All-Star Summit Or Us Finals?

[PEPantherFan]

I didn't attend the summit this year, so my opinion is purely speculation. But, my biggest "gripe" so to speak with the summit, is the fear that it will take away from worlds.

Worlds is something that young kids strive for, for some (my daughter included) it is their strongest motivation to get level 5 skills. "I can't wait until I am on a level 5 team and can go to worlds." With The Summit being the very next weekend in the very same arena, I feel it takes away from it.

Like NCA, only the level 5 athletes (with a few exceptions, I believe this year the exception was the special needs teams) get to compete in the arena. That is something prestigious, reserved for them. I feel the same about Worlds. Worlds is like the Olympics of our sport, the best of the best competing for the honor of the World Champion title.

I understand the argument that Suzys gym doesn't have a level 5 team or Suzy just doesn't have the ability to be a level 5 athlete, BUT not every swimmer, gymnast or skier gets to go to the Olympics either.

Just my 2 cents.

I just want to point out that what you are saying is akin to "There shouldn't even be minor league baseball, just major league baseball." Major League Baseball NEEDS minor league baseball to survive. And what about the annual college World Series...? Those kids shouldn't even bother playing because if they're not professionals, no one cares, right?

We can't place Worlds on such a high platform with nothing beneath it. Prestigious events can't exist in a vacuum. I think the Summit is exactly what we needed.

So if becoming level 5 should be everyone's goal, then why let levels 1-4 compete at all? Maybe just save yourself the money and only let your daughter compete once she does have the level 5 skills? It's a slippery slope.

Maybe I'm old school, but I like to see a routine hit solid, clean as hell, and checkin' boxes left and right ON ANY LEVEL. Putting that all in one place is great. Those athletes deserve some recognition.

Also, let's be honest, nothing will touch our precious Worlds.


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[Philly Pherocious]

I will go to whatever competition EcE J5 goes to... Because they're perfect. #futureworldchamps


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[Valvalmom]

I just want to point out that what you are saying is akin to "There shouldn't even be minor league baseball, just major league baseball." Major League Baseball NEEDS minor league baseball to survive. And what about the annual college World Series...? Those kids shouldn't even bother playing because if they're not professionals, no one cares, right?

We can't place Worlds on such a high platform with nothing beneath it. Prestigious events can't exist in a vacuum. I think the Summit is exactly what we needed.

So if becoming level 5 should be everyone's goal, then why let levels 1-4 compete at all? Maybe just save yourself the money and only let your daughter compete once she does have the level 5 skills? It's a slippery slope.

Maybe I'm old school, but I like to see a routine hit solid, clean as hell, and checkin' boxes left and right ON ANY LEVEL. Putting that all in one place is great. Those athletes deserve some recognition.

Also, let's be honest, nothing will touch our precious Worlds.


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I guess I don't understand that NEED to achieve "recognition" at the younger levels. There are already 62,000 "national" comps out there if you want a jacket.

This sport is already so expensive. Now Varsity comes and invents an "exclusive" comp and suddenly there's an infinite need to fork out the $$$ to "climb to the top."

Worlds is not only a different skill set, it's a different mindset as well. Why do we need to dangle the pressure of going to the summit over the heads of 7 year olds who have been cheering a year? Why do we need them to prove themselves? Why not let them enjoy the sport for a bit?

Again, I can understand summit maybe for the lower level senior teams but I'm really struggling to stomach the overall cost of summit over the athletes career. By the time they do make that worlds team 7 years from now, there'll be no money left in daddy's wallet to get you to worlds!

 

[BigBow]

....but then we complain about how there are so many "nationals". why are those rinky dink nationals okay for levels 1-4 to go to, but not 5? i'm sure many parents would rather remove a couple fake nationals from their competition schedule, where their cp wins against themselves and gets a windbreaker, with the summit. level 5 athletes are more talented, yes. but level 1-4 kids should not be treated like they are not "good enough". most all star cheerleaders will never be level 5. period. so for a lot of kids, this competition could potentially be the most "prestigious" competition they'll attend in their cheerleading career. why do they not deserve something like that? why do they not deserve that feeling of competing in front of thousands of fans? why shouldn't they be allowed to compete with the very best teams at their level?

 

[INeverStopCheering]

About three years ago I really loved the U.S. Finals. But now I feel like everyone and their mother gets a bid. I think big-giving should not go below third place. If you ranked 5th at a competition, you do not deserve to go to the "Final Destination" of cheerleading. While some teams were excellent and really brought their A-game, others were a mess! I saw one team put up 3 illegal stunts!! How did you even get to this point doing three illegal stunts?!?

I always get really excited for the Final Rankings, but as mentioned, it isn't really made to be a big enough deal. It's like the most important part, but everyone forgets.

We attend the VB event. I had no problems with the event staff, when you have crowds of 7000+ sometimes you need to use your authoritative voice, sorry if that offends someone. The band system is a little hard to handle. I got there to watch our mini prep team and almost couldn't get a coach's band because all the coaches were in warm-ups with the minis. They did give us a room upstairs where kids could go and wait for their coaches to give them a band, but we were constantly making band runs upstairs. And they can't compete with them on (not even around their shoe, we tried). Temporary tattoos people...Don't wash off, can't share, easy to apply, can compete with.

As for Cheer Perfection, my mom and I had good seats, off to the side to see over the fan section. We go to dinner, I come back, and Ann is in my seat . I didn't see any promos for the show, other than some little postcards floating around. I was horrified however, by how long it took them to stop the music when a child was very obviously bleeding. I feel like that was largely for the sake of the show, to see if the kid could make it through so they didn't have to stop filming. We were off to the side by the DJ booth, and it was obvious RD saw her. Even when the other coach removed her from the floor, RD didn't stop the music until said coach ran up to the DJ booth

 

[Valvalmom]

I was horrified however, by how long it took them to stop the music when a child was very obviously bleeding. I feel like that was largely for the sake of the show, to see if the kid could make it through so they didn't have to stop filming. We were off to the side by the DJ booth, and it was obvious RD saw her. Even when the other coach removed her from the floor, RD didn't stop the music until said coach ran up to the DJ booth

That was with Youth Silver? Same thing happened with an IO5 team!!! The kid is on the floor screaming and the team is screaming to the DJ to stop the music. I am still having nightmares about this one!

 

[NJ Coach]

@PePantherFan I felt a shimmy wasn't enough....I like you

 

[mom24girls]

We did US finals this year in VA beach because our coaches wanted to see how Summit went before having our families put out the money. I think they did a much better job this year organizing things. I know some of the other locations are small but at VA beach we took 5 teams and every one of their divisions had 10 or more teams. I wish they weren't the same weekend so teams could do both if they wanted. I do think bids should only be given till 3rd place or even just first. If you can't place in top 3 locally its not worth the money to make the trip. Our gym only takes full paid or first place bids.

 

[JBlaze]

US Finals > Summit and here is why:

• Summit's qualifiers aren't as widespread; whereas, US Finals has qualifiers all over the place, so many smaller gyms can still represent
• Summit is at Disney, which is nice....if you're rich. The packages that are being sold are expensive, and if you take the whole family, you are going to be out a lot of money. US Finals has many "final" locations, most of which are convenient and cost effective
• Summit is a single event location. US Finals has multiple and then compares the scores of ALL their Final events to make the #1 team in each category
• US Finals has Level 6. I didn't see that at Summit, but I might have missed it.
• Summit has the feel of Worlds? I don't really think so. Its NOT Worlds...its just a Varsity year end event, same as US Finals. US Finals is also far from being Worlds, but doesn't have the distractions that an event in Disney has.
• Varsity events are "usually" more expensive per gym.

Basically for me, I want to go to a year end event...have some tough competition...compete against the Nation....and forget about the song and dance that Disney has. I want to hit the floor and I want to win. My 2cents.

 

[JBlaze]

Here my take on US FINALS this year:

Arrival: My CP and I decided we wanted to come a 3 hours before her meet time to support other teams in our program and watch some other teams. They would not allow CP (who is full dressed in uniform bow & all) into competition halls unless she had a wrist band. Wrist bands were being giving at meet times:banghead:

During: for the most part comp ran on time (until level 5 divison, there were several back to back injuries). some of the scoring hmmm very questionable but ok. Pros: They did have more than enough seating this time (yay).

Awards: A mess...awards were behind, they would not let anyone in hall D until everyone from previous session had cleared out the hall. Ok fine but dont have 300-400 parents and athletes, spectators standing in hallway. Since the whole purpose of all the restrictions was due to you exceeding fire code last year. I have never seen so much police/fire presence at a cheer competition in all my 10 years of allstar cheer. As well as the 2 private security teams hired for this event. Pro: again there was more than enough seating for everyone

Cheer perfection: Hall C which was designated for vendors, concession and for teams to meet their teams had a huge US Final backdrop for pics. (they were trying to stop everyone from being in the lobby) There was also a TLC Cheer perfection back drop for pics. This is where some of the kids, coaches & parents from Youth Silver were hanging out for pics & autographs. When I purchased my ticket there was Cheer perfections 5x7 postcards at the ticket counter. Preview clips for Cheer perfection next season which is to air this summer was shown through out the comp during intermission and breaks as well as each awards ceremony.

The reason hall D had that huge line was because the fire marshall was there, making everyone's life hell. The wristbands should have been given out to all athletes. They were available to coaches when they registered. If your coach didn't make sure your team had them, so you could see others compete, then you should ask your coach...not US Finals.

not picking sides on that, just sayin...

 

[JBlaze]

I have always enjoyed US Finals, but I agree with everything you said! On two occasions I had to hunt down coaches In the halls when our kids were stopped for not having bracelets. Why not send gyms tickets for their athletes prior to the event and the athletes can use them to get their hand stamped just like the parents. Instead, they are given flimsy wristbands that had to come off for practice. They wouldn't even let kids into the awards without the bands.

I felt many of the staff was rude. No problem if you need people to move out of an aisle or move to the center of the seating, but for goodness sake, be nice about it.

The spectator info on the event page that said utilize the beach and minimize your time at the CC was just wrong. If I'm paying the price to enter, I'm going to be there for all my gym's teams!

The number of injuries in the final session was downright scary. Thank goodness no one was hurt more seriously.

And the whole Cheer Perfection advertising was just wrong. Regardless of the team's talent, one gym at a competition should not be promoted in that manner is simply unfair. Why not have advertisements for Cheer! at Worlds, or hand out flyers for Tryouts for a team. As far as I'm concerned, what they did with Cheer Perfection was akin to solicitation, which I believe is not allowed.

Again, not choosing sides so to speak, but are you holding injuries against US Finals? Thats a bit of a stretch. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely, but I wouldn't blame the event organizer, unless there was negligence on their part. Who knows, since I heard the floor was replaced a bunch of times.

Having Cheer Perfection there is the same as having Mickey Mouse there. Its an event draw.

The wristbands were something the athletes could have as a souvineer, regardless of placement. The coaches should have explained the process to the athletes/parents when they handed them out.

 

[Valvalmom]

Again, not choosing sides so to speak, but are you holding injuries against US Finals? Thats a bit of a stretch. Is it unfortunate? Absolutely, but I wouldn't blame the event organizer, unless there was negligence on their part. Who knows, since I heard the floor was replaced a bunch of times.

Having Cheer Perfection there is the same as having Mickey Mouse there. Its an event draw.

The wristbands were something the athletes could have as a souvineer, regardless of placement. The coaches should have explained the process to the athletes/parents when they handed them out.

My issue with Cheer Perfection was that they were competing. That's fine, but don't advertise the show. Or have them there as a draw but don't have them compete. IMO it's a conflict of interest.

As for the injuries when team after team suffers injuries at the same spot on the floor to the point they stop the competition and replace the stage...yeah I have to question that. I've never seen anything like it.

 

[cheermuse]

CJA has a TV show and I don't recall Varsity advertising CHEER at UCA.....or WORLDS for that matter.

Jblaze I didn't blame US finals I'm simply stating my overall experience and opinion.

 

[mom24girls]

I agree they shouldn't have advertised Cheer Perfection if they were competing. However looking at the results it didn't influence the judges in any way.

 

[Lazydaisytoo]

With 17 teams in one of our divisions, and 14 in the other, I would not say that VA Beach was an insignificant event. We have gone to other "nationals" this year, but never was the field that deep.