All-Star Jam Brands Has Merged With Varsity

[Pebbles49]

Additionally, this sport do not have the scholarships or the promising future that justify the sacrifice of time and money for a family... I wonder, where on my daughter's college applications she can write about her achievements in AS cheerleading?... Yes, she can write about the great friends she made and experiences she had, but I am sure, she could have made these same great friends and experiences at a cheaper cost with more money saved for college, since she will not get a full scholarship from this sport...

 

[crazzyeyesassypants]

@CharlotteASMom, I must agree with your statements, my daughter has only been in the sport for 4 years, but we already have been priced out of the sport. In her first 2 years the sport was extremely reasonable... I remembered her traveling with the team, with me doing limited out of state traveling with her. Suddenly, her 2nd year, I must traveled with the team, taking off from my job and paying the additional hotel, flight fees, etc... The cost to attend NCA in just 2 years
double and with STP, there is no way to mitigate the cost.
Additionally,
Why the sudden need to buy yearly designer individualized practice wear, buying yearly uniforms, specialized bows for every outfit and 2 or more sneakers, special warmup suits, etc....In retrospect, I started feeling like this sport has become more of a superficial event with judgements come from judging, which gym have best practice wear and uniform than the other gym...
My first 2 years, I spent about $50 at the most, on practice wear, which comprised of 2 tee shirts, 2 soffe shorts with matching ribbons, the athlete tied in their ponytail as a bow to practice.... I blame the parents and the gyms, who have become so superficial and it appears as an outsider, that it is superficial things that determines whom the best...jmo

Wait, judges make comments about practice wear?!
I have a hard time blaming the parents because around our area there is 3 gyms and all of them have mandatory practice wear that is super expensive. What are parents supposed to do? No let their kid cheer or pull them from the sport they love because the gym decided to order pricey practice wear? I plan on talking to our owner at the end of the season [emoji15] and ask him why the need for such expensive wear, especially since they aren't require to wear it? Not sure how it will go when I ask but I'm not prepared to pull my cp from cheer team over it.


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[Official OWECheer]

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR Y'ALL:

REBEL. ALLIANCE.

Rebel Athletic Announces the Launch of The Rebel Alliance » CheerDaily.com

 

[FaithOverFear!]

I get what you're saying. But if a lot of families in your area would end up priced out of cheer, then maybe another gym would open where they don't travel much. And those families can go there. They are priced out of cheer-with-lots-of-travel but not necessarily priced out of cheer.

Example is 2 gyms near us. They are in the same business park. One is mega expensive and all their teams travel to 5 away comps, even tinys and minis. Their teams have won Summit.

The other gym goes to 1 or 2 drive away comps and their costs are probably about a quarter of the other gym's. The cheaper gym still does pretty good at the local comps!

(We are with neither of these gyms but our gym is more like the cheaper one.)

Aren't you in Florida though? That cuts down on the travel prices for Summit compared to teams in other states or regions.


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[123jump4!]

Aren't you in Florida though? That cuts down on the travel prices for Summit compared to teams in other states or regions.


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Yes and we have lots of local and not too far comps so we are lucky.

 

[ASCheerMan]

Well this is news to me too.


Any time I read a thread with Varsity in the title, every post seems to feel like a personal attack. I'm not even in a corporate position. I'm actually the furthest thing from it. I work summer camps and the occasional competition. I love my job. We aren't bad people. I've met some of my best friends and the people that will be my bridesmaids through this job. Everyone is so quick to put down Varsity, but we are NOT bad people.

I have been where you are, @yooolizzi ! The internet is a wonderful thing because it gives everyone an equal voice, but its also a dangerous thing because it gives everyone an equal voice. I used to spend a lot of energy refuting and combating every false allegation made on the Fierceboard against our company. That can get exhausting as its almost impossible to 'win' a Facebook argument/discussion. I've had to walk away and take solace in knowing that we function with integrity and try to do what's best for the industry.

Thanks for being proud to rep NCA and Varsity. It's people like you that make our company so special and wonderful.

 

[DaniV]

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR Y'ALL:

REBEL. ALLIANCE.

Rebel Athletic Announces the Launch of The Rebel Alliance » CheerDaily.com

I can't believe nothing has been brought up about this yet. Rebel posted almost an hour again and it is a direct slap in the face to Varsity. They are calling all the IEP's to band together and join the cooperative force to create diversity in the market.

 

[uhhlyssa01]

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR Y'ALL:

REBEL. ALLIANCE.

Rebel Athletic Announces the Launch of The Rebel Alliance » CheerDaily.com

aaaaannnndddd crickets...

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

aaaaannnndddd crickets...

People are leaving their first jobs right about now and heading to their second jobs - the ones they work so they can afford cheer. Cut them some slack.

I want to believe in this but I am skeptical. This sounds like a reaction to the situation more than anything. Like an idea that was worked out overnight and then quickly published in the midst of the commotion. It's like Varsity has strategically moved their queen, put everyone's Kings in check, and Rebel has frantically moved their queen in harms way in a state of panic, rather than taking the time to think about all the options available left in play.

The frantic do not win at Chess. But I am interested to see how this game will play out.

 

[Pebbles49]

Wait, judges make comments about practice wear?!
I have a hard time blaming the parents because around our area there is 3 gyms and all of them have mandatory practice wear that is super expensive. What are parents supposed to do? No let their kid cheer or pull them from the sport they love because the gym decided to order pricey practice wear? I plan on talking to our owner at the end of the season [emoji15] and ask him why the need for such expensive wear, especially since they aren't require to wear it? Not sure how it will go when I ask but I'm not prepared to pull my cp from cheer team over it.


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No, of course not! Judges are not making comments about what the athletes practice in, but based on the yearly changes, deleting and adding to the practice wear, I like to think that all this headache over them should be for a reason...

On the other matter, I say that the parents do have more of say, than what we give ourselves credit... For me, I just noticed my daughter's extra-curricular activity started to cost as much as my mortgage and when I started to contemplate rather to take more from my daughter's college and my retirement savings, I knew this sport have priced me out of the sport, and I was getting help from the grandparents and it still was too much for my family.

PS: I wonder if this sport is way too expensive for the average family, especially, when I recalled having a conversation with a Mom, and she told me, how she was taking money from her retirement savings, so her child can continue participating in this sport and she already worked 2 jobs...

 

[Official OWECheer]

No, of course not! Judges are not making comments about what the athletes practice in, but based on the yearly changes, deleting and adding to the practice wear, I like to think that all this headache over them should be for a reason... Matter of fact, I say that the parents do have more of say, than what we give ourselves credit... For me, I just noticed my daughter's extra-curricular activity started to cost as much as my mortgage and when I started to contemplate rather to take more from my daughter's college and my retirement savings, I knew this sport have priced me out of the sport, and I was getting help from the grandparents and it still was too much for my family.

PS: I wonder if this sport is way too expensive for the average family, especially, when I recalled having a conversation with a Mom, and she told me, how she was taking money from her retirement savings, so her child can continue participating in this sport and she already worked 2 jobs...

SMH.

 

[catlady]

The day I HAVE to have my kids involved in All Star cheer will be the day I will compare this to an oil or cable monopoly. @ASCheerMan and @yooolizzi, Varsity is what it is today because of employees like you, it is obvious to me you both enjoy your jobs. Let's be honest folks, the ultimate goal for our kids are Summit and World's. What comps offer those bids? Varsity. How have they kept small competitions relevant? Wild Cards. How do I know? D2 Summit addition. Do strong small comps help out the small gym? Yes. Who has responded to the thrill of the bid chasing? Kids, parents and gyms. Why? Our kids are having a great time and working hard to achieve a goal. What is the part of All Star that is the hardest on the checkbook? Travel. Can well attended competitions work to expand regional competitions to reduce travel? Yes. Will Varsity benefit by reducing travel and creating stronger regional competitions? Yes. Who has the most to lose if people can no longer afford All Star? Varsity.

 

[Lablover]

Many of my friends and I discuss this often as most of us are out of cheer from either switching to other sports or aging out

Secondly, many other elite sports cost this much BUT the big difference to me (again an unpopular opinion) is the bang for the buck from other sports is much greater. An elite soccer player family easily pays a comparable amount to a medal contending world's team BUT full ride scholarships for soccer (as are other sports) are plentiful. It doesn't hurt as much when you know your kid will have college taken care of for 4 years. In addition an elite cheer team takes significantly more time than a comparable elite team in another sport leaving very little room for other activities. One of former CPs best friends has a full ride soccer scholarship and is a top 50 player in the country yet still has plenty of time for other things in life.

So for what it's worth I think we the parents played a significant role in this price surge. I also think parents of teenagers cheering allstar need to take a very serious look at this sport and what is required both cost and time wise. We concluded that allstar cheer as it is designed today really isn't worth it once the kids are teenagers unless you have one of those truly gifted "protege" type kids. I hope that changes because we enjoyed the time cheering when she was younger.

I appreciate different perspectives, and I've had a completely different experience than the one stated above. I participated in a sport (not all star cheerleading) that didn't offer a ton of scholarships (making them very competitive and not easily attainable) and practiced more starting around age 12 than any of our worlds teams currently do. I was practicing twice a day 4-5 hours a day in the summer and 8 times a week during school year (practices 6 days a week and 2 mornings before school) by the time I was 14 for a season that was 11 months long. None of the all star cheer leaders I know practice that much. It truly limited any other activities I would have been interested in doing.

I actually appreciate that cheer doesn't require 5-7 days a week commitment because there are sports that do if you want to be competitive on a college level.

 

[SL&AM]

I GOT TWO WORDS FOR Y'ALL:

REBEL. ALLIANCE.

Rebel Athletic Announces the Launch of The Rebel Alliance » CheerDaily.com

Sorry, I had to actually be a mom and do the whole Girl Scout, dinner, stories, and bed thing...

My thoughts are good, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd like to see this become more and I truly hope it has great success. Regardless of my feelings about Varsity and Jams, diversity in business is a good thing for me---the consumer---so if Rebel has a plan to keep the playing field level I'm for it.

 

[SL&AM]

The day I HAVE to have my kids involved in All Star cheer will be the day I will compare this to an oil or cable monopoly. @ASCheerMan and @yooolizzi, Varsity is what it is today because of employees like you, it is obvious to me you both enjoy your jobs. Let's be honest folks, the ultimate goal for our kids are Summit and World's. What comps offer those bids? Varsity. How have they kept small competitions relevant? Wild Cards. How do I know? D2 Summit addition. Do strong small comps help out the small gym? Yes. Who has responded to the thrill of the bid chasing? Kids, parents and gyms. Why? Our kids are having a great time and working hard to achieve a goal. What is the part of All Star that is the hardest on the checkbook? Travel. Can well attended competitions work to expand regional competitions to reduce travel? Yes. Will Varsity benefit by reducing travel and creating stronger regional competitions? Yes. Who has the most to lose if people can no longer afford All Star? Varsity.

I wouldn't say that the ultimate goal for everyone.