- Mar 29, 2012
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This was posted on facebook by Jamie Parrish and it brings up some really good points about how all-star routines are getting too jam packed with skills because the rubic requires them and judges are no longer able to enjoy the creativity of the coaches and choreographers.
"So in sitting down and doing my double “super-safe” check on the World’s rubric for this weekend, I noticed something that I had never noticed after all these years…Les Stella is a genius.
Now I know all you haters out there in Cheerworld are going to see the above comment as a “pre-world’s” suck-up. Not so. But accompanied by my recent tryout, and looking at the makeup of our teams –trying to fit them in the highest scoring rubric – it is apparent that we are killing our sport. I’ll explain.
The beauty of the World’s score sheet and rubric system is that it allows judges to sit back, relax, and enjoy a routine. On all of the other rubrics, the judges are not really judging are they? They are COUNTING. COUNTING FULLS. COUNTING TUCKS. COUNTING DOWNWARD INVERSIONS. We have taken the creativity OUT and made our sport one big compulsory routine.
For all of you old timers out there….go back with me…
“tuuuurn the beat around (Top Gun’s Spinning Pyramid) still gives me CHILLS. It would be level 3 now. But boy was it an effective, easy –to-watch visual.
How about “Cupid – draw back your boooow) When shooting stars wowed us with that Level 3 diddy.
Dances like Eric Little’s Beautiful People for GA, or my Fashionista dance for World Cup. It brought the house down, but we don’t even have time to choreograph dance anymore, because the “rubric” is so overwhelming to a 2:30 second routine, that we can’t fit it all in.
Now. What awe inspiring moments can you name in our sport this past year, or 2 years for that matter? Please don’t say…CA Panthers squad doubles, or Kelsey Rules latest pass. I am in awe of that as well. But it’s not a MOMENT in our sport that everyone agrees will go down in history as a moment that gives you chills. A moment that we will never forget. A Victor Rosario “trick” that has never been seen or done. Like the first time he yanked two girls out, then in really fast. Simple, visual, and eye appealing. Level 5? No. Great to watch? Yes.
It’s been a while since I personally had “a moment” like that. Like the first time I saw top gun with those T-O-P G-U-N signs that opened up with his double fulls crossing. That, my friends, was a MOMENT. Sadly, we have “Rubericked” ourselves out of these moments.
Even if my old 42 year old brain thought of something really visually appealing, and crowd pleasing, there is no place to fit it in. I have to do my basket variety, my jump back combination with floor work, my 3 body positions, my high to high, my level 5 dismount, my footwork, my basket variety (even though they are level 3 baskets- shut up, that’s not the point, the point is you MUST do them!!!), my coed unassisted, my all-girl tricky stunt, my twisting flipping pyramid skills, my 3 “pictures’, my dance visuals, my jump entry to 2to fulls, my synchronized tumbling, my group tumbling….Hell, my fingers are about to FALL off and I am just getting started.
Can you imagine having to score all of the above for every single team? That is why I say they are NOT judging our work, but COUNTING our work and LOOKING for mistakes, rather than ENJOYING what we have created for them.
Gone are the days of ANY musicality in cheerleading. Gone are the days where I can take the time to do this cool arabaincirclethingy just because it looked cool. No, we have to fit 47 Eight counts in to a 2:30 routine, and it is getting so compulsory, that I am about to kill myself. What’s worse is that we are NOT using the score sheet well enough to separate the really good teams, form the sort of good teams, from the just good teams. The system is flawed.
Which brings me Full Circle to…
Les Stella is a genius. Think about it. No Rubric. The USASF Championship will crown what? 8 gold medalist this weekend, and judge thousands of teams with NO RUBERICK! I have found choreographing on this worlds score sheet was so much fun. It allowed me to be creative. It allowed me to organize my routine without worrying so much about the “checklist” and if I had an amazing “Victor Rosario” idea, I could fit it in my routine, without having to worry about my downward inversion.
Will the winner come out right? Yes
Will the judges get to enjoy our choreography, and be inspired? Yes
Will they be looking over my choreography, past the beautiful toe touch on the front row, to be policing the back corner for touchdowns? NO
Do you all not see the beauty in all of this?
We have scores of coaches on a USASF score sheet committee working tirelessly to no avail on agreeing on the perfect score sheet.
Well, I say you have it. It’s called the Worlds Score sheet AND IT comes with a perfect rubric – NO Rubric.
Yes, there are ranges. But those ranges are genius in the fact that it WILL separate the best, most elite teams out for their hard skills, and yet still manage to reward teams like mine for creativity when we don’t have 25 doubles. Look at what it is doing to college nationals. In case you did not notice, coed partner stunting has done EXACTLY what Les said it would do. We have GUYS…that can STUNT. I LOVE IT!
Perfect example is South Elite in the Medium Coed last year. When I saw that routine, I got CHILLS. Did they have a million doubles? NO. But it was one of those fun to watch, great stunting, coed feeling awesome routines.
I distinctly remember sitting next to another coach and I said…I think that routine will be in the Top 3. He says to me..”no way, not enough tumbling” I said..”Well it was damn clean, fun to watch, the boys stunted like crazy, and I enjoyed it. I hope it does. And it did. And I agreed.
Imagine that. Being able to sit back and ENJOY a cheer routine. Imagine a coach being able to take his time, and create a routine that suits his team’s best talents, focusing on what his kids are GOOD at; instead of packing in 47 eight counts of a checklist. That’s not choreography, that called a “honey do list.”
I had a kid not tryout yesterday. I loved this kid, and asked her why she chose not to tryout. I called her mom to see if was something we had done at the gym. Her response? Jamie (I’ll call her Mary) Mary has been a level 3 for 2 years, and she just can’t seem to get that layout. She has basically done the exact routine for 2 years now, and really does not want to do the same routine again. She has mastered her ½ up to a one legged stunt. She has her running tuck, and her stand double back handspring. Check. Check.Check.
Is that what we really have come to? A checklist? Well you gym owners out there may want to go visit your friends that have gymnastics gyms and see how the compulsory system killed their sport. No really. Ask them.
You will find that gymnastics did the same thing, and the numbers are down 30% over the last 3 years.
I want Donnie Richards to sit back at that table, take a sip of his coffee, and ENJOY the routine I put out there for him. I don’t want him counting. I want him to FEEL the musicality. I want him to ENJOY the visuals. And I want to have enough TIME to let my kids DANCE their way to the finish line, because we are good at dance. And that should count for something.
Please join me at the USASF Worlds, and spread the word that the score sheet committee should adjust the worlds score sheet to fit within each level, and back off of this overly technical system that is killing the creativity, and longevity of the sport.
Thank you for your consideration.
I hope that you will ALL come to Doral for our NACCC meeting to discuss this, and the many other topics that we need to discuss as an industry.
Jamie"
"So in sitting down and doing my double “super-safe” check on the World’s rubric for this weekend, I noticed something that I had never noticed after all these years…Les Stella is a genius.
Now I know all you haters out there in Cheerworld are going to see the above comment as a “pre-world’s” suck-up. Not so. But accompanied by my recent tryout, and looking at the makeup of our teams –trying to fit them in the highest scoring rubric – it is apparent that we are killing our sport. I’ll explain.
The beauty of the World’s score sheet and rubric system is that it allows judges to sit back, relax, and enjoy a routine. On all of the other rubrics, the judges are not really judging are they? They are COUNTING. COUNTING FULLS. COUNTING TUCKS. COUNTING DOWNWARD INVERSIONS. We have taken the creativity OUT and made our sport one big compulsory routine.
For all of you old timers out there….go back with me…
“tuuuurn the beat around (Top Gun’s Spinning Pyramid) still gives me CHILLS. It would be level 3 now. But boy was it an effective, easy –to-watch visual.
How about “Cupid – draw back your boooow) When shooting stars wowed us with that Level 3 diddy.
Dances like Eric Little’s Beautiful People for GA, or my Fashionista dance for World Cup. It brought the house down, but we don’t even have time to choreograph dance anymore, because the “rubric” is so overwhelming to a 2:30 second routine, that we can’t fit it all in.
Now. What awe inspiring moments can you name in our sport this past year, or 2 years for that matter? Please don’t say…CA Panthers squad doubles, or Kelsey Rules latest pass. I am in awe of that as well. But it’s not a MOMENT in our sport that everyone agrees will go down in history as a moment that gives you chills. A moment that we will never forget. A Victor Rosario “trick” that has never been seen or done. Like the first time he yanked two girls out, then in really fast. Simple, visual, and eye appealing. Level 5? No. Great to watch? Yes.
It’s been a while since I personally had “a moment” like that. Like the first time I saw top gun with those T-O-P G-U-N signs that opened up with his double fulls crossing. That, my friends, was a MOMENT. Sadly, we have “Rubericked” ourselves out of these moments.
Even if my old 42 year old brain thought of something really visually appealing, and crowd pleasing, there is no place to fit it in. I have to do my basket variety, my jump back combination with floor work, my 3 body positions, my high to high, my level 5 dismount, my footwork, my basket variety (even though they are level 3 baskets- shut up, that’s not the point, the point is you MUST do them!!!), my coed unassisted, my all-girl tricky stunt, my twisting flipping pyramid skills, my 3 “pictures’, my dance visuals, my jump entry to 2to fulls, my synchronized tumbling, my group tumbling….Hell, my fingers are about to FALL off and I am just getting started.
Can you imagine having to score all of the above for every single team? That is why I say they are NOT judging our work, but COUNTING our work and LOOKING for mistakes, rather than ENJOYING what we have created for them.
Gone are the days of ANY musicality in cheerleading. Gone are the days where I can take the time to do this cool arabaincirclethingy just because it looked cool. No, we have to fit 47 Eight counts in to a 2:30 routine, and it is getting so compulsory, that I am about to kill myself. What’s worse is that we are NOT using the score sheet well enough to separate the really good teams, form the sort of good teams, from the just good teams. The system is flawed.
Which brings me Full Circle to…
Les Stella is a genius. Think about it. No Rubric. The USASF Championship will crown what? 8 gold medalist this weekend, and judge thousands of teams with NO RUBERICK! I have found choreographing on this worlds score sheet was so much fun. It allowed me to be creative. It allowed me to organize my routine without worrying so much about the “checklist” and if I had an amazing “Victor Rosario” idea, I could fit it in my routine, without having to worry about my downward inversion.
Will the winner come out right? Yes
Will the judges get to enjoy our choreography, and be inspired? Yes
Will they be looking over my choreography, past the beautiful toe touch on the front row, to be policing the back corner for touchdowns? NO
Do you all not see the beauty in all of this?
We have scores of coaches on a USASF score sheet committee working tirelessly to no avail on agreeing on the perfect score sheet.
Well, I say you have it. It’s called the Worlds Score sheet AND IT comes with a perfect rubric – NO Rubric.
Yes, there are ranges. But those ranges are genius in the fact that it WILL separate the best, most elite teams out for their hard skills, and yet still manage to reward teams like mine for creativity when we don’t have 25 doubles. Look at what it is doing to college nationals. In case you did not notice, coed partner stunting has done EXACTLY what Les said it would do. We have GUYS…that can STUNT. I LOVE IT!
Perfect example is South Elite in the Medium Coed last year. When I saw that routine, I got CHILLS. Did they have a million doubles? NO. But it was one of those fun to watch, great stunting, coed feeling awesome routines.
I distinctly remember sitting next to another coach and I said…I think that routine will be in the Top 3. He says to me..”no way, not enough tumbling” I said..”Well it was damn clean, fun to watch, the boys stunted like crazy, and I enjoyed it. I hope it does. And it did. And I agreed.
Imagine that. Being able to sit back and ENJOY a cheer routine. Imagine a coach being able to take his time, and create a routine that suits his team’s best talents, focusing on what his kids are GOOD at; instead of packing in 47 eight counts of a checklist. That’s not choreography, that called a “honey do list.”
I had a kid not tryout yesterday. I loved this kid, and asked her why she chose not to tryout. I called her mom to see if was something we had done at the gym. Her response? Jamie (I’ll call her Mary) Mary has been a level 3 for 2 years, and she just can’t seem to get that layout. She has basically done the exact routine for 2 years now, and really does not want to do the same routine again. She has mastered her ½ up to a one legged stunt. She has her running tuck, and her stand double back handspring. Check. Check.Check.
Is that what we really have come to? A checklist? Well you gym owners out there may want to go visit your friends that have gymnastics gyms and see how the compulsory system killed their sport. No really. Ask them.
You will find that gymnastics did the same thing, and the numbers are down 30% over the last 3 years.
I want Donnie Richards to sit back at that table, take a sip of his coffee, and ENJOY the routine I put out there for him. I don’t want him counting. I want him to FEEL the musicality. I want him to ENJOY the visuals. And I want to have enough TIME to let my kids DANCE their way to the finish line, because we are good at dance. And that should count for something.
Please join me at the USASF Worlds, and spread the word that the score sheet committee should adjust the worlds score sheet to fit within each level, and back off of this overly technical system that is killing the creativity, and longevity of the sport.
Thank you for your consideration.
I hope that you will ALL come to Doral for our NACCC meeting to discuss this, and the many other topics that we need to discuss as an industry.
Jamie"
