Is Cheerleading a Sport or an Industry?

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Ok, if you insist (lol)

1.) Define a competition season. I would say November 1st to May31st. All sanctioned comps would be in this time frame and no competition would allowed to be held after Worlds.

2.) Rostering - September 1st all teams/gyms are required to submit team rosters. If you leave your team/gym your are not allowed to cheer for another team/gym until the following season. This would solve lots of problems currently in the industry. Can add cheerleaders throughout the season (rostered properly) as long as the have not cheered for another gym.

3.) Universal rules/scoring and punishment for each rule infraction predetermined and strictly enforced. Example: gym enters small gym division but aren't small gym (rostering would define that already) they would be disqualified from the comp immediately. Ignorance would not be an excuse either. This would eliminate all the cheating and/or rule bending that goes on.

4.) Age limits - you can move up one division but only if you are within 2 years of that division. example: your a 9 and the next division age is 12 you could NOT move up until you are 10. Level 5 athletes would be able to move up one division regardless of age.

5.) Crossover limits - age limits would end a lot of crossovers but I would suggest 3 per small teams and 5 per large teams (4 if the size limit is changed to 30).

These 5 rules implemented would make all star cheerleading a sport and give it instant credibility outside of the "industry". Of course there would have to be some allowances but they would be predetermined. Example: If you change addresses mid season and the move is more then 25 miles then you could change gyms.

So now everyone gets to tear me apart.... LOL

1. I am a big fan of this one and already I think gym's self impose this rule. For example at Rays our season was over after Worlds. It was a natural break for us. It also makes organizing and formation of teams a bit easier.

2. I don't think cheerleading can handle straight up rostering for a season. I think you need to be a specific gym member for a season, but not on a certain team. Because of the way cheerleading works a set team roster has ebb and flow. There are very few teams at our gyms that don't gain or lose a kid between each competition (especially on the lower levels). But if someone were to be a gym member specifically I think that would handle all situations better. As well I don't think this can be done by a paper system. There is no way to track it and honestly would be too easy to cheat.

3. Universal scoring will happen, it is just a matter of when. I think a lot of when is when the USASF has true bite in all of this. Besides worlds what truly ties the industry together? Does JamFest really care about Varsity's universal scoresheet? Why would anyone have to remain a member of the USASF if they didn't want to? When there are benefits to everyone being a member of the USASF and having the same scoresheet, it will happen. It is up to the USASF to figure out what those benefits are to the event producers.

4. Interesting take on it.

5. This also wil be a great rule, but somewhat impossible to enforce until we have an electronic way to track all our athletes.
 
If implement my five simple rules all the rest of the problems will fall into place...

The competition companies would all have to play by the same rules and you aren't eliminating anyone. If they don't like the rules they can choose not to be a part of it.

Just like in nearly every other business in America the strong owners would survive and the shady owners would vanish (think construction). For some reason this industry tries to cater to everyone and that isn't good business (even for a sport).

All the rules I posted are used in nearly every other sport. You can't be considered credible if you let anyone show up and play your game. Think how horrible the NBA, MLB or NFL would be if anyone who threw together a team could compete at the same level.

More on rules - The NFL is one of the strictest sports organizations and yet they rake in BILLIONS every year. It's because everything is structured and they portray that everyone and everything is on a level playing field. all star cheering has the complete opposite reputation. Outsiders think the whole industry is crooked because of lack of rules and enforcement of the rules that exist.


The best part is there is still tons of money to go around plus you might actually see an increase in the number competitors.

I am not quite sure everything would fall into place, but it is a great start. While I am a huge fan of the possibilities of the USASF, the USASF itself isn't there yet. It isn't like they aren't making these rules because they don't want to. It is because they could not get an industry to follow them. There are large enough sections of cheerleading that could break off and go do their own thing and be successful if they wanted. What is it that ties the industry together? Worlds? That is a link for the level 5's... past that the USASF needs something else.
 
2. I don't think cheerleading can handle straight up rostering for a season. I think you need to be a specific gym member for a season, but not on a certain team. Because of the way cheerleading works a set team roster has ebb and flow. There are very few teams at our gyms that don't gain or lose a kid between each competition (especially on the lower levels). But if someone were to be a gym member specifically I think that would handle all situations better. As well I don't think this can be done by a paper system. There is no way to track it and honestly would be too easy to cheat.

Yes I agree when I say rostering i mean in a gym sense and by age. That way a cheerleader can change teams if needed.
 
I am not quite sure everything would fall into place, but it is a great start. While I am a huge fan of the possibilities of the USASF, the USASF itself isn't there yet. It isn't like they aren't making these rules because they don't want to. It is because they could not get an industry to follow them. There are large enough sections of cheerleading that could break off and go do their own thing and be successful if they wanted. What is it that ties the industry together? Worlds? That is a link for the level 5's... past that the USASF needs something else.

I think like this... if other "federations" develop that would be ok because that would breed competition. Sports leagues have competition all the time and the competition ends up making one of the leagues stronger in the end.

Just tell the USASF to hire me and I will ensure I whip everything into place. LMAO
 
But if Jamfest, Varsity, and CheerSport all left the USASF because they did not like the new regulations... who is left?

There needs to be a binding agent between all of them. Whether it be organization, insurance, some type of registration system to make it easier on all the event producers. Something has to be offered to these companies that they want.
 
But if Jamfest, Varsity, and CheerSport all left the USASF because they did not like the new regulations... who is left?

There needs to be a binding agent between all of them. Whether it be organization, insurance, some type of registration system to make it easier on all the event producers. Something has to be offered to these companies that they want.

Good point but I think the GYMS are the first get for the USASF. If they "roster" Stingrays, Top Gun, CA, Cali, ect. along with all the other great gyms and great lesser known gyms then what would the "rogue" (I use that term for this discussion only) competition companies have left but the "shady" gyms that aren't willing to play but the rules set forth.

USASF would of course have to offer the gyms some incentive to join them but I think that would be an easy get. There are a bunch of things that could be offered but that would be a whole different thread.

After you have all the good gyms are on board then the competitions companies would fall right in line. Well run, strong gyms are what brings in the money for the competition companies.

Wait on second thought, I'm going to have all my posts deleted on this topic and start my OWN all star cheer federation and get this all started. I will end up a multi-billionaire for sure! lol
 
I'm enjoying this chat. But what can the usasf offer, we can use my gym, Rays that we dont already do ourselves?


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I should add individually without considering the events themselves?


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My first offer or promise would be to offer cheaper competition fees and travel packages. If a comp cost $125 before and it now cost $100 and your gym attends 4 comps the USASF just saved EACH cheerleader $100. Cheaper costs = sport growth because the less it costs the more people can afford it. Sport growth = increased revenue for competitions companies (even after price reductions).

What do you think???
 
I like what is being discussed here. I also have been thinking about it for awhile.

I think one of the issues that people out side of cheer have about recognizing it as a sport is how the performance is done. It's 2 min 30 seconds, some times over 2 days and there is no set policy on how much carries over.

This year at cheersport they had a format for colleges that was different way of presenting and scoring teams and I think could help bring this into mainstream acceptance as a sport.

Like gymnastics they had individual events. Each being scored as they went head to head.

Stunting, tumbling, choreography. etc and it ended with the team performance. At the end there was a winner in each event and an overall champion. It would allow the public to get a better understanding of our sport and at the same time help promote and reward all aspects of the sport.
 
My first offer or promise would be to offer cheaper competition fees and travel packages. If a comp cost $125 before and it now cost $100 and your gym attends 4 comps the USASF just saved EACH cheerleader $100. Cheaper costs = sport growth because the less it costs the more people can afford it. Sport growth = increased revenue for competitions companies (even after price reductions).

What do you think???

That is an incentive to get the gyms to join, but your earlier plan said get the gyms to join before the event producers. I think you have hit a chicken or the egg kinda situation (which comes first?).

My answer is that the USASF has to offer each entity involved something: the gyms, the athletes themselves, and the events.

You offer the athletes insurance that covers them as long as they are at a USASF gym or sanctioned Event, organization, and the premise that everyone is playing fair (age verification and some way to limit gym hopping).

You offer gyms insurance for all its athletes for practice and competition, a way to ensure everyone is playing fair, and paperless registration at events (that actually works. I am not sure the one form works extremely easily).

You offer events insurance for all the athletes that participate, paperless registration (HUGE), a way to actually verify all athletes are playing by the rules, and actual tracking of kids and trends in the industry (maybe it would prove this whole make large 30 thing is either extremely smart or extremely silly).

The USASF can be the one to offer to tie all those things together. Charge a yearly price to each athlete, but to the events and gyms themselves there is no fee. They just have to follow guidelines to be members.
 
That is an incentive to get the gyms to join, but your earlier plan said get the gyms to join before the event producers. I think you have hit a chicken or the egg kinda situation (which comes first?).

My answer is that the USASF has to offer each entity involved something: the gyms, the athletes themselves, and the events.

You offer the athletes insurance that covers them as long as they are at a USASF gym or sanctioned Event, organization, and the premise that everyone is playing fair (age verification and some way to limit gym hopping).

You offer gyms insurance for all its athletes for practice and competition, a way to ensure everyone is playing fair, and paperless registration at events (that actually works. I am not sure the one form works extremely easily).

You offer events insurance for all the athletes that participate, paperless registration (HUGE), a way to actually verify all athletes are playing by the rules, and actual tracking of kids and trends in the industry (maybe it would prove this whole make large 30 thing is either extremely smart or extremely silly).

The USASF can be the one to offer to tie all those things together. Charge a yearly price to each athlete, but to the events and gyms themselves there is no fee. They just have to follow guidelines to be members.

Each athlete could get an id card with a barcode. This id would be tagged with the birth certificate, medical release, and picture, skill level, and gym. It could then be used like they do in the Olympics where the card would be scanned when the team arrives at the event, going into warm ups, and the final scan before they went into the hold / on deck area. It would not be hard to implement and would only require a set of wireless barcode scanners and a data base. Many sports already do this.
 
I as a parent would not have an issue paying registration fee to the USASF to make this happen. We already do for those going to worlds. The first time cost would be more but once an athlete was in the system the cost would get less.
 
I am not sure an ID card would be the smartest. Too many kids are too irresponsible. I think my RFID shoe tag thing I talked about months ago would be great for this situation. Can get replacement ones on the fly. And pictures are stored electronically.

Also, a yearly registration fee of 35 bucks for insurance and membership would sound reasonable. Also, the competition companies could drop their prices a small bit because the insurance would already be covered.
 
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