All-Star How Do Summit Bids Work?

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Apr 14, 2017
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It’s that time of year when I see kids on social media gathered around their screens getting their Summit bids and I need an explainer. I have no experience with lower level teams. Thank you!
 
There are 3 types of bids. Wildcard, at large and paid. Wildcard is at 1 day comps. They compete on Friday. Top 5 of that category go straight to finals on Sunday. At large and paid are at 2 day comps. They compete on Sunday and only a certain number move on to finals from Saturday. No difference between at large and paid, except the money.


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There are 3 types of bids. Wildcard, at large and paid. Wildcard is at 1 day comps. They compete on Friday. Top 5 of that category go straight to finals on Sunday. At large and paid are at 2 day comps. They compete on Sunday and only a certain number move on to finals from Saturday. No difference between at large and paid, except the money.


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Except this year the days are shifted for D1 Summit. Wildcards compete on Saturday, semis on Sunday, and finals on Monday.
 
There are 3 types of bids. Wildcard, at large and paid. Wildcard is at 1 day comps. They compete on Friday. Top 5 of that category go straight to finals on Sunday. At large and paid are at 2 day comps. They compete on Sunday and only a certain number move on to finals from Saturday. No difference between at large and paid, except the money.


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Ok so then they announce them online after the comp is over?

Also how many bids per division? How many teams show up to Summit in total?
 
At Wild card comps, there are three bids, given to the three highest scoring teams at different levels. At smaller 2 day comps, there is one at large given per level, plus sometimes a paid bid. At the big Nationals, it varies-CheerSport and NCA usually give one per bid eligible division, plus a handful of paids. A few small divisons are combined-4.2 goes with non-Worlds level 5/6.

There are no set quotas per division, so some divisions are huge. Y1 is usually very large, for example.
 
Ok so then they announce them online after the comp is over?

Also how many bids per division? How many teams show up to Summit in total?

They announce them Monday nights on Varsity TV. There is a list of bid competitions on Varisty’s website. It will tell you which competitions are bids, what kind of bids and how many offered at that competition. Teams showing up to Summit varies drastically between levels. For example, J2 always has 30+ in their wildcard round. Last year our Medium Coed 4 had 6 in their wildcard. It just depends on how many bids are earned by the levels. The lower levels always have a lot more teams in the competition than levels 4/5. Most that accept a bid, follow through with going to the competition


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They announce them Monday nights on Varsity TV. There is a list of bid competitions on Varisty’s website. It will tell you which competitions are bids, what kind of bids and how many offered at that competition. Teams showing up to Summit varies drastically between levels. For example, J2 always has 30+ in their wildcard round. Last year our Medium Coed 4 had 6 in their wildcard. It just depends on how many bids are earned by the levels. The lower levels always have a lot more teams in the competition than levels 4/5. Most that accept a bid, follow through with going to the competition


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So basically from what I read on the Varsity site, Wildcard bids are like a ticket into the prelims with the winners going straight to finals, At Large bids go to semis, and Paid go to semis with some cash help.

So do you just go in blind and take what they give you? And once you’re awarded a bid, are you locked into it or can you decline it and go for a more desirable bid later? Or Can you accept a Wildcard bid, get a Paid bid later, and then pass the Wildcard to someone else?
 
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So basically from what I read on the Varsity site, Wildcard bids are like a ticket into the prelims with the winners going straight to finals, At Large bids go to semis, and Paid go to semis with some cash help.

So do you just go in blind and take what they give you? And once you’re awarded a bid, are you locked into it or can you decline it and go for a more desirable bid later? Or Can you accept a Wildcard bid, get a Paid bid later, and then pass the Wildcard to someone else?

You can only move up to a paid bid from wildcard. You can not accept an at large if you already have a wildcard bid. I believe that if you decline a bid, you lose your chance at actually getting a bid. Coaches have to list their team as one that will accept bids at the competition prior to competing. So turning one down is frowned upon if they signed up for it. Bids don’t pass down any longer. Once it’s been given away, it’s gone.


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At Wild card comps, there are three bids, given to the three highest scoring teams at different levels. At smaller 2 day comps, there is one at large given per level, plus sometimes a paid bid. At the big Nationals, it varies-CheerSport and NCA usually give one per bid eligible division, plus a handful of paids. A few small divisons are combined-4.2 goes with non-Worlds level 5/6.

There are no set quotas per division, so some divisions are huge. Y1 is usually very large, for example.

So how many paid bids are there in total for Summit?

Do you need a bid of some form to go to Summit or can you just buy your way in if you don't get one and compete exhibition or something? Basically just go for the fun? Some comps have started doing that and I think it's ridiculous.
 
So how many paid bids are there in total for Summit?

Do you need a bid of some form to go to Summit or can you just buy your way in if you don't get one and compete exhibition or something? Basically just go for the fun? Some comps have started doing that and I think it's ridiculous.
You have to have a bid to go. There’s around 1000 bids given out if i had to guess maybe 10% or so are paid bids.
 
So how many paid bids are there in total for Summit?

Do you need a bid of some form to go to Summit or can you just buy your way in if you don't get one and compete exhibition or something? Basically just go for the fun? Some comps have started doing that and I think it's ridiculous.
If u exhibition and don’t pay then no bid.....my daughters Worlds team does one exhibition before competing just to get the kinks out. Maybe they r doing that.
 
So how many paid bids are there in total for Summit?

Do you need a bid of some form to go to Summit or can you just buy your way in if you don't get one and compete exhibition or something? Basically just go for the fun? Some comps have started doing that and I think it's ridiculous.

Its definitely not a competition you can pay to get into. You have to earn a bid at one of the participating competitions (Varsity has a list). No bid=no going


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If u exhibition and don’t pay then no bid.....my daughters Worlds team does one exhibition before competing just to get the kinks out. Maybe they r doing that.

Some teams have to be exhibition first. Fro example, in Arkansas our all star teams can not compete if they have a HS cheerleader who competes with their school. We have to wait until after our state competition in late December. We can do an exhibition to see how we score. We don’t start our true competition season until January. It sucks, a lot.


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Some teams have to be exhibition first. Fro example, in Arkansas our all star teams can not compete if they have a HS cheerleader who competes with their school. We have to wait until after our state competition in late December. We can do an exhibition to see how we score. We don’t start our true competition season until January. It sucks, a lot.


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Yeah I understand the point of exhibition before a qualifier, but not at a national comp that you’re supposed to earn your way into. USA just recently started accepting dance teams into an exhibition division at their HS Nationals. Meaning whoever wants to come can come if they’re okay with spending money just to perform and then go home (so basically, a Disneyland trip). Which left the dance coach and I looking at each other saying, “Remember when you had to score a 90 to qualify here and it was a huge deal? Those were the days. Get off our lawns.”
 
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