All-Star No Longer Excited For Anything But First Place

At a lot of the competitions I go to, I've seen people getting laughed at (or silently judged via stares and snickers) for cheering about getting anything less than top 2 or 3. It's like some people think that if you're happy with 3rd or lower, than that means your team knew they weren't going to do well, and never should expect to win.. Which is bologna. Every team has a bad competition.

And I have to say, I'd be more than thrilled to be announced less than top 3, or top 5 for that matter if I knew the competition was fierce and very close. If you do your best, and perform your hardest, then placing shouldn't matter.

I hope that made sense.. Lol. Just my 2 cents.

in the divisions that are separated by tenths or even hundredths of points, i see both sides. i'll use medium coed at NCA as my example. division was stacked. i think it was something like one tenth of a point separated 1st from 6th (don't quote me on that, i'm most likely wrong.) i see being excited, like "wow our score is .005 better than the 6th place team and we got 2nd yay!" and "wow, we were .0001 from first place, that's depressing."

i wish divisions weren't split. i know it'd make for some longer days for judges and whatnot, but i find 5th/36 to be so much more prestigious than 1/3. "the small gym small junior 2 group A national champion" loses a bit of its merit to me. there's enough divisions as is, we don't need even more.

Guilty. When I competed at Cheersport for example, My team hit and got 2nd out of sixteen teams by less than a point. Everybody was so bummed. For me, Its that never- ending guilt, that thought in the back of your mind, "Maybe theres something more I could've done, something I couldve done better' even though I know Ive done my best. i just cant help feeling like that.

At uca high school this year, I watch has a team from the same area as us placed second and balled their eyes out. And it was a divison with almost 40 teams in it. And my sisters team goal was to make it to finals. They finished 14 out of 15 that made it to day 2. They were very happy.

This is annoying. but to me what is worse is a team that walks in EXPECTING to get first place. Sorry but a 7 year old shouldn't be crying because they didn't win grand champs.


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I don't mind if my kids are disappointed when they don't place well, especially when they know they can hit their routine better. It's motivation for them to work harder in the gym. They're usually pretty happy though to come top 3.

But I really can't stand teams who could care less about winning. In my area, it's usually cos teams have been winning for years and know they're going to keep winning cos the other teams in their division just don't have the difficulty to compete (school). For example, I saw a school team take 25 points in deductions for falling stunts. They dropped 4-5 tops to the ground, yet they still placed 1st by about 20 points cos the only other team in their division probably shouldn't be there and can't keep up. The team always wins and when they do they're not even excited because they always win.

I've also heard kids from this team and the HS one it feeds into say they won't cheer after graduation cos they've always been a part of a winning team and they don't want to cheer for someone else who may lose. Makes me think their coaches really have the wrong priorities for their teams and it makes me sad that kids don't continue for reasons such as these

Be disapointed if needed but always show good sportsmanship, wait til you get in the car at least.

I think there are a multitude of reasons why this occurs. First, the divisions are typically small. Most competitions, with the exception of large nationals, you are lucky to have four teams in your division. Is third a big deal if it is out of four? Secondly, the EP's certainly don't make a big deal out of anything less than first place. The name of your team gets called, someone walks up to get the trophy/plaque whatever, and they go back to the floor like NBD. Third, if you get second place or below, it's not like there are bragging rights since there are sooooo many competitions, no qualifying, and no brackets. We all know second at Worlds, CS, or NCA is a big deal, but pretty much every other competition... not so much.

njallday said:

i wish divisions weren't split. i know it'd make for some longer days for judges and whatnot, but i find 5th/36 to be so much more prestigious than 1/3. "the small gym small junior 2 group A national champion" loses a bit of its merit to me. there's enough divisions as is, we don't need even more.

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Totally agree. Unfortunately, I think they will continue to split, split, split because whether or not people admit it - this keeps all star running. Parents tend to pull their kids out of programs quickly if they aren't winning these days, and it gives more chances for more teams to win or place well to split a division six different ways. It keeps more parents at the gym, which in turn keeps money flowing into the gym and keeps that gym operating, which in turn keeps that gym returning to that same competition, which in turn keeps that company running that competition in business. Until the mentality changes, it will probably just get worse with splitting.

Magnolia

At the BIG comps...Nationals and Worlds, they are following the rules. They aren't allowed to scream and cheer till they are off the mat. Did you see the new rules for Worlds this year about entering and exiting the mat? I know this is to keep on schedule better so it is a good thing. Some teams take forever to get set and then after they are rolling on the floor. So celebrating might not take place at Awards but might happen later.

But I also see your point. This happens even at the little fundraiser Comps we go to. My little Youth team back in 2008 beat a rival squad for the first time in 3 yrs. And since we are from a rural area with compete against each other 3/4 of the season(3-4 times/season). The Coaches came to the next Competition a week later with cue cards. They had changed the whole routine around that week because we were "never" going to beat them again. What example is that setting for their girls?

If I got second place at Worlds, I would NOT be disappointed whatsoever!

My teams first year in the division at college nationals we got 2nd place and were more excited than the team that won, and I think even they were more excited for us! This year at daytona they got 2nd again but were still happy because the first place team truly deserved it and they were just happy to get top 3 as we have every year in the division. I think it starts from the top and if the coach goes in only talking about winning and as if there's no other option then they are trained to be disappointed when it doesn't.

I think it depends on the circumstances. For example, every large senior team is capable of winning worlds. They all have the skills. This goes for large coed, a ton of medium coed teams and 5 ish small and medium all girl. It just comes down to who hits. They all go in there knowing they have a chance at first (not necessarily expecting it) but its gonna be upsetting if they don't place well after hitting the routine. Then it goes back to the whole showing good sportsmanship and whatnot.


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My freshman year at UCA nationals we ended up getting 10th out of 10 (Honestly I think we should have gotten 9th or 8th). Anyway, we were just happy to have the opportunity to go there and compete and to be the only JV team from our high school to ever go, and the only team to win a UCA trophy and be in finals. I'll never forget the feeling of competing in the Milkhouse and walking out of the castle to see such a huge crowd. So so awesome.

Magnolia said:

Totally agree. Unfortunately, I think they will continue to split, split, split because whether or not people admit it - this keeps all star running. Parents tend to pull their kids out of programs quickly if they aren't winning these days, and it gives more chances for more teams to win or place well to split a division six different ways. It keeps more parents at the gym, which in turn keeps money flowing into the gym and keeps that gym operating, which in turn keeps that gym returning to that same competition, which in turn keeps that company running that competition in business. Until the mentality changes, it will probably just get worse with splitting.

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Let's use J2 as an example. You can have small J2, large J2, and then multiple splits within the size divisions due to the number of teams competing. Do you think it would be better if in the case of splits, they were called the division winner, and the all around junior 2 called the national champion?