All-Star Worlds 2014: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

[Jarod_allan]

I really liked the outdoor set up. It was very clean, well put together, and the fact that it was outside was refreshing because the Milkhouse gets extremely congested. However, the actual competition could have gone WAY smoother. In my opinion, it would have been more efficient to alternate between large coed and large senior teams so that there wasn't 3 minutes of dead time in between each performance. I'm not sure if there were separate judging panels for both divisions, but if there were, alternating between divisions would have given one panel time to finish the scoresheets for one team while the other panel scored another team and then the competition would have run faster. I also don't think there should have been the performances from the teams that already won. If there weren't 2 judging panels, then someone should probably so something to change that for next year, should they do this again... Also, when the sound issues arose, the tech crew needed to come up with a new speaker faster than they did. After the first delay, they needed to make that decision so that the second delay didn't happen and cause athletes to have be competing an hour after they were scheduled to and be exhausted when they did end up taking the floor. It was a great concept, just needs a few kinks worked out.
I hate how the scoring seemed so inconsistent. I found it kind of annoying that certain teams (mainly well known teams) would compete and have a rough performance but then score significantly higher than a team who went on right after that had very similar difficulty but less deductions. Then, there were teams who went in prelims that made it to semi-finals that scored a lot lower in semi-finals than in prelims, even if their routine was better than prelims. Then as the day went on, the closer we got to teams with full paids, the higher the scores got even if the later teams did worse than those that competed earlier in the day... It just seemed a little odd and somewhat unfair, but maybe I'm the only person who feels that way.

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[cheerKT]

In my opinion, it would have been more efficient to alternate between large coed and large senior teams so that there wasn't 3 minutes of dead time in between each performance. I'm not sure if there were separate judging panels for both divisions, but if there were, alternating between divisions would have given one panel time to finish the scoresheets for one team while the other panel scored another team and then the competition would have run faster.

100% agreed.

 

[cheer222]

3 minutes of dead time?..it was more like half hour in between each team in my opinion...I would have welcomed 3 minutes lol

 

[NJ Coach]

The Good:
MedCo and LargeCo. Hit after hit in those 2 divisions. They were so much fun to watch.
The genuine joy from several teams at awards. Louisiana Cheer Force was on screen during the whole awards ceremony. I could see their reactions every time a team was called and it wasn't them. The second they knew they globed might have been the sweetest moment shown on the feed all weekend.
MDT Reign finally getting a globe.
The hilarity of the Worlds threads. By 11 pm last night, I think all of us were over Worlds. Lots of funny moments.
The sound of the stadium. I think the idea was a good one. Watching Angel Rice hit that pass with the roar of the crowd is chill inducing.

The Bad:
The Feed. I shouldn't have to lower my resolution on the feed so that it doesn't freeze, skip or buffer
Arenas running Late/Early
Comparative scoring. This is an issue every year. These teams compete on a rubric all year. Get to Worlds, and throw the rubric out the window. It leaves too many questions, and too much potential for bias.

The Ugly:
Technical difficulties at the Stadium.
LAG finals. Stand around, warmup, stand around, warmup. Compete 2 hours after your supposed to. Not fun.
World Champion Performances. Those kids were tired and emotionally drained, and you could tell. They should've been off sleeping or celebrating.

 

[12stepCheermom]

@yojaehs

Agreed about the ugly. Both my kids were approached by fans and parents demanding to know where "x cheerlebrity" was and then got salty when my kids said they had no idea where they were. Apparently if you compete for the same gym you are supposed to know and provide this information upon demand.

In one case my son knew exactly where his teammate was and was not about to tell this crazy person demanding to know.

The girl behind me FREAKED OUT (like beiber fan girl at a concert freak out) over the girl who does the opening Wildcat basket (can't remember her name). But lord knows she screamed it, hanging into her mom, crying, in the milkhouse when they went on.

What is wrong with people? It's just cheerleading.


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[kristenthegreat]

From an At-home viewers perspective
The Good: @HeresAThought 's commentary and @Emily being her gloriously organized self.
The Chilean/Puerto Rican/Costa Rican teams. MUCH improved!!
The Bad: My roku feed hung in there relatively well, but I wonder if that was because so few people have them so I essentially had it almost to myself. It kept self-adjusting resolution to avoid buffering that it would skip/restart. Also SERIOUS lag time. I sometimes was looking at my multi-view being MINUTES ahead of my roku.
I still don't have some scores from divisions, mostly International teams.
The USASF only lists results, not scores.
The Ugly: Slogging through IO/C divisions. I would like to have a minimum of 150 also be a requirement to get into finals. I get that they've flown all this way and spent all this money, but some routines were just exhausting. I'm not even mad about 3 per country, but I'd at least like SOME standards.
The stadium. I'm sorry, but being prepared for anything isn't optional. It's a requirement. The lights went out in half the stadium for a Super Bowl, they got up and running in 20 minutes or less. If you're going to insist on a venue that is abnormal for your sporting event, you MUST make sure to double, triple, quadruple check everything. You must have contingency plans and backups. Anything else is unacceptable. You want to brag about how this brilliant idea took 2 years, and then tell me you couldn't possibly think of everything? THAT IS YOUR JOB. Your job is to think of everything.

 

[NCCheerMama]

I 100% percent agree with the scoring issues. Now, we are a first year gym that made it to semi-finals so that in and of itself makes me so so happy (Our old gym never made it past prelims), and for my Senior CP it was her great "final" experience for worlds-but yes, as the day progressed the scores got higher and higher, even for teams that had stunt falls or tumble busts. We did not drop a stunt or had any tumbling issues, and had a difficult routine, but had we gotten a paid bid and competed later I know the score would have been different-and everyone seems to know this, that what goes with getting a paid bid is that you go later and thus score better. It's like the elephant in the room, but like I said-we made it further than anyone expected and looked good out there and the kids were proud and so were our coaches so in the end-that is what matters to me.

 

[BabycatchingCheerMom]

@yojaehs

Agreed about the ugly. Both my kids were approached by fans and parents demanding to know where "x cheerlebrity" was and then got salty when my kids said they had no idea where they were. Apparently if you compete for the same gym you are supposed to know and provide this information upon demand.

In one case my son knew exactly where his teammate was and was not about to tell this crazy person demanding to know.

The girl behind me FREAKED OUT (like beiber fan girl at a concert freak out) over the girl who does the opening Wildcat basket (can't remember her name). But lord knows she screamed it, hanging into her mom, crying, in the milkhouse when they went on.

What is wrong with people? It's just cheerleading.


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I can completely understand how the kids a) wouldn't know where their teammates are 24/7 and b) the whole cheerleb thing is way overboard and ridiculous.
However, to say that it's "just cheerleading" is not true. If these kids were just cheerleaders, they wouldn't be competing at WDW at worlds. It isn't ordinary for everyone. If it were just cheerleading, everyone could do it, let alone make a level 5 worlds team and have the money and skill to be at WDW performing alongside your kids and all the other talented ones who trained hard for their spots. I guess that saying it's just cheerleading probably bothers me the most because I go to work and bust my butt to be able to afford allstar cheer for my cp who may or may not eventually have level 5 skills and dreams of cheering on Coed Elite one day. I literally will go without so that she can have every opportunity to succeed, and I have gone without. So to say it's just cheerleading is like saying that calculus is just math, or that astrophysics is just science.
I may have taken that completely the wrong way, and please correct me if I did.


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[fiercenowayyy]

The genuine joy from several teams at awards. Louisiana Cheer Force was on screen during the whole awards ceremony. I could see their reactions every time a team was called and it wasn't them. The second they knew they globed might have been the sweetest moment shown on the feed all weekend.

Gold has had a rough season. Last year going to worlds on a full paid and not making finals. To this year not winning anything and going to worlds on an at large bid. We were all HOPING AND PRAYING that they even made top 10. Not one of those kids ever imagined they would ever be top 3 at worlds and they are all over the moon with excitement. To them this is equivalent to winning. They are all so happy.

 

[NJ Coach]

Gold has had a rough season. Last year going to worlds on a full paid and not making finals. To this year not winning anything and going to worlds on an at large bid. We were all HOPING AND PRAYING that they even made top 10. Not one of those kids ever imagined they would ever be top 3 at worlds and they are all over the moon with excitement. To them this is equivalent to winning. They are all so happy.

It showed. I thoroughly enjoyed their routine, but watching them at awards was definitely a highlight.

 

[stuntjumptumble]

didn't read the thread because I'm lazy so I didn't see if anyone said this....Disney handled transportation so badly. Apparently busses stop running at 10:30, yet there's thousands of people at ESPN at 12. Everyone was stranded, and the cab situation was horrendous. They should run transportation until the event is over and they didn't handle the overflow in the "Disney" way at all.



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[BuegeSmalls]

My feed was terrible when I was at home which I am almost positive is due to the fact that we had so many devices using the wifi at one time.

One I got back to school is cleared up so much better. I think the clearest my feed was during the whole weekend was during Large Coed & All Girl. I was not happy with how it would freeze and then skip parts of routines though (I understand that was so that it caught up with what was actually happening live). That happened all weekend

LOVE the free live feed for ICU, it had problems with freezing and such but that was probably due to my crappy wifi at home.




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[Ashley]

didn't read the thread because I'm lazy so I didn't see if anyone said this....Disney handled transportation so badly. Apparently busses stop running at 10:30, yet there's thousands of people at ESPN at 12. Everyone was stranded, and the cab situation was horrendous. They should run transportation until the event is over and they didn't handle the overflow in the "Disney" way at all.



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Wait, I'm confused. USASF has their own transport for people on the package. Are you talking about people who stayed at other Disney properties off package?


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[Weezy]

The Good;

Top Gun Lady Jags taking home the Gold.
Kristen and Victor's reaction to them winning. They are great owners and coaches, but they are also parents. Their oldest Demi is on Lady Jags.

TGLC going back to back. Drew was the perfect person to be interviewed after their win. He is an amazing young man and so humble.

SOT Purple Reign coming back after an injury and winning the Silver.

Angel Rice - just WOW

The live feed worked great for me all weekend. I never had an issue.

Not going to Worlds this year and saving myself alot of $$$$, time and aggravation. @yojaehs, the experience you talk about with these people harrassing athletes is so upsetting and I'm glad I did not have to see that this year. I remember last year after Stars lost and Kelsey was just trying to eat some food in the FB section, she was harrassed constantly and I admired her grace.

The Bad;

I hate hearing about unsportsmanlike conduct and overboard fans and parents. Some people will never learn.
Too many bids but that is being fixed (hopefully)

The Ugly;

Too long of lines
Parents again not getting in to see their kids (does the gym prepare them for the crowds?)

At first I was not a fan at all of it being outside, but hearing how positive the feedback was I changed my mind. I agree with @King about the backdrop...so cheesy.

Large Coed/Large Senior Finals - RIDICULOUS - poorly organized and executed. I agree they should have rotated teams. Done something. You could definitely tell alot of these teams were gassed. Props to Orange. They must have ate some pixie sticks right before they went on. They looked fresh.

Encore Performances - Not good. Not one team hit. They looked so lethargic...except Bangkok. I'm conviced they are robots lol.

Happy tryouts and summer everyone!

 

[katemarie89]

Lady Lightning winning their first Gold in Small Senior and Lady Jags winning in Medium All Girl were probably my favorite moments