- Dec 13, 2009
- 778
- 2,095
After Victor and Kristen got back from the NACC meeting we had a staff meeting to discuss the rules and talk about where we stand as a program and as individuals on the proposed slate for 2011-2013. We wanted to share our thoughts with everyone else just b/c some may be on the fence or some just may be intrigued by what we thought, lol.
The first notion or thought process we had to establish was that the goals we were trying to accomplish were:
To help the sport grow
Keep athletes safe
And make sure we all had rent paying jobs at the end of the day, lol
Level 1
Allowing Level 1 to do tosses we said no for obvious safety and skill progression reasons.
Level 2
We felt the same way for increasing skills in Level 2 tosses but if it did change only allow pretty girl and ball positions.
And we agreed that the current stunting and tumbling progression were adequate for the level so we voted no on increasing the ability level.
Level 3
We agreed that the current stunting and tumbling progression were adequate for the level so we voted no on increasing the ability level.
Level 4
The original purpose of 4.2 was to introduce high school age athletes who lack tumbling but grasp stunting into the high school arena we didn’t think the current age should be modified but if it was we would say 14 and older to stay true to what the divisions original purpose was.
Trying to set more clear and definite guidelines in athlete progression between level 4 and 5 we voted against all the rules that increased similarities in the two.
Yes to release moves that land in an extended position originating from the ground.
Yes to only allowing extended full ups to two feet.
No to only have one brace in braced inversions.
No to allowing hitch kick singles.
Senior Restricted 5
The original purpose of Senior Open 5 was to build a stepping-stone between level 4 athletes and World caliber level 5 athletes. While we can field a pretty strong team with the rules as is we don’t feel that across the country the division as is serves the needs of the majority so we voted yes on further restricting Running Tumbling, Standing Tumbling and Tosses.
Crossovers
While at first glance we thought “Awesome” lets vote to restrict crossovers and those who abuse them we then began to think about how many times we’ve had an injury or an athlete quit and had to make last minute adjustments or get fill ins. So while there are programs that take crossovers a bit overboard I’m sure there are more than that that have had to make due under the circumstances who don’t deserve to be disadvantaged. We voted No to all Crossover restrictions.
Ethics
Sounded great to not have athletes being recruited but happens when we get to a competition and a cheerleader trades his or her t-shirt with our tryout info or gym info on it and a coach takes advantage of that? We voted no, lol.
Divisions
Changing the number of large teams didn’t make that much sense to us. We only have two teams of 36 in our gym but if the number was lowered to 30 or 32 that would still be 8 to 12 athletes that we would have to turn away b/c skill wise there wouldn’t be enough of that minority to field a team. It could end up being a big financial burden on a gym either by turning away paying customers or creating new smaller teams that require more gym space/time and more coaches to train them. Shooting Stars minus their 6 weakest girls on a score sheet is now an even stronger team mathematically speaking so making the argument that my 28-32 can’t hang with your 36 didn’t really seem to valid to us either.
We don’t have senior team athletes under 12 so we originally liked the ideas of capping the age there but then thought about the small gyms who struggle to get what they have and thought it better to leave things as is.
Changing times seemed no brainer to us…We could use an extra 5 seconds here or there but 15? And our level 2-3’s need all 2:30 that they currently have.
We like the age grid as is and thought it shouldn’t be changed but if it was go with the option that didn’t drastically change all the levels and eliminate 4 divisions in the process.
We thought Division splits made more since to be done by small and large then coed and all girl since there are less coed teams than all girl teams in general.
We love the idea of reconsidering the number of males and defining the divisions as Small, Medium and Large. We even decided that based on this and the numbers everyone seems to be at now that we will be returning to the Large Coed division for the 2011-2012 season.
We didn’t want to reduce the numbers allowed on Youth 4 and 5 b/c if you can field it why turn away customers?
The average gyms concern is paying so much money to compete against no one and the average gym is at 62 athletes so we voted no on redefining any small gym criteria.
We wouldn’t want to eliminate Youth 5 but we think having rules in place similar to Senior Restricted 5 is the safest progression for such young athletes to be following.
No tosses in tiny and mini division for safety reasons.
Yes to doing away with Junior Coed and just having Junior large and small across the board. How often do you see more than 4 boys on a junior team now a day anyway?
Yes to Open level 4, gives graduating 3’s and 4’s a chance to continue cheering and will ease some of the eyesores witnessed when some programs rush themselves into the Open5 and Open 6 division simply b/c there’s nothing else.
Yes to deleting Semi-Limited Coed in favor of the new Coed guidelines.
No to defining a gym by it’s tax id. That makes some gyms with multiple facilities different gyms and if the incapable of cross-competing members if need be. If the gym’s are required to share a tax id number that could also become a problem when injuries occur in one facility and the insurance is effected on both.
No to a defined calendar season b/c it’s a bit vague and whose to say when a gym begins training?
The whole permission to cheer if you’ve already committed to one program sounds great in theory but there are a lot of ways one could misuse that and bite the program B in the but. While we see it’s benefits we would hate to ever get caught up in a mess like that.
We are all for universal dates for gym membership, athlete membership and age of eligibility.
Lastly we’d like to see the eligibility cut off return back to August 31. It brings back that 3 month window in which youth aged out to juniors, juniors aged out to seniors and seniors became ineligible etc. August 31 also coincides with the actual cheer season.
The first notion or thought process we had to establish was that the goals we were trying to accomplish were:
To help the sport grow
Keep athletes safe
And make sure we all had rent paying jobs at the end of the day, lol
Level 1
Allowing Level 1 to do tosses we said no for obvious safety and skill progression reasons.
Level 2
We felt the same way for increasing skills in Level 2 tosses but if it did change only allow pretty girl and ball positions.
And we agreed that the current stunting and tumbling progression were adequate for the level so we voted no on increasing the ability level.
Level 3
We agreed that the current stunting and tumbling progression were adequate for the level so we voted no on increasing the ability level.
Level 4
The original purpose of 4.2 was to introduce high school age athletes who lack tumbling but grasp stunting into the high school arena we didn’t think the current age should be modified but if it was we would say 14 and older to stay true to what the divisions original purpose was.
Trying to set more clear and definite guidelines in athlete progression between level 4 and 5 we voted against all the rules that increased similarities in the two.
Yes to release moves that land in an extended position originating from the ground.
Yes to only allowing extended full ups to two feet.
No to only have one brace in braced inversions.
No to allowing hitch kick singles.
Senior Restricted 5
The original purpose of Senior Open 5 was to build a stepping-stone between level 4 athletes and World caliber level 5 athletes. While we can field a pretty strong team with the rules as is we don’t feel that across the country the division as is serves the needs of the majority so we voted yes on further restricting Running Tumbling, Standing Tumbling and Tosses.
Crossovers
While at first glance we thought “Awesome” lets vote to restrict crossovers and those who abuse them we then began to think about how many times we’ve had an injury or an athlete quit and had to make last minute adjustments or get fill ins. So while there are programs that take crossovers a bit overboard I’m sure there are more than that that have had to make due under the circumstances who don’t deserve to be disadvantaged. We voted No to all Crossover restrictions.
Ethics
Sounded great to not have athletes being recruited but happens when we get to a competition and a cheerleader trades his or her t-shirt with our tryout info or gym info on it and a coach takes advantage of that? We voted no, lol.
Divisions
Changing the number of large teams didn’t make that much sense to us. We only have two teams of 36 in our gym but if the number was lowered to 30 or 32 that would still be 8 to 12 athletes that we would have to turn away b/c skill wise there wouldn’t be enough of that minority to field a team. It could end up being a big financial burden on a gym either by turning away paying customers or creating new smaller teams that require more gym space/time and more coaches to train them. Shooting Stars minus their 6 weakest girls on a score sheet is now an even stronger team mathematically speaking so making the argument that my 28-32 can’t hang with your 36 didn’t really seem to valid to us either.
We don’t have senior team athletes under 12 so we originally liked the ideas of capping the age there but then thought about the small gyms who struggle to get what they have and thought it better to leave things as is.
Changing times seemed no brainer to us…We could use an extra 5 seconds here or there but 15? And our level 2-3’s need all 2:30 that they currently have.
We like the age grid as is and thought it shouldn’t be changed but if it was go with the option that didn’t drastically change all the levels and eliminate 4 divisions in the process.
We thought Division splits made more since to be done by small and large then coed and all girl since there are less coed teams than all girl teams in general.
We love the idea of reconsidering the number of males and defining the divisions as Small, Medium and Large. We even decided that based on this and the numbers everyone seems to be at now that we will be returning to the Large Coed division for the 2011-2012 season.
We didn’t want to reduce the numbers allowed on Youth 4 and 5 b/c if you can field it why turn away customers?
The average gyms concern is paying so much money to compete against no one and the average gym is at 62 athletes so we voted no on redefining any small gym criteria.
We wouldn’t want to eliminate Youth 5 but we think having rules in place similar to Senior Restricted 5 is the safest progression for such young athletes to be following.
No tosses in tiny and mini division for safety reasons.
Yes to doing away with Junior Coed and just having Junior large and small across the board. How often do you see more than 4 boys on a junior team now a day anyway?
Yes to Open level 4, gives graduating 3’s and 4’s a chance to continue cheering and will ease some of the eyesores witnessed when some programs rush themselves into the Open5 and Open 6 division simply b/c there’s nothing else.
Yes to deleting Semi-Limited Coed in favor of the new Coed guidelines.
No to defining a gym by it’s tax id. That makes some gyms with multiple facilities different gyms and if the incapable of cross-competing members if need be. If the gym’s are required to share a tax id number that could also become a problem when injuries occur in one facility and the insurance is effected on both.
No to a defined calendar season b/c it’s a bit vague and whose to say when a gym begins training?
The whole permission to cheer if you’ve already committed to one program sounds great in theory but there are a lot of ways one could misuse that and bite the program B in the but. While we see it’s benefits we would hate to ever get caught up in a mess like that.
We are all for universal dates for gym membership, athlete membership and age of eligibility.
Lastly we’d like to see the eligibility cut off return back to August 31. It brings back that 3 month window in which youth aged out to juniors, juniors aged out to seniors and seniors became ineligible etc. August 31 also coincides with the actual cheer season.
