All-Star All About A Win!!!

[acxjags]

I have a serious question for all you fierceboarders out there. Would you rather attend a competition that has a good bit of talented team in all your gyms divisions and it "Might" result in your team not winning ( Or doing well at all for that matter depending on who's in your division) and be challenged as a team...........or go to a rinky dink event that NO ONE goes to and you get the win because there is no one in your division or some team no ones ever heard of?

The reason I ask is there is a trend going on in the cheer world. Several smaller gyms avoid big comps to avoid getting beat by bigger gyms in their area in fear of losing kids.....so they go to smaller events to rack up the "Titles" To me this is very selfish of the smaller gym because you are holding your kids back. I would rather get 3rd place to TOP GUN and CHEER EXTREME than take my kids to do an exhibition for a National Title. Now I do agree---we all need that "Feel Good" event to boost morale but not every event you go to....... Thoughts?????

 

[cmpayne]

All I know is that my family is paying oodles of money to compete, not perform.
& What's the point of spending hours getting ready for competitions that you know you'll win? There's no motivation because everyone will know they could do horrible and drop every stunt and still win.

 

[canttouchthis]

All I know is that my family is paying oodles of money to compete, not perform.
& What's the point of spending hours getting ready for competitions that you know you'll win? There's no motivation because everyone will know they could do horrible and drop every stunt and still win.

agree with you 100 %

 

[Rudags]

I think you need a good mix. I think you need to go to the big ones to be competitive, and to maybe get your but kicked to build character, get motivation, and some teams to see what 'real cheerleading' is like. I also think the smaller nationals are needed to build confidence and to be risky. I know at the smaller comps I tend to let riskier things happen (A girl who's double is 50/50 in the routine, I will allow to throw, vs. at a big nationals, if you don't land 10/10 you have to only do a full). I see Small and Large Comps being great.

I think ONLY going to Large Comps would kill your gym as parents everywhere cannot afford it. I see only going to small ones would be bad as well because it would cause false hope.

 

[kickdblcj]

Go big or go home.

 

[PullandPray23]

I like to go to big comps because I like being in front of a big crowd...however I love going to little comps and not worrying so much about perfection cause that'll come or it wont...those comps are about having fun and putting on a show IMO

 

[HeatUniqueJ]

For me, a title won with almost no or really no competitor is not worth anything. For me ,placing 9th in a category with 36 competitors is more of a big deal than placing 1st with 1 or no team going against us. I don't even see the sense in that

 

[INeverStopCheering]

At least for our program, the parents get pretty upset when we get to an event and find out there's no other teams in their daughter's division. Does it happen sometimes, yes. Do we purposely try to attend rinky dink events? No. We keep it to mid sized events mixed in with 3 or 4 larger competitions so usually everyone has someone to compete against. When kids don't and they get "auto-1st" they know and understand that it isn't really a win without us even having to explain. Convo from one Youth to another:
Kid 1: "Kid 2, we got first place!!!"
Kid 2: "Yeah, but we were the only Youth Level X team so it doesn't really mean anything."
I don't believe in the beginning pf season "confidence booster" it causes kids to get lazy and think they're better than they are. They loose that drive too early in the season

 

[SheCheers]

i agree with a good mix, because depending on your area of the country, big comps are always feasible. We are a small gym, but VERY competitive and we have strong teams. we don't shy away from competition at all. but sometimes we have to attend some small comps. we're aiming for high point/grand champ at those.

 

[cmpayne]

I've been thinking about this lately. I think if there is only one team in a division there should be a minimum score that they have to get in order to actually win first. May sound a little harsh but I feel like if the competition is going to pay to make medals, trophies, banners, etc. The team should actually earn and win it. You don't have to make it a super hard score but make it to where they just can't bomb it and still earn the same rewards as a team who actually hit and went against several teams. I think it could be a great motivator for a team if the don't have the chance to compete against anyone.

 

[kristenthegreat]

I think it's good to start with a smaller comp to get 'first comp jitters' out of the way..but definitely mix it up. Nothing gives a team more drive than knowing they really have to compete for those titles. Plus, especially if you're a smaller gym, it's good to see some of the better teams in the country so you can see how you measure up/what you want to work on. I know if I knew I might be competing against Rays, I'd want to work on being super clean. I actually think it worked really well for SE to compete against Rays in 2010. Their jumps had never been so beautiful and well-timed before.

Where it really sucks is for the bigger programs who have maybe 2 comps where they have actual competition (like for large senior). Which probably won't be a problem next year..

 

[CaptainoftheCheerocracy]

I live in an area where there are some great All-Star teams, but the sport is still fairly new and not as popular. I mean, when I tell people that I coach an All-Star team, I almost always have to follow that with an explanation of what All-Star Cheer is.

We do like a mix of both small and large competitions. Large competitions are preferred, but we will also attend smaller competitions that are in our area our highly populated by middle school/high school team to build awareness of the program more than anything.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

I would rather come in 3rd at a more competitive compeition than come in first at a small comp where you pretty much knew you were going to come in first. I'd also rather get 3rd out of like 12 than 1st out of 2 or 3 teams. It's more of a challenge and it feels so good when you do well.

 

[newcheerdad]

I live in an area where there are some great All-Star teams, but the sport is still fairly new and not as popular. I mean, when I tell people that I coach an All-Star team, I almost always have to follow that with an explanation of what All-Star Cheer is.

We do like a mix of both small and large competitions. Large competitions are preferred, but we will also attend smaller competitions that are in our area our highly populated by middle school/high school team to build awareness of the program more than anything.

Our program has the same mentality. I think our director once said something to the effect of "we can't act like we're too big to compete locally". And we can't, because competing locally is, in some ways, the best advertisement for the program.

 

[magical mom]

Im all about the competition!!! At our last competition I had my Youth 3 in a division by themselves. We traveled up to northern California for this competition and I wanted them to be pushed and actually work towards a goal. We decide to put them in the Jr 3 division when we got there, which had 7 other teams in. My team was actually happy to be competiting against someone even though they are a young youth team. In the end they did great and placed 4th. I was proud of them and their confidence finally clicked. This is our first year with youth 3 and a struggle to stunt level 3 to say the least. When we got back our practices had new energy. They have been stunting great and they now have that confidence to get them to the next level. It's not all about the trophy, backpacks, sweatshirts, or title. It's about the experience, confidence, hard work, and dedication.