All-Star Special Treatment From Ep's & Vendors

[Rudags]

With all that has gone down lately, I have been talking to numerous coaches and we are interested in hearing your thoughts on various subjects that we know occur in the industry. I'd love to hear input from everyone (coaches, athletes, parents, etc). Too be honest, some of them I am on the fence about, so am curious to hear others input to help me formulate opinions. I am interested what everyones thoughts are on some of the below issues that do happen in our industry.

*Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)

*Vendors giving gyms their *OWN* exclusive representative.

*Free Uniforms, Shoes, Practicewear, etc.

*EP's making sure certain gyms/teams win based on numbers (more so locally. If a big gym attends a local competition, sometimes that is the ONLY reason a competition can afford to exist).

*EP's Discounting competition fees based on gym size.

*Getting scoresheet information before the public does.

DISCLAIMER - Please keep gyms out of this. I can tell you a lot of these things I have witnessed first hand at gyms I have coaches at, and Ive never coached anywhere huge. Im sure big gyms AND small gyms get incentives. This is for general discussion, not flinging names around.

 

[Mo-Lissa]

I wish Nfinity would sponsor small gyms!!! My Senior Coed 5 team of (17 praying for 20) would love Backpacks!!!!

 

[Rudags]

I wish Nfinity would sponsor small gyms!!! My Senior Coed 5 team of (17 praying for 20) would love Backpacks!!!!

I love my Nfinity backpack and luggage! If you can get a large order in I know that Nfinity offers team pricing on the backpacks.

 

[REA Dad]

I am not a fan of the end of year discount programs that companies give back to gym owners at the end of the year for going to their competitions or buying their products. I don't hate that it happens I just don't like that the money comes from the parents but the year end discount ends up with the gym owner.

Special reps, free uniforms, discounts for large amounts of athletes (as long as it happens up front and parents aren't charged full price) and all the other perks don't bother me.

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

*Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)
If you're letting teams or certain gyms compete at your competition for free, you're going to have to raise the price of the competition fee for the other gyms that are competing there, so the company can afford the competition. But basically all of the other gyms that are there are paying to compete, so the team you're letting compete for free, can compete for free. (if that makes any since.) Really the only way to eliminate the "free" competition standard to certain companies "favorite teams/gyms" is to have a bid. Say the first place team of each division, or the "grand champion" (highest overall score for levels 1,2,3,4,5) and give out 5 free bids to the competition for THAT team next year.

 

[cheer8]

I think that sponsoring uniforms etc are fine... But it would be nice if smaller gyms got a little piece of the action!

Free Registration I think is crap unless you are exhibition!

Winning from number of teams at comp- I just won't go back!

Discounting fees for larger gyms... A lot of companies out side of cheer do this and I don't see anything wrong with that... reason i say this is most gyms give discounts for multiple children in there gyms! But the price of competitions shouldn't go up for everyone else... the prices are outrageous as it is!

The biggest thing is if anyone wants these things then they need to work harder to be large gyms... I am a PROUD small gym (Cheer Infinity Allstars) so don't jump my throat if you disagree! LOL! But like I said it would be nice for small gyms to get a little piece of the Action/Pie!

 

[tumbleyoda]

With all that has gone down lately, I have been talking to numerous coaches and we are interested in hearing your thoughts on various subjects that we know occur in the industry. I'd love to hear input from everyone (coaches, athletes, parents, etc). Too be honest, some of them I am on the fence about, so am curious to hear others input to help me formulate opinions. I am interested what everyones thoughts are on some of the below issues that do happen in our industry.

*Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)

*Vendors giving gyms their *OWN* exclusive representative.

*Free Uniforms, Shoes, Practicewear, etc.

*EP's making sure certain gyms/teams win based on numbers (more so locally. If a big gym attends a local competition, sometimes that is the ONLY reason a competition can afford to exist).

*EP's Discounting competition fees based on gym size.

*Getting scoresheet information before the public does.

DISCLAIMER - Please keep gyms out of this. I can tell you a lot of these things I have witnessed first hand at gyms I have coaches at, and Ive never coached anywhere huge. Im sure big gyms AND small gyms get incentives. This is for general discussion, not flinging names around.

* I can see it happening at locals but definitely not for Worlds Bid events. Many times the local will try to recoup the costs on the gate and through vendors. However I am also in favor of those cost savings being passed down to the parents. If the gym got to compete for free - then the parents should not be charged that comp fee. Even if they have to wait to the end of the year and give it back as a credit. That just never seemed right to me.

* Doesn't matter if a gym has their own exclusive representative. As long as when we call and have concerns or issues they are dealt with in a professional polite manner and we are treated like we are a valued customer.

* Never. Whatever perks are given, it stops the second you step into warm ups up through the time that you step onto the mat to compete. If the results are rigged then why compete?

*EP's can discount if they choose to. I am not a fan of this but I understand why they do it. But once again if they do discount IMO the savings should be passed on to the parents.

*Scoresheets should be released to all who have registered to compete on the same day and time. Additionally if a gym is going to get a private review or critique of their routine weeks ahead of the competition by the EP, then that same service should be offered to all.

 

[kristenthegreat]

*Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)- Not a fan for World's bid in particular, as if it comes out that 'So and So' competed at say, Battle at the Capitol or NCA for free and won a bid, it just reeks of favoritism and does NOTHING for our sport.

*Vendors giving gyms their *OWN* exclusive representative. - Makes sense. A large, high-volume customer? You want to make sure everything goes smoothly to keep them with your business.

*Free Uniforms, Shoes, Practicewear, etc. - Good business sense. You want someone awesome rocking your gear to make people want it. Let's face it, if I wore a cheer hoodie, nobody would buy it unless it was in and of itself an AWESOME hoodie. Smack Maddie in a hoodie and thousands of screaming children will beg their parents for one.

*EP's making sure certain gyms/teams win based on numbers (more so locally. If a big gym attends a local competition, sometimes that is the ONLY reason a competition can afford to exist). - Not good.

*EP's Discounting competition fees based on gym size. - Can see why they would do it, but NO BUENO.

*Getting scoresheet information before the public does. - Define public? Parents? Other coaches. That last one does NOTHING to inspire confidence in the smaller program.

 

[cheer9497]

Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)----NO NO NO!

 

[CheerBank]

This thread has expanded my mind so much. Being at a small gym for years (and we will probably always be at a small gym) I was certainly aware that larger gyms and well-known teams have sponsors and get perks, and that certain teams at certain comps won not because their routines and performance were so much better but because they had 10 large teams there and we had 2, but all of these things further illustrate why, unless significant changes are made, all-star cheer will never be considered a legitimate sport imho.

 

[BlueCat]

I am all for a business model (ex - Majors) that shifts the burden of event costs away from the teams/athletes themselves. If EPs can find a way to recoup their costs in other ways (vendors, gate, ad revenue, retail sales, sponsorships, pay-per-view, etc.) that helps decrease the costs for the athletes themselves.

I absolutely oppose ANYTHING which affects the integrity of the competition aspect of the event, however. The scoring/judging/etc. should absolutely be fair and unbiased. My guess is that this happens less often than people think.

 

[King]

I think the smartest thing is how someone should think of an EP. They are a service company. Their job is to keep all their customers happy. Keep customers coming back and building their competitions. Having correctly run cheerleading and good cheerleading outcomes are not a core component of this. In fact, having well judged and run cheerleading is considered a unique characteristic for an EP. Reread that and think about that. Having well judged cheerleading is considered unique and something that separates competitions. So think about your choice of competition as more like your choice of hotel, not going to a sporting event. Does that make sense?

 

[12stepCheermom]

With all that has gone down lately, I have been talking to numerous coaches and we are interested in hearing your thoughts on various subjects that we know occur in the industry. I'd love to hear input from everyone (coaches, athletes, parents, etc). Too be honest, some of them I am on the fence about, so am curious to hear others input to help me formulate opinions. I am interested what everyones thoughts are on some of the below issues that do happen in our industry.

*Competition companies letting teams compete at their events for free (local AND world's bid)

*Vendors giving gyms their *OWN* exclusive representative.

*Free Uniforms, Shoes, Practicewear, etc.

*EP's making sure certain gyms/teams win based on numbers (more so locally. If a big gym attends a local competition, sometimes that is the ONLY reason a competition can afford to exist).

*EP's Discounting competition fees based on gym size.

*Getting scoresheet information before the public does.

DISCLAIMER - Please keep gyms out of this. I can tell you a lot of these things I have witnessed first hand at gyms I have coaches at, and Ive never coached anywhere huge. Im sure big gyms AND small gyms get incentives. This is for general discussion, not flinging names around.

I totally didn't know that any of this even went on. Our high school team used to get uniforms from varsity comped years ago. I don't now why I wouldn't have thought it was going on in allstar too, just never thought about it.

In the end I think it's the EPs doing business. Right or wrong, large or small, it's probably not going to change as long as we're not a sanctioned NCAA sport. I would think at that point, there might be some restrictions on what kids would be allowed to accept without breaking some kind of payment, incentive, recruiting thing, especially if that EP is also attached to college teams in some manner.

 

[REA Dad]

I think the smartest thing is how someone should think of an EP. They are a service company. Their job is to keep all their customers happy. Keep customers coming back and building their competitions.

This may be a spin off topic but who are the actual customers? Is the customer the parents who pay 100% of the cost, the cheerleader or the gym owner?

 

[King]

This may be a spin off topic but who are the actual customers? Is the customer the parents who pay 100% of the cost, the cheerleader or the gym owner?

There are two types of customers. The gyms/programs themselves. They represent you. And even though you may have given the money to pay with, they are still the ones handing over the giant check/credit card bill. The other customers are parents paying in to watch the event. I