All-Star Jambrand's Major Prize.....

[Anna-grace]

I've been doing my best to keep up with all the threads regarding this and I'm still just very confused about how the prize was initially introduced to those that were invited to compete. I'd love to hear it from a person who dealt with this first hand from the very beginning, but I understand if you can't or don't want to divulge those details. Did jamfest ever actually say, "we will pay for your kids to get to europe, we will pay for them to stay there, all of your expenses are covered"? Was there ever any clear monetary promise, like how much would be allotted per team/athlete (something like how paid bids to worlds are $650/athlete)? Or was it always vague?

I'm sad for anyone who was lead to believe that they were getting an "all expenses" paid trip to England and was disappointed with the actual result, but I have yet to see anywhere that that was what was promised by Jamfest. I'm attempting to play devil's advocate here, more or less. If Jamfest did ACTUALLY tell the participants that their travel and lodging would be fully covered, then I'm disgusted. If they didn't, then this is a very, very unfortunate lesson for everyone involved to always be absolutely 100% clear that both parties understand what the prize is. I'm sure if Jamfest had said from the beginning, "Each winning team will receive $18,000 towards a trip to Europe!", they would have saved themselves from how upset everyone (including people not at all involved) is now.

They may not have promised this to the US athletes, but what also needs to be addressed is that they told European athletes the teams would come over AND compete and used it to advertise the event to us. If they new this was untrue as the athletes weren't definitely coming over like they claimed, they should never have used it to sell the event. And it's great how they told us after the deadline for taking all of our entry fees and payments for the clinic.

 

[Anna-grace]

I am still excited about attending this event and extremely excited to meet coed elite, counting down the days minutes and hours! But just disappointed we aren't getting everything we were told we were getting when paying for the event

Sorry for 3 posts in a row :3

 

[Just-a-Mom]

This is great and all, but the only opinions that really matter are the ones from the coaches and athletes on Panthers and Coed Elite. Courtney and CEA obviously aren't too upset by it, and I know that everyone from Cheer Athletics is a little upset, but none of them are the ones on here whining and complaining about the situation. Should Jamfest have been more upfront about it? Yes, but this is the situation and everyone directly involved is handling it well. Not everything in life works out exactly like it is planned. Especially if it involved traveling to the Olympic host city so close to the games.

I've been following this thread for days, with my jaw dropped. Didn't want to reply, but after the past couple pages, I just can't keep quiet anymore.

First off as has been pointed out they are not going to London. But even if they were, it was decided that the Olympics would be in London this year before the Majors was even a dream. So that's nothing to do with it.

Second... I'm stunned by your post. Read the thread - parents from CEA have said they weren't aware. Are you saying parents that have to pay for it don't matter - just coaches and athletes??? Wow... I bet those parents feel differently! And it doesn't seem like the coaches and athletes knew either. Apparently just Courtney. I'm seeing a lot of disappointed athletes who thought they won a trip. $500 per person wouldn't get someone a trip from Chicago to Indy. That's not winning a trip.

In this whole mess I've seen parents, athletes, coaches, as well as essentially the whole cheer community of the UK, say they were misled and have spent thousands of dollars already. You're really saying none of those people matter - because ONE person contradicted that and claims she was aware the whole time that the families would be responsible for paying for this trip? Because the families paying for it sure have said they were NOT made aware until after the Majors. I'm sorry but I just have to say I'm going to believe the majority on this one.

WCMAN - wow you sure called this one. I thought you were so wrong but boy did you have jamfest pegged!

 

[lucyemma]

It does make me sad that both teams won't be coming and I am not happy about the way that it was handled by Jamfest (telling some the truth and others not). However, I am one for looking forward and I am so thankful that despite the difficulties, CA have attempted to raise more money whether they come or not and that some of the coed elite members and coaches have followed through to give so many athletes over here an opportunity that they could only dream of. I am lucky enough to have been to worlds twice and spent with the athletes over there but I know there are thousands over here who will never have that opportunity. I don't think that there is a huge amount to complain about from the UK perspective-yes there won't be two teams coming over..but they are still offering an opportunity of a clinic with Coed Elite and world champion coaches for a low price (I've paid more for UK clinics) and they are still performing which from meeting the coaches and athletes at worlds for the past 2 years-they WON'T dissappoint! Jamfest Europe increased the entry fee for UK athletes as they are hiring the echo arena for 2 days as opposed to 1 day! I feel awful that some athletes had hoped to come over from CA and CEA and won't get the opportunity to come over but I don't think UK athletes have a huge amount to complain about! JMO

 

[lucyemma]

With regards to my post above-I was not commenting about the perspective from the US families/athletes because I don't know all of the facts that coaches, athletes and parents knew or specific details..just commenting from a UK perspective!

 

[Hodiestoe]

I think this has become a very mixed up situation with people being told different things and I think that is where a lot of the confusion has come from. I know when we had the 'Majors' party and the hosts started talking about 'may' win a trip and the 'possibility' of a trip, my girls turned to me all confused as we thought the winners were definitely coming. We are doing Jamfest anyway, it would be sill for us not to being that the Echo Arena is less than 2 miles from our gym, but I feel for the teams in the rest of the UK who booked based on the fact that there was 2 teams advertised as coming over.

I am so unbelievably excited to finally watch a top caliber squad such as CEA, it is all my girls are talking about. Worlds is out of the question for us and even if dreams did come true I could never go as it is school time and I teach. I'm so glad that Ceacoach and the members of co-ed elite that are coming are so enthusiastic about it, it will be great. And BlueCat I'm sorry we wont get to meet, it would have been great to see the Panthers.

 

[scottish_cheerleader]

I am still excited about attending this event and extremely excited to meet coed elite, counting down the days minutes and hours! But just disappointed we aren't getting everything we were told we were getting when paying for the event

Sorry for 3 posts in a row :3

what team are you from!? maybe seeing as we are both wee teams we can cheer each other on ?

 

[Just-a-Mom]

To answer: yes, we knew it was $20,000-$25,000 towards the trip in the beginning. When they awarded both winners it changed to $15,000 a piece at first and then they made it $20,000 per team.. It's about $800 reimbursed for travel per athlete on coed. I have no reason to sell
It, but I have a hard time reading these negative posts towards a gift that was given to teams who were charged no entry fee to compete in Indy

I guess the confusion is coming from the word "we". Who knew? Because it sounds like the athletes and parents did NOT know that it was only $800 per athlete. Judging from the posts on here and on Facebook the majority of people were under the impression that airfare and hotels were being paid for. So when you say "we" you have to understand that most of us are questioning why, if you knew, didn't the athletes and parents know, since they are the ones who got stuck with either footing the bill or not going? (obviously I don't expect an answer as I'm not part of your program, just explaining where all the negativity is coming from)

It's hard to sit here and feel bad about all the negative posts about jamfest when I'm seeing a bunch of disappointed kids and their parents who feel like they were misled.

 

[WCMAN]

And I want to publicly apologize to WCMAN

As you can see from the link I posted above, he was pretty skeptical about Jamfest paying flights & hotels for two teams. BlueCat said it was true and I essentially told him to pound sand.

He was right and I was wrong.

This is a huge lesson for all of us.

I TOLDS U I ONLY LOOOKS LIKES A DUMMY...LOL. No apology necessary .. Debate is what the boards are about..

 

[BlueCat]

For the record, the discrepancy between what we were told the prize was going to be and what the prize actually turned out to be was really our only issue with the whole event. The competition itself was fantastic, the staff was great, and the kids on both of our teams had a great time.

However, "we are having a new invitation-only competition with two divisions and the winners receive free trips to Europe." is not the same thing as "win a 33% discount off your expenses to come teach a clinic for us."

 

[yojaehs]

This is great and all, but the only opinions that really matter are the ones from the coaches and athletes on Panthers and Coed Elite. Courtney and CEA obviously aren't too upset by it, and I know that everyone from Cheer Athletics is a little upset, but none of them are the ones on here whining and complaining about the situation. Should Jamfest have been more upfront about it? Yes, but this is the situation and everyone directly involved is handling it well. Not everything in life works out exactly like it is planned. Especially if it involved traveling to the Olympic host city so close to the games.

As you may have read since you posted this, you are wrong. When an EP hosts an event, especially a "First of its kind" and there is the kind of hype around it that there was, it affects the cheer community. It affects ALL of the teams that competed in the Majors (coaches, athletes and parents). It affects the people that paid money to come watch the Majors LIVE, as well as the people that paid to watch it online. It affects those that are paying money to attend the "prize" event in the UK.

I in NO WAY have any negative feeling or reaction towards any team that participated, nor their reaction. My issue is with Jamfest, ANY EP that says one thing and delivers something else is an issue to ANY coach, athlete or parent that wishes to participate in with that EP further in the future.

To say "the only opinions that matter are CEA and CA" is a false, inaccurate, statement. Hypothetically speaking, if my gym was invited to compete in this years upcoming "Majors" what happened at THIS years Majors does matter to me, and it SHOULD matter to me (and anyone else that might be invited) a lot.

 

[yojaehs]

For the record, the discrepancy between what we were told the prize was going to be and what the prize actually turned out to be was really our only issue with the whole event. The competition itself was fantastic, the staff was great, and the kids on both of our teams had a great time.

However, "we are having a new invitation-only competition with two divisions and the winners receive free trips to Europe." is not the same thing as "win a 33% discount off your expenses to come teach a clinic for us."

Thank you.

 

[megaflipper]

Shouldn't the Cheer Athletic money go to Cheer Extreme and help them cut the cost?

 

[Bystander]

Shouldn't the Cheer Athletic money go to Cheer Extreme and help them cut the cost?

Shouldnt the CEA money go to Cheer Athletics to help them cut the cost?

How about Jamfest just paying the cost for everybody?

 

[megaflipper]

Shouldnt the CEA money go to Cheer Athletics to help them cut the cost?

How about Jamfest just paying the cost for everybody?

Well, of course that would be the better option.