catlady
Cheer Parent
- Jun 6, 2012
- 2,790
- 6,203
While I was only responding on the Marietta location with Sr teams, I do think a lot of gyms are utilizing the U17 and U19 divisions to help them transition athletes to the Varsity score sheet.
@dmouth11 I'll tag you in this since you were inquiring about the IASF divisions and hopefully any coaches can clarify if I get this wrong.
IASF Age Grid:
U6 5-6 y/o
U8 5-8 y/o
U12 8-12 y/o
U17 10-17 y/o (was expanded to 17 years old for COVID19, but will go back to 16 next year)
U19 14-19 y/o (was expanded to 19 years old for COVID19, but will go back to 18 next year)
IASF Scoring (US is scored on Varsity score sheet during the year and then on the IASF score sheet at the Summit):
Standing/Running Tumbling, Tumbling Execution/Technique and Jumps are worth 20 pts out of 150 (13.3%)
Stunts, Pyramid, Tosses, Building Creativity are worth 100 pts out of 150 (66.7%)
Dance, Routine Creativity, Routine Formations/Transitions, Showmanship are worth 30 pts out of 150 (20%)
USASF Age Grid:
Tiny 5-6 y/o
Mini 5-8 y/o
Youth Levels 1-3 are 5-11 y/o, Level 4 is 8-11 y/o, Level 5 is 9-11 y/o
Junior Levels 1-3 are 6-15 y/0, Level 4 is 8-15 y/o, Levels 5-6 are 9-15 y/o
Senior Levels 1-5 are 12-18 y/o and Level 6 is 13-18 y/o and Open 13+ y/o
Varsity Scoring:
Standing/Running Tumbling and Jumps are 20 pts out of 50 (40%)
Stunts, Pyramid, Tosses, Stunt/Coed Quantity are 22 pts out of 50 (44%)
Routine Composition, Dance, Showmanship, Stunt/Pyramid Creativity are 8 pts out of 50 (16%)
If you look at the weight of IASF scoring versus Varsity scoring, it is putting A LOT less emphasis on tumbling and more on Stunts and Performance. Meanwhile, the Summit demands near perfection in tumbling difficulty and technique in the elite category of skills to place in the finals on the Varsity scoresheet. It is no longer just difficult for International teams, this has caused a stall in progression that IMO is good, however, can also cause frustration and burn out for athletes with decent level tumbling wanting to move up. I'm not for all of these divisions, BUT I do think the IASF divisions have allowed gyms to help transition a lot of kids with very decent level tumble skills to move up a level and learn next level stunting, while working on perfecting their tumbling for the Varsity score sheet. The current COVID19 age span in U17 is ideal to hit both the Jr and Sr aged kids, and while I think this is less about age grid and more about score sheet and transitioning, "yes" I can see how the amount of Sr. teams (and Jr) would be effected.
