All-Star Cheer Athletics (questions/rumors)

[j3r4h]

Reading YouTube comments will take years off your life and drop your IQ immediately. At least in this forum, absolute idiots are in the minority.

Agreed. But to people who have no idea that there is Fierceboard . . . they go to Youtube and fight/defend for their fave teams. Comment pages are the most chaotic . . . lol

 

[j3r4h]

Another question . . .
Has it ever occured in the CA program to have a "Susie Mom" with a lot of "Susies" [Diva parents who'd like I want my kid to do tictoc and then she be center flyer and point dancer ] ? If yes, What is CA's action to this kind of situation?

 

[ACEDAD]

I also think that making the entire scoring VERY public would educate the crowd and lead to less frustration when the "crowd favorite" doesn't win. People would least have some idea of why the results happen the way they do rather than just assume judges are idiots.

Preach. How many years have we been trying to get this done?

 

[Deleted member 15]

I don't necessarily think that we need less subjectivity, but we do need judges to be qualified to appreciate the differences in difficulty of skills.

How can this be accomplished in the quantity needed to accommodate the number of competitions each weekend?

 

[StarshipTrooper]

How can this be accomplished in the quantity needed to accommodate the number of competitions each weekend?

Pay them more? My experience is that financial reward is the best predictor of effort.

 

[JessicaL]

Pay them more? My experience is that financial reward is the best predictor of effort.

I wish I could shimmy this 10,000 times. While most of us judge because we love it and know that the pay is peanuts (@Andre said it best when he talked about the LONG days at Worlds!), it's completely true...Money talks!

 

[Level5Mom]

I wish I could shimmy this 10,000 times. While most of us judge because we love it and know that the pay is peanuts (@Andre said it best when he talked about the LONG days at Worlds!), it's completely true...Money talks!

I agree and from what I understand, gymnastics judges make about 5x's as much as cheer judges. Maybe we could take a closer look at how that is possible for them and use it as a model. But I suppose that is for a different thread. Sorry for the sidebar Bluecat.

 

[cheerfor2]

This is one of my favorite threads ever. With running a program the size of yours and taking the time to thoughtfully answer every question. You are amazing...Thank you!

 

[cheerfor2]

I'm not BlueCat but I think I can answer this one pretty easy.....Fierceboard. The Fierceboard, to my understanding, is VERY east coast heavy as far as members and "fans". And the existence of this board and the ever-growing membership is giving those east coast teams a HUGE fan base that 4-5 years ago would have never existed. While the Texas/Oklahoma gyms/teams are just as strong, our fan base is just extremely small due to the lack of midwestern people joining the boards.

Love the input from the other oh so knowledgeable ones too, very interesting stuff, thanks. If it's ok to ask a side question, Mclovin, any idea why the board is east coast heavy?

 

[BlueCat]

How can this be accomplished in the quantity needed to accommodate the number of competitions each weekend?

To start with, there need to be fewer, but larger, competitions. Good luck trying to figure out how to make that happen.

Also, the quality judges need to be paid dramatically more than they are now. There are plenty of things I see EPs wasting money on. (Do senior 5 teams really need a big trophy?) Judging is something I think I am willing to be a significant part of the entry fee.

 

[socratesofcheer]

CA has won many worlds/NCA titles in many divisions. What is your motivation at this point?

 

[BlueCat]

Another question . . .
Has it ever occured in the CA program to have a "Susie Mom" with a lot of "Susies" [Diva parents who'd like I want my kid to do tictoc and then she be center flyer and point dancer ] ? If yes, What is CA's action to this kind of situation?

As a general rule, putting pressure on our coaches almost never has an effect on what happens on the floor. Publicly (in the viewing area, online, etc) complaining about a coaches decision basically guarantees that it will NOT change in their favor. (If we hear about it.) If everyone knows that parent X is raising a stink about something, that basically forces us NOT to go along with what they want. If every parent starts to think that complaining loudly will get them what they want, then our problems grow exponentially.

Parents often suggest that they are paying the tuition, so they should always get what they want. Individually, I can see their perspective, but that "customer is always right" philosophy simply doesn't work in mass. Imagine if 50 parents walk in demanding that they be point jumper for Tigers. Each person thinks that their tuition money should buy them the spot they want, but that simply doesn't work. You can quickly see the rabbit hole you go down when parents begin to think they have a significant input into routines.

As a result, we realize that the only effective way to run the program is make the decisions the best way we can for the team/program as a whole and not simply give every parent what they (think they) want. If Suzy gets mad and quits because she isn't last pass, then so be it.

(NOTE: The vast majority of parents/athletes completely understand this and are very supportive of coach decisions.)

 

[BlueCat]

I'm not BlueCat but I think I can answer this one pretty easy.....Fierceboard. The Fierceboard, to my understanding, is VERY east coast heavy as far as members and "fans". And the existence of this board and the ever-growing membership is giving those east coast teams a HUGE fan base that 4-5 years ago would have never existed. While the Texas/Oklahoma gyms/teams are just as strong, our fan base is just extremely small due to the lack of midwestern people joining the boards.

Here comes my least popular comment so far.

Fierceboard is an awesome resource and has a big entertainment value. We can use it as sort of a "focus group" to get a feel for the industry.

That being said: Fierceboard popularity is overrated. Getting shimmies and winning online polls for who is "definitely" going to win are fun in a way, but that is not our (or probably any major program's) focus.

Some of the biggest topics this year were about how dominant Cali Sm Sr was (they were great), who was better between Shooting Stars and SE, and who would win the old-school coed battle in semi-limited between Top Gun, Georgia, and Cheer Athletics. You will notice that those discussions didn't have a huge impact on who is now waiting on their Worlds rings to be shipped.

In fairness, FB has probably had a pretty big impact on some of the rules discussions. It has also brought to light some "discrepancies" at events that probably needed some light to be shone one them. However, it has not gotten to the point where it is affecting the outcome of cheer competitions.

 

[BlueCat]

CA has won many worlds/NCA titles in many divisions. What is your motivation at this point?

Figuring out ways for the athletes to enjoy their CA experience even more than they did last year.

 

[kaylamauro]

good luck this season...yall will be awesome like always!!