Competitions

Date: Wed Nov 14 1:31 PM, 2007

Competitions

Date: Wed Nov 14 2:23 PM, 2007

Athletic Championships in San Mateo has always been one of my favorite comps to attend. I just like it. It's relaxed, well run, parking is easy. The lighting is usually really good for taking pictures. One bad side no video taping.

Have always like going to America's Best in Sac.

GSSA just depends on the venue. Hate it when it was held in the old San Jose Civiic Auditorium. Not bad if it's at the convention center.

COA - Not my favorite. Seems to always be held at the Cow Palace. My least favorite venue.

Date: Wed Nov 14 2:57 PM, 2007

My favorite....Jamfest! For all the reasons we have mentioned a ton of times. Free entrance (although I know we pay w/comp fees, still love not paying at the door), well run, can take pics and video, etc.

Date: Wed Nov 14 3:11 PM, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Just curious with all the talk about who is going to which competition, what is your opinion on the following Competition Companies. Will anyone be attending any of these in the future? Please add to the list any others that you can think of.

_____________________________________________________________

Athletic Championship
America's Best
COA
GSSA
JamFest
JAMZ
Mardi Gras
UCA

Athletic Championship - just an all around great competition to attnend
Americas best - oranized and well ran
COA - not too enthusiastic about them but no complaints either way
GSSA - well what can you say it use to be the best orginization to compete with they have gotten cheap on the trophies and they seem to be falling apart
use to be my favorite competition but past 2 years have gone down we'll see what they bring this season oh and i know all the judes and it doesnt seem fair
complaints of favoritism rule gssa competition so it keeps small gyms and non memebrs away
Jamfest - never been to one of theirs
JAMZ- so much fun for the kids too much favoitism for certain teams my opinion only im not to particulair about the judges and staff owning/running and coaching gyms that compete regularly at their comps not saying there is cheating going on, just hard to believe those things dont play in the back of everyones minds

Mardi Gras was soo much fun but still kinda new could take or leave it
UCA i am totally against UCA i am not a fan of their warm up layout or how the competitions are run. they too like jamz have been scattered about in the all star squads and its just -im trying to find something nice to say the uca staff tend to hold grudges with each other and other squads loyalty is not their strong suit it reminds me of high school antics everyone knows dont cross a uca staffer they'll never let you live it down
Laurie however love her and obie great people
USA well enough has been said about them i dont know hat happend to them just toooo bad
POWER runs a great competition and I think they are honest in their comments and pretty fair in judging would love to see them bring outside judges but hey it their comp and at least their squads don't compete
Cheergyms is so much fun morton is great and everything he does is very professional

Tamara · cheergyms.com Master Poster

Athletic Championship - went once, it was good all around, I don't recall any negatives

America's Best - I really like this one, again can't immediately come up with any negatives. They were the first competition that I went to that did not let people walk around during performances....LOVED that!

CheerNation - went once, I liked the kids coming out of the smoke and the "show lights", but boy! was it a dark one! They performed up on a stage which is cool, but it does give me a little extra fear that someone was going to fall off

JamFest - the only one I've been to, I was too busy catching up with everyone to really have noticed how it was run...or even much of the routines :( But, I didn't have to pay to not pay attention. :)

JAMZ - I can take it or leave it. I really didn't like their awards...tooooooooooo looooooooonnnnnnngggggg!

UCA - eh

USA - don't like it, but it's cheap for the cheerleaders to go. Oh yeah! and the power going off in the entire block was not USA's fault

All*Star ran comps
cheergyms - they're good
POWER - no complaints, well run

Date: Wed Nov 14 5:57 PM, 2007

The thing I like about cheergyms and POWER comps is they feel really personal....unlike the larger companies.

Date: Wed Nov 14 6:31 PM, 2007

The venue is what can make or break most competitions. I also hate the San Jose Civic Center. I also don't care for the Cow Palace that much. My favorite ones are Athletic Championships in San Mateo, and America's Best in Sacramento at the Convention Center. Love staying at the Sheridan and walking out the door and bam your there.

Date: Wed Nov 14 6:33 PM, 2007

Don't care very much for JAMZ. I agree they take to long. Hate the awards ceromony. It should be about the kids. Also feel there is way to much favoritism toward certain gyms.

Date: Wed Nov 14 9:28 PM, 2007

i dont like jamz either. they definitely favor gyms.

Tamara · cheergyms.com Master Poster

I've never felt that JAMZ favors certain teams because of staff/judges. I don't see how they could, it seems that every gym I know has someone on staff at JAMZ that used to work at/cheer for their gym.

Then again, maybe I feel this way because my daughter cheered at one of "the gyms" that were favored? ;)

ETA: the smiley

-- Edited by Tamara at 21:49, 2007-11-14

cheerwatcher · GURU

Anonymous wrote:

i dont like jamz either. they definitely favor gyms.

Sadly, I agree. Never been a fan of JAMZ. I prefer other companies like Jamfest, Athletic Championships and America's best (sacramento comp!)

Date: Thu Nov 15 12:37 AM, 2007

Agreed, don't really like Jamz, USA, or GSSA. GSSA and Jamz tend to favor certain styles and teams. USA is just inconsistent and cheap. Yes its cheap, but at what expense for the teams and coaches.

Athletic Championships-well organized and fun
Americas Best-love them, just don't like they combine divisions with small and large
UCA-getting better with all star teams. They are up and coming
NCA- LOVE their comps, wish they had one in Nor Cal
Jamfest- LOVE them!! so organized and FUN!
COA-not a bad comp, just overpriced for what you get
Mardi Gras- LOVE them! They are new to Nor Cal, but they are VERY nice.
American Championships-Used to love them, but they are so wishy washy about things. Love their judging format though.

Diva Coach Melissa · Senior Member

I like:

America's Best: I really like their scoresheets and that they tell you exactly how to maximize your score. Good stuff.
American Championships: I liked the old scoring system better, that alloted bonus for difficulty, but I still like how it is now even without the bonus. It's very straight forward. And they do a lot of fun things and have really quality gifts for the kids.
Athletic Championships: Well-ran with a great warm-up set up and the kids like the show lighting.
CheerNation: They only came to San Jose that one time a few years ago but we really enjoyed it. It was well-ran and the kids really enjoyed being on a stage and the special effects lighting and lasers and all that. We'd love for them to come back!
NCA: Not really doing anything in this area anymore, which is sad to me - I'm from the Midwest where NCA is like 50% of your competitions in a season. We used to do their Las Vegas nationals but it got so small it wasn't worth the trip anymore.
JamFest: Always a lot of fun for the kids with nice gifts and fun intermissions.
Jamz: We've always liked Jamz. I agree that the awards are grueling, especially after you've been there alllll darrrrrrn dayyyyy and they want to party and toss beads and shirts and whatnot, but the staff is always super nice to our kids and they have a great time.

Date: Thu Nov 15 11:12 AM, 2007

Agreed, don't really like Jamz, USA, or GSSA. GSSA and Jamz tend to favor certain styles and teams.

I think you could say that about quite a few competition companies.

Date: Thu Nov 15 11:19 AM, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed, don't really like Jamz, USA, or GSSA. GSSA and Jamz tend to favor certain styles and teams.

I think you could say that about quite a few competition companies.

you are prob ryt but gssa n jamz is so blatent w the favortisim its sick
especially gssa more so than anyone
small gyms dont stand a chance there but every so often i hope more small gyms decline the invite to gssa until they get their act together this comp has gone way down hill it used to be a favorite politics its everywhere

Date: Thu Nov 15 12:10 PM, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Agreed, don't really like Jamz, USA, or GSSA. GSSA and Jamz tend to favor certain styles and teams.

I think you could say that about quite a few competition companies.

you are prob ryt but gssa n jamz is so blatent w the favortisim its sick
especially gssa more so than anyone
small gyms dont stand a chance there but every so often i hope more small gyms decline the invite to gssa until they get their act together this comp has gone way down hill it used to be a favorite politics its everywhere

Yes but look at the results from GSSA and Jamz for the past 3-5 years. Same gyms win every season. Seriously it gets old. They wonder why their attendance goes down. The UOP comp was 3 times as small as it normally is, regardless if their was a POWER comp that same day.

GSSA just prefers that Northern California style because its seen so much during the day, it seems to be the "standard". Not sure why, but it is.

Date: Thu Nov 15 12:27 PM, 2007

how is there favoritism? i really dont see it at all. give me two videos of teams that should not have placed where they did?

you can look back at super six when the competition was in sacramento. i think it was 06. power large took first. they definately should have. crowd favorite by far when probably half the crowd had red bagners and they looked pretty solid from memory.
cheerforce took 2nd. had alot of talent n gave power a run for their money at 1st but fell short. power had more enthusiasm in their routine.
all american got 3rd. dont scream about it being favoritism. they hit, they were clean.
cheerforce small coed took 4th. not bad given half their team had already performed just minutes before. southbay got 5th. they had a better performanice in finals that day than in super six. and their tumbling was sloppy and everyone knows gssa likes clean performances better than difficult ones that dont hit perfectly.
then power small got 6th. thats expectable given they r small senior and every girl on that team competed just minutes before and dropped a stunt.

that was one of the biggest controversies about gssa and yet it doesnt seem like the judging was biased at all. i thought gssa was correct in there scoring. and talking about in general. maybe those small teams should get better alot of big gyms have really good coaches that know what they are doing extremely well.

Date: Thu Nov 15 12:51 PM, 2007

Anonymous wrote:

how is there favoritism? i really dont see it at all. give me two videos of teams that should not have placed where they did?

you can look back at super six when the competition was in sacramento. i think it was 06. power large took first. they definately should have. crowd favorite by far when probably half the crowd had red bagners and they looked pretty solid from memory.
cheerforce took 2nd. had alot of talent n gave power a run for their money at 1st but fell short. power had more enthusiasm in their routine.
all american got 3rd. dont scream about it being favoritism. they hit, they were clean.
cheerforce small coed took 4th. not bad given half their team had already performed just minutes before. southbay got 5th. they had a better performanice in finals that day than in super six. and their tumbling was sloppy and everyone knows gssa likes clean performances better than difficult ones that dont hit perfectly.
then power small got 6th. thats expectable given they r small senior and every girl on that team competed just minutes before and dropped a stunt.

that was one of the biggest controversies about gssa and yet it doesnt seem like the judging was biased at all. i thought gssa was correct in there scoring. and talking about in general. maybe those small teams should get better alot of big gyms have really good coaches that know what they are doing extremely well.

ok lets look pats super 6 we all know all those teams did great and that is a hard division to judge but please do not even say gssa is about clean versus difficulty because there are teams who drop many of stunts and still place over the clean routine give me a break

no matter what you say if there is a gym that is bringing 100 plus athletes and there is a gym bringing 50 or less you cant tell me gssa doesnt want to tick off the big gym and it doesnt play in the back of their heads

its a common complaint about gssa so it must be legit its not a new complaint
i actually got a call from the owner asking why we were not coming back anymore and i told her why its something she has heard many of times she even addressed it on one of newsletters online before

again this is an orginization where the board/members are mainly all star gym owners who compete in that venue and that should just not be allowed period

judging is subjective and so that is the excuse we keep hearing
small gyms can not progress if not giving a fair oppurtunity to do so so quit saying silly things like maybe they need relly good coaches because a lot of them have them and if they could only have a fair chance

all judges should be flown in from other states and many different states (not within their state) that would give different perspectives and styles for the subjective judging we all use as a crutch
any team that has a owner coach etc that is affiliated with the program in any way should not be allowed to compete at the venue its done in every other sport job contest etc
offer small gym and large gym division instaed of all these darn level with open limited unlimited etc..... so that small gyms compete w small gyms and large gyms compete aginst large gyms then no one can cry because they are large idea

how about they give us 2 judges that have nothing to do with northern california at all and can judge fairly

and by the way at one of our comps one of the judges was a choreographer for our squad and our camp director and that year even though our team stunk up the place thanks to her extra high score compared to ther judges we placed thats coming staright from the horses mouth

a long with us having a judge who was and is a hometown rivalry who judged our squads hard one year come on

gssa and jamz needs to correct this
gssa was a reputable company back when but money talks and BS walks
the whole caliber has gone down hill

CheerMama · Senior Member

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

how is there favoritism? i really dont see it at all. give me two videos of teams that should not have placed where they did?

you can look back at super six when the competition was in sacramento. i think it was 06. power large took first. they definately should have. crowd favorite by far when probably half the crowd had red bagners and they looked pretty solid from memory.
cheerforce took 2nd. had alot of talent n gave power a run for their money at 1st but fell short. power had more enthusiasm in their routine.
all american got 3rd. dont scream about it being favoritism. they hit, they were clean.
cheerforce small coed took 4th. not bad given half their team had already performed just minutes before. southbay got 5th. they had a better performanice in finals that day than in super six. and their tumbling was sloppy and everyone knows gssa likes clean performances better than difficult ones that dont hit perfectly.
then power small got 6th. thats expectable given they r small senior and every girl on that team competed just minutes before and dropped a stunt.

that was one of the biggest controversies about gssa and yet it doesnt seem like the judging was biased at all. i thought gssa was correct in there scoring. and talking about in general. maybe those small teams should get better alot of big gyms have really good coaches that know what they are doing extremely well.

ok lets look pats super 6 we all know all those teams did great and that is a hard division to judge but please do not even say gssa is about clean versus difficulty because there are teams who drop many of stunts and still place over the clean routine give me a break

no matter what you say if there is a gym that is bringing 100 plus athletes and there is a gym bringing 50 or less you cant tell me gssa doesnt want to tick off the big gym and it doesnt play in the back of their heads

its a common complaint about gssa so it must be legit its not a new complaint
i actually got a call from the owner asking why we were not coming back anymore and i told her why its something she has heard many of times she even addressed it on one of newsletters online before

again this is an orginization where the board/members are mainly all star gym owners who compete in that venue and that should just not be allowed period

judging is subjective and so that is the excuse we keep hearing
small gyms can not progress if not giving a fair oppurtunity to do so so quit saying silly things like maybe they need relly good coaches because a lot of them have them and if they could only have a fair chance

all judges should be flown in from other states and many different states (not within their state) that would give different perspectives and styles for the subjective judging we all use as a crutch
any team that has a owner coach etc that is affiliated with the program in any way should not be allowed to compete at the venue its done in every other sport job contest etc
offer small gym and large gym division instaed of all these darn level with open limited unlimited etc..... so that small gyms compete w small gyms and large gyms compete aginst large gyms then no one can cry because they are large

how about they give us 2 judges that have nothing to do with northern california at all and can judge fairly

and by the way at one of our comps one of the judges was a choreographer for our squad and our camp director and that year even though our team stunk up the place thanks to her extra high score compared to ther judges we placed thats coming staright from the horses mouth

a long with us having a judge who was and is a hometown rivalry who judged our squads hard one year come on

gssa and jamz needs to correct this
gssa was a reputable company back when but money talks and BS walks
the whole caliber has gone down hill

I think what the controversy was that the point spread was too wide 20 points between1st and 2^nd. It wasnt just because GSSA likes POWER or favors teams in Nor Cal. The year prior to that American got the full paid bid over POWER. So we all know different comp companied like different things. Some like huge head bobbling and wide mouth facials, others like natural smiles. Just pick your comps according to how your routines are constructed and then you wont have any issues. Owners know what comps like and if you do Nor Cal style routines there are some comps that like that over others.

Date: Thu Nov 15 1:05 PM, 2007

I have to say I have seen this happen too -- it was a coach from our gym that was judging another competition where a competitive gym attended. From a business standpoint, and we have all heard many times how all stars is a business, it makes more business sense to score the competitive gym lower. I know the argument will be there are numerous judges and that's just one score card (or whatever its called), but that one card will still make a difference in the final standings. There are no checks and balances in place to make sure this is not happening. You see a routine and you have a choice to give a certain amount of points and it's just too easy to score on the lower or higher side without having to justify it. Raise your hands if you have seen results that make you scratch your head? It happens all the time.

But what's the solution? It's too costly to fly judges in from out of the area.