All-Star What Questions Do You Want Answered About Worlds?

[Mamarazzi]

Agreed. Call me old fashioned, but I want to EARN it. Granted, it was an open team and no one cares about those oldies.

Watch it, now. I resemble that remark...

 

[coachrah]

Honestly, I think it's both a gym and a USASF issue. They are representing their gyms in a drunken (and most cases underage) state. That's issue #1. They are in this state at a USASF sponsored event. That's issue #2. If anyone was hurt during this, USASF, the gym and Disney are at fault. The blame doesn't get shouldered by any one entity. It's all their issue, and something needs to happen about it. I get that these are things that teenagers do. I really do. That doesn't make it ok or acceptable however. Action needs to be taken by both the USASF and the gyms. Gyms needs to make sure their athletes are not bringing alcohol down there, nor are they drinking while representing them. The USASF needs to control the situation better. If that means no more block party, than that's how it needs to be.

you should be an attorney! Also note Social Host Laws are relevant in FLORIDA:

States with this law:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine

This policy topic covers laws that impose liability against individuals (social hosts) responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease, or otherwise control.
Prohibitions Against Hosting Underage Drinking Parties addresses laws that establish State-imposed liability against individuals (social hosts) responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease, or otherwise control. These laws often are closely linked to laws prohibiting furnishing alcohol to minors, although laws establishing State-imposed liability for hosting underage drinking parties may apply without regard to who furnishes the alcohol. Hosts who allow underage drinking on their property as well as supply the alcohol consumed or possessed by the minors may be in violation of two distinct laws: furnishing alcohol to a minor and allowing underage drinking to occur on property they control. APIS provides additional information on laws pertaining to furnishing alcohol to minors in the Furnishing Alcohol to Minors policy topic.

http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih....sting_underage_drinking_parties.html?tab=maps

 

[heart33]

Besides obvious reasons, How Do The Lights Go Out During a Performance? It sure made for one AMAZING weekend, but just wondering ...

How did this happen?

 

[Angelica]

I wonder how much they spent on those big globe trophy things..

 

[KRECCheer]

Watch it, now. I resemble that remark...

lol. Im on that oldie team!! Going to be a quarter of a century this December and I am freaking out.

How did this happen?

Accidents happen. Ask the facilities people at the Cancer Research Center I work for how our power went out.... Not good people!!!

 

[hihocheerio]

What is the punishment/rule on a team member that was not released and still competed at Worlds. And is there a rule regarding what level they were at their previous gym?

 

[cheerlove]

I get that there were issues with drinking, but I feel like this is a gym issue. I understand that there needs to be people at the events monitoring to the best of their abilities, but USASF shouldn't be considered babysitters.

i agree USASF should not be babysitting but i think there should be consequences if minors are intoxicated at USASF sponsored events. The coaches should be the ones making them sign contracts and what not but USASF should take pride(i think that is the right wording) in their events to not let minors break federal laws year after year without consequences.

 

[SharkDad]

What is the punishment/rule on a team member that was not released and still competed at Worlds. And is there a rule regarding what level they were at their previous gym?

If you have specifics about something like this and proof, you should forward it to me (PM please)

Again, this is usually something that needs to be brought up by the coaches that are affected in that division.

 

[SharkDad]

I wonder how much they spent on those big globe trophy things..

You think that's why the lights went out? I hope it's not cause they didn't pay the electric bill.

 

[NJ Coach]

Do you think that the coaches VIP event as well as the Casino party conflict with this? What I mean is that if the USASF or whoever hosts the Sunday evening event expect coaches to attend who do they expect to be watching over the kids!? I get that gyms should take the responsibility of assigning an adult or other coach to supervise these kids, but I find it somewhat contradictory that they pull the coaches away from the kids and then expect them to be supervised. Again, I DO feel that regardless the kids should be supervised, just always baffled me that people want them to be supervised yet coaches are constantly pulled away. Just a thought.

Well, if it's a USASF sponsored event, I'm not sure the coaches should have to supervise. You could argue (I'm not by the way) that technically the season is over, so the coaches may not be responsible for them. In situations like this, everyone is at fault. The kids are representing their gyms, the gym is at fault. The kids are at a USASF sponsored event, USASF is at fault. They are on Disney property, Disney is at fault. The kids are acting in a moronic fashion, the kids are at fault. The parents are either unaware or not interested, the parents are at fault. The only way I can see things changing is if the punishment is severe enough to cause the kids to not want to behave that way.

you should be an attorney! Also note Social Host Laws are relevant in FLORIDA:

No thank you! lol. The only issue I see with the social host laws is the USASF did not provide the alcohol. The athletes (in most cases I'm sure) got it themselves. My guess is they brought it from home. Not sure what impact that has. Regardless, if something happened to anyone because of the actions of an intoxicated kid, you better believe that all 3 entities would be held responsible. Civil suits can do just as much damage (if not more) than a criminal one.

 

[Deleted member 15]

I know Sprit Fest Nationals used them for all Worlds divisions at their bid event. I wish more EP's would do this. It benefits both the team/coaches as well as the judges.

It would be a benefit if the person running the judges meeting was the same as the person running it at Worlds and the judges were the same caliber as the judges at Worlds. If not you'll have an incorrectly implemented scoring system that could give poor or misleading feedback.

 

[Angelica]

You think that's why the lights went out? I hope it's not cause they didn't pay the electric bill.

No hahah I was just wondering how much that spent on them lol

 

[Mom Jeans]

Roster-Who's checking the validity? We had a local team compete with 1/2 their team as alternates. I'm saying this because the kids and parents have said it themselves. Everytime as issue of cheating comes up, USASF says file a complaint. The proof is on the accusser. Okay so if you're not in the same division as that team, you look like a fool, trying to stir up trouble. No other team has the rosters of another team. As some have suggested why not add the pic of the team where the bid was recieved to the registration packet? If there's no way to monitor that, then get rid of the rule and any other rule that can't be enforced. I don't understand, why put out any rule that can't be inforced?

 

[USASF Rules]

Hello all, I will try to answer as many questions as I can from the list above. Before I do, I need to put some disclaimers/notes to my answers.
1. I will do my best to answer previously asked questions but in no way am I going to engage in drawn out conversations and fight conspiracy theories.
2. I know no matter what answers I give, it will never be enough for some people. If your mind is made up, there is nothing I can do to change it. I understand that and we will have to agree to disagree.
3. I hope you will have the respect to appreciate the fact that I am willing to come on here and face the fire. I am not trying to paint myself as a martyr or say woe is me but I am asking that you be respectful as I am being to you. You have never and will never see me come on these boards and name call or insinuate things about anyone.

Here goes:

1. The Bangkok rules discrepancies (boys on the floor, pyramid, and tumbling legalities) I have covered the boy issue already. We are creating additional documentation and taking additional steps to keep this from happening in the future. I agree that the spotting of the back handspring and the two person cradle were missed by my Safety Judges. Other things perceived illegal are not accurate. I can tell you that Bangkok was viewed under the same discrepancy and rules as every other team. I wish these things were caught and I wish I could say this was the only team where infractions were missed but that is not the case. Being that Bangkok is in a high profile situation, it creates the perception of favoritism. I understand that and I can only say again that they were viewed with the same sets of eyes and under the same guidelines as everyone else.

2. Some divisions settled a tie by skipping places, some had the next team get the next place (i.e. IOC6 tie for first, the 2d awarded but not 3d, 3-way tie for 7th, but next team got 8th). We have addressed this situation and have made progress in our process to make sure this inconsistency does not happen again.

3. What, if anything, did USASF/IASF do to control underage drinking at Worlds? We have and will continue to address this every year at Worlds. It is better than it has been in the past but not complete. We have tried a number of different things including hiring more security. Unfortunately, kids will always find a way and we will continue to do our best to curb this situation. We do ask that both parents and coaches help with this as much as possible.


4. What does the USASF intend to do about the overcrowding which is resulting in becoming a safety issue? This is another issue that we work on year after year and we will continue to try and get a handle on. If you have been to Worlds for a number of years, you have seen different schedules and arrangements to try and control the overcrowding. We have already had a couple of meetings to discuss this and are working on some ideas.
Do you think that the coaches VIP event as well as the Casino party conflict with this?
It seems like we can't win on this issue. No matter what we do "for" some, others will use it to blame us for something else. All I can tell you is that we try to do the best we can to make Worlds a great experience for everyone. Is it perfect? Nope. Will we continue to make it better? Yes

5. Why do we wait until worlds to train the judges on the worlds scoresheet? All but a very few of the judges have judged Worlds for a number of years. They are very familiar with the scoring process. We never put a panel or group a category (3 judges) together that are made up of new Worlds judges.

6. With all the talk and requests about limiting bids, especially in a division like small senior, what is the possibility of this happening? If not this year, next year? The year after. Im not a fan of giving bids away even though this is a big money making event. I could name a company that emailed us and said "if you come to (insert competition here) we will give your team a bid...." Thats not exactly earning it in my opinion.
Please email me and let me know which event producer said this. This is NOT acceptable!

7. What is the punishment/rule on a team member that was not released and still competed at Worlds? We dealt with released/not released athletes quite a bit at Worlds. If you know of something that was not brought to our attention, please do so.

I hope this clears up or at least helps some of your questions about the Worlds event. I look forward to putting this year behind us, learning form the event on what worked, what didn't and how we can improve so that we can make each year better and better.
To give you a heads up on what is new.
1. We have finished our conference calls on the new rules and they should be up "relatively" soon. There are a few new things that should make some levels happy.
2. Athletes that leave one gym and join another will only be regulated if attending Worlds (same as last year). We used Worlds as the test model last year and we are SO glad we did. There are so many details and variables to consider before this is moved to a national rule.

I hope you all had great tryouts and you have a successful 2011-2012 season.
Stay safe this Summer,
Les

 

[NJ Coach]

@RulesGuy Thanks for the answers. While they probably won't appease everyone, sometimes you can't prepare for certain situations until after they happen. With the Bangkok thing, it was just a perfect storm of events. I'm hoping that going forward, there won't be that issue.