I used to compete as a kid and cannot imagine competing nationally and expecting to be super competitive with completely clean taps in 4 days. There's a little bit more room for a minute studder in plain soled shoes, but if you're even a touch off in taps you're SOL. Seems that some of these comps are smaller but I've seen Showstoppers out there and atleast when I was a kid, in my area Showstoppers was about as important a competition as you could get.