All-Star Disqualifying Cheaters

[TealArmySparkle]

I had an incident when I was supposed to double team on a junior squad a few years back and my coach didn't know that the age grids had changed. I was 15 at the time and had done about 3 practices, but because of faithful old fierce board and cheer updates I soon learned about the change and basically made sure that I was taken off the team so I wasn't responsible for getting them disqualified in a competition. Another girl ended up being taken off as well because her birthday fell before the grid cut offs making her ineligible. I know its bad that I got another girl removed but I wasn't going to stand there and watch them get disqualified because of us.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I will say that many years ago back when CP was in the youthy years...a girl on her team quit a couple days before a competition and the coach reached out to the senior team (only 2 teams in the gym) and asked if anyone who was 12 and under (or whatever the age was) would be willing to fill in. Anyway, athlete stepped in and team competed at this final year-end April competition. Well suddenly the youthies are being called cheaters by the team they beat. Why? Turns out the fill in girl, while still youth age, was turning non-youth age a couple of days before the old cut-off of May 31 (which would make her non-eligible to compete in youth). The girls had no clue... the coach had no clue... nothing about the "cheating" was intentional...it just happened. Irony- the team that turned them in (someone knew this girl from rec cheer and had her birth cert) had TWO girls who were not eligible for same reason.

Anyway, my point is that not all out there in cheer land are as knowledgeable as many of the folks on here. There are ooopsies that happen like forgetting to ask "ok but when is your birthday?" So while there are definitely teams who are pushing limits, bending rules and not playing fair...there are also some who may have just not known or made a mistake.

@12stepCheermom - maybe they had fake IDs? lol!

 

[12stepCheermom]

I will say that many years ago back when CP was in the youthy years...a girl on her team quit a couple days before a competition and the coach reached out to the senior team (only 2 teams in the gym) and asked if anyone who was 12 and under (or whatever the age was) would be willing to fill in. Anyway, athlete stepped in and team competed at this final year-end April competition. Well suddenly the youthies are being called cheaters by the team they beat. Why? Turns out the fill in girl, while still youth age, was turning non-youth age a couple of days before the old cut-off of May 31 (which would make her non-eligible to compete in youth). The girls had no clue... the coach had no clue... nothing about the "cheating" was intentional...it just happened. Irony- the team that turned them in (someone knew this girl from rec cheer and had her birth cert) had TWO girls who were not eligible for same reason.

Anyway, my point is that not everyone out there in cheer land are as knowledgeable as many of the folks on here. There are ooopsies that happen like forgetting to ask "ok but when is your birthday?" So while there are definitely teams who are pushing limits, bending rules and not playing fair...there are also some who may just have not known or made a mistake.

@12stepCheermom - maybe they had fake IDs? lol!

I thought about that too, but either way you cut it somebody needs a refresher in integrity [emoji23]


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[uhhlyssa01]

I will say that many years ago back when CP was in the youthy years...a girl on her team quit a couple days before a competition and the coach reached out to the senior team (only 2 teams in the gym) and asked if anyone who was 12 and under (or whatever the age was) would be willing to fill in. Anyway, athlete stepped in and team competed at this final year-end April competition. Well suddenly the youthies are being called cheaters by the team they beat. Why? Turns out the fill in girl, while still youth age, was turning non-youth age a couple of days before the old cut-off of May 31 (which would make her non-eligible to compete in youth). The girls had no clue... the coach had no clue... nothing about the "cheating" was intentional...it just happened. Irony- the team that turned them in (someone knew this girl from rec cheer and had her birth cert) had TWO girls who were not eligible for same reason.

Anyway, my point is that not everyone out there in cheer land are as knowledgeable as many of the folks on here. There are ooopsies that happen like forgetting to ask "ok but when is your birthday?" So while there are definitely teams who are pushing limits, bending rules and not playing fair...there are also some who may have just not known or made a mistake.

@12stepCheermom - maybe they had fake IDs? lol!

I remember something similar happening to my program years ago when age grids first started becoming a thing and it wasn't based off what grade you are in. Hopefully now that EP's and USASF is cracking down and there are legitimate consequences being enforced, people will start to do their due diligence so honest mistakes won't happen.

 

[mstealtoyou]

If I remember correctly from our old gym, once the kids were USASF registered they got a card with their name, picture and age. When I had to sign CP up myself for her half-year team they talked about getting the cards on time, but apparently they did away with it for some reason. I have no idea when, why or how, but I know cards have existed in the past and typically the coaches kept them in case they were ever questioned.

Yes back when my Big Bit was doing it they did send cards to the gym.........Little Bit has never gotten a card though, so they did do away with it........just not sure when. (Sometime between 2010 and 2012)

 

[SL&AM]

I don't expect parents or even the cheerleaders to understand the age grid, but I do except gym owners and coaches to understand it. It's not that difficult to follow if we're being honest and I don't know about everyone else's gyms but for the three we've personally experienced, one of the first questions is "How old will your athlete be as of (As of August 31st)" in big bold letters.

I do think it'll be important going forward, if USASF ever decided to bottom age every division, for parents to also understand the age grid a bit if they have a child who's birthday falls close to the cut off. CP is 7, her USASF age of 6. When you're having to worry about top and bottom ages, it'd be smart to know which category your athlete can fall into in emergency pinch situations/

 

[123jump4!]

I logged into my parent account at usasfmembers.net then clicked on my athlete and clicked on ID card: generate printable. It made a cute little card with her name and a number but no photo or dob. The last numbers are 07 and she's 7 years old so not sure if that's anything to do with it.

 

[catlady]

I logged into my parent account at usasfmembers.net then clicked on my athlete and clicked on ID card: generate printable. It made a cute little card with her name and a number but no photo or dob. The last numbers are 07 and she's 7 years old so not sure if that's anything to do with it.

My girls numbers did not have their age in it when I printed their cards out. However, on the page you "generate printable", there is a place that has their birthdate and states "confirmed" next to it. I'm assuming if the birthdate isn't "confirmed", your athlete's membership would be in question. Accidents happen and people cheat, either way, I think the odds are against them getting away with it since the cheer community is small. I really do feel for those that were in the dark, how incredibly disappointing.

 

[123jump4!]

My girls numbers did not have their age in it when I printed their cards out. However, on the page you "generate printable", there is a place that has their birthdate and states "confirmed" next to it. I'm assuming if the birthdate isn't "confirmed", your athlete's membership would be in question. Accidents happen and people cheat, either way, I think the odds are against them getting away with it since the cheer community is small. I really do feel for those that were in the dark, how incredibly disappointing.

Yeah mine also says age confirmed. Maybe only then can you generate the ID card.

I know of a 9-year-old who is on a Sr team and I think the gym doesn't actually know you have to be 10 to be a senior. I'm still wondering if and when this will come out. I tried to warn the mom but she just told me the coaches know what they're doing. It's a small gym, that also put up an extended stunt in level 1 and wondered why they were penalized.

 

[Official OWECheer]

I remember this one time, when I was 16 and just got my license, I took my car and drove around a friend I wasn't supposed to. My car got sold the next week. And..... that was a fun lesson to learn.

If the punishment didn't really suck people might do it again.

If I had a kid I would love to do this. LOL. You must have been devastated.

 

[AngelsMum24]

Yeah mine also says age confirmed. Maybe only then can you generate the ID card.

I know of a 9-year-old who is on a Sr team and I think the gym doesn't actually know you have to be 10 to be a senior. I'm still wondering if and when this will come out. I tried to warn the mom but she just told me the coaches know what they're doing. It's a small gym, that also put up an extended stunt in level 1 and wondered why they were penalized.

Gyms like that give the rest of us newer, smaller gyms a bad name. Some of us do take the time (and money) to be educated on rules and progressions before opening our doors or forming teams.

 

[Lovemyoagirl]

CP's first gym knowingly competed kids illegally all the time, even at major national competitions. They were never caught. Out first two seasons there I knew nothing about the age grid. Once I began to educate myself about all star I found all kinds of things the gym owner was doing wrong. Needless to say that was our last season at that gym and we moved to one that follows all rules completely and absolutely.

 

[SunnyinCO]

Wow. I'm so naive. I never even imagined this kind of stuff happens until I read this thread. It might be obvious that my daughter is pretty new to cheer. Also, our gym is very small and just getting established, so we haven't been exposed to much of the ugliness described here.

 

[acecheermom]

I wonder what, if any, disciplinary actions USASF will take against the teams found cheating.

I'd like to see something along the lines of the gym cannot attend worlds, summit, and/or NCA nationals for that year and the next. That could potentially threaten a gym's entire livelihood. I feel like that's a drastic enough punishment to really deter gyms from cheating.

Also, does sandbagging fall under this "cheating" thing? It's sounds like the gyms that were reprimanded were done so because they had age illegible athletes on their teams.

We experienced this issue with a gym we were at when CP first started allstars. It was just a very small local program. They had a child competing senior who didn't turn 10 by the cut off. I reported and asked USASF myself what the repercussions would be. I was told they would be stripped of any titles, etc and the entire Allstar program would be suspended for the entire season. So glad we were out of there.

 

[Pebbles49]

I have to tell you, I never forget the year my daughter crossed over to a Mini team and how much she felt like she was cheating... My child was 9, but legally 8 for cheer because she missed the cutoff by 5 days, but she felt so uncomfortable out on the floor that year because her teammates and everyone around her were so small... I mentioned this to simply say that my child was legally competing and felt uncomfortable, what is the moral compass like of the athletes that know they are illegally competing and still do it...