All-Star All Star Prep

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I think an all-star prep division done right can be a great thing for our sport! Most people I know who don't participate cite length of season, cost, and inability to really do other sports as the main deterrents. All star prep addresses all three.
 
I love the idea of cutting music costs, I just haven't figured out how to do it. With music people able to charge $1,000+, they do. It's crazy to pay that much for a team that only spends a few hundred for the entire season... Compulsory music could possibly be it, but for my sanity I want to hope not.

There are lots of music companies that charge WAY less than that for shorter mixes. I got a 90 second mix done last year for only $300, and the year before that it was even cheaper. It's just a matter of maybe cutting out all the crazy voiceovers and settling for 2 or 3.
 
Here's a thought...what is even the routines were all / partly compulsory? I know, it goes against what all-stars is, but here is what I am thinking:

1. It will help the issue of all-star athletes wanting to do all-star prep (for the most part...there always may be a few year round athletes lost to a shorter season but let's face it, those athletes probably had a foot/toe out of the door already.)

2. Simplifies the process for gyms (choreography and music aren't an issue). One less component to worry about with a shorter "season."

3. Simplifies judging (and helps introduce parents to the judging portion of all stars. It is much easier to see how team A beats team B when routines are the same.)

The issue I do see with it is how to choreograph to different skills (it would really dumb down stunts / pyramids for that level.)

Or maybe to keep it really simple, someone mentioned it already for tumbling but what if the difficulty portion of the scoresheet was thrown out across the board and only execution was scored. That would accomplish similar goals with a bit more creativity.

Just thinking out loud here...

The main problem with compulsory routines, other than lack of creativity, is the number of kids and the make up of the team. If at tryouts you end up with a flyer heavy roster, you may try to put up more stunts rather than having fewer stunts with some front spots.

If we all lucked up and had half year tryouts and had 5 back spots, 10 bases and 5 flyers show up then I could see doing compulsory routines.
 
and for music costs, its a great opportunity to try out some of the up and coming music producers out there.
 
The no crossovers is a double edged sword, I agree it help keep teams "honest" meaning not padding them, but for a kid like my CP it actually hurts her. She just turned 10, and is a level 5 tumbler, but level 2/3 stunter. So if I put her on 2/3 she can't use her tumbling, but will learn stunting skills. If she crosses over to a lvl 4 she can tumble, but is no where near that stunting level. Crossing over would allow her the best experience all around.
 
The no crossovers is a double edged sword, I agree it help keep teams "honest" meaning not padding them, but for a kid like my CP it actually hurts her. She just turned 10, and is a level 5 tumbler, but level 2/3 stunter. So if I put her on 2/3 she can't use her tumbling, but will learn stunting skills. If she crosses over to a lvl 4 she can tumble, but is no where near that stunting level. Crossing over would allow her the best experience all around.

The no crossover rule would mean she cannot cross to a prep team, not another full year team. So if she already does all star, nothing changes.
 
That is why I suggested PER division. Yes, 100 of the same music, yes would be annoying, but 3,4 maybe even 5 would NOT be bad. And if it's cheer music, how is that any different that sitting in your gym while a team is practicing? And it's not like it's compulsory gymnastics music with no words or sound fx
Even the smallest gymnastic meet with compulsory has made me want to jump and fall asleep! The different songs, beats and voiceovers is what makes cheer so upbeat imo.
 
I love the idea of cutting music costs, I just haven't figured out how to do it. With music people able to charge $1,000+, they do. It's crazy to pay that much for a team that only spends a few hundred for the entire season... Compulsory music could possibly be it, but for my sanity I want to hope not.

You can get a full 2:30 min custom cheer mix with voiceovers and edits from an Australian cheer music company for $250 AUD. They do really great mixes as well, probably not as amazing as those thousands-of-dollars-a-track American companies, but really, do we actually need those kind of mixes? (and most people would not even notice the difference, IMO)

CustomTrax - Customised Cheer and Dance Music
 
*shrug* I always spent less than $30 on music for my team. It wasn't customized, but I never once ran into another team, ever, that had the same music as us. I don't understand the necessity for customized music for these kinds of teams when really great music, at the appropriate bpm and even including cute cheer voiceovers, can be had for a cost of basically $1-2 per kid.
 
I agree, I had girls from the Pop Warner team I coached do a half year at a gym earlier this year, and it was offered to all of the girls on my team, but a lot of them didn't want to do it because they knew they would get made fun of by the full year girls. Sure enough, the girls on the full year team would tell the girls on the half year that they weren't a "Real All Star" team, and that they weren't good enough to wear the name of their gym. I think that it's almost inevitable, but creating even more of a divide between the two is probably not a good idea.

It's a shame that the full year all star kids gave the 1/2 years kids a hard time...for a lot of families out there full time all star cheer just isn't in the budget...or the half year kids want to play another sport and can't in good faith make a commitment to a full year team. It really has nothing to do with talent or skill. Sounds like the gym needs to "educate" some of its full time athletes.
 
Since stunt rules dictate the level, would you propose that there be a bottom age cap to avoid fetus flyers?
LOL My daughter is on a sr rec level 3 team (7th-12th graders) one of our flyers is a freshman and is 4' 4" tall. does that make her a fetus flyer? Dont hate the player hate the game.
 
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