but not overly punitive, because you don't want to necessarily penalize an entire gym for the actions of a few.

I know U.S. Soccer and most state sanctioning bodies dictate that a team that fields an ineligible player has to forfeit any games that player played in. For me, forfeiting a competition title and/or a Worlds bid seems like a reasonable punishment. Maybe stricter penalties, like being banned from Worlds for a period of time, is warranted if there are numerous infractions.

But as stated above, you first need to have mandatory athlete registration. Without that, it's really hard to enforce any rule.

I like this idea a lot, and that is how it works in most other sports.

 

[proudpapa]

Gym forfeits competition. If a Worlds team, suspended from Worlds for one year.

I absolutely agree with Kingston...There is no excuse for cheating none at all. Absolutely unacceptable...I also believe there should be some sought of public notice posted somewhere for all to read alerting the entire cheer community to the dishonest practices being carried out at that gym. It doesnt matter who the gym is, cheating is cheating and it is wrong!

 

[cheeeeer93]

Ugh this makes me so mad! I agree--the whole gym should be made ineligible for Worlds that year, ineligible for receiving any type of bids for one calendar year from the date of the incident, and ineligible for competing at any event for that company for a year.

The whole point of making them ineligible for receiving bids for a whole calendar year, as opposed to just the rest of that season is that this then threatens their business as a whole. After all, if you had a child who was a Worlds level athlete, and registration time came around and you KNEW your gym wasn't eligible to receive a bid of any kind until "X" date, wouldn't you think about changing gyms? This is the type of punishment that I think most gyms wouldn't be willing to risk.

I like this calendar year idea. You would think that most gyms may add on people that are ineligible towards the end of the season when it's getting to crunch time. So if they cheat at Reach the Beach, they are basically unable to go to 2 years of worlds. Even more reason to play fair like the rest of us.

 

[ACEDAD]

In deciding what the penalty needs to be, you have to decide what you want the outcome to be. Do you just want punishment/revenge? Do you want to drive the gym out of business?

 

[newcheerdad]

In deciding what the penalty needs to be, you have to decide what you want the outcome to be. Do you just want punishment/revenge? Do you want to drive the gym out of business?

You want the punishment to be strict enough to be a deterrent, but not punitive to the point where a first offense could drive a program out of business. You also want to make sure that the gym does not benefit by cheating, which is why forfeiting any titles or Worlds bids garnered during a competition should be the minimum standard.

And you want the ability to escalate punishment in situations where gyms frequently violate eligibility rules, which could be done through bans from major competitions for a period of time.

 

[cheerbear2x]

This is why I can't wait for next year, with all the USASF registering and everything. I think it will really help cheerleading as a sport.

...And the magazines B)

 

[DONTstopNOW]

I think gyms should have to forfeit any competitions they cheated at, and return all awards and bids, and not be allowed to return to that company next season. I don't agree with not being able to get worlds bids from future comps during that season, because that would really punish the athletes, especially since some teams travel so far just to go to bid comps, and have maybe even paid for flights and hotels. One cheating athlete shouldn't affect others who probably had no idea of the situation, and the past should be kept in the past!