Athletic Championship

CaliCheerWatcher · GURU

RE: Athletic Championship

annon360 · Veteran Member

I thought this competition was great! All the gyms really brought their "A" game. Congratulations to all the winners! The hooded sweatshirts were a great prize!(minus the bubble gum pink color biggrin

) I really enjoyed seeing Nor Cal's level 4 coed team! Are they from Livermore? If so, Nor Cal was really lucky in that merge, Livermore seems to be really pulling that program along!

anon361 · Newbie

I don't believe it is only livermore. the level 5 team from san jose was off the hook.
good job to every team that attended. the amount of talent at the competition was amazing. good luck with the remainder of the season.

AbbyByTheBay · Senior Member

This is just my observation but I think it's safe to say the merge was a success for both San Jose and Livermore. Nor Cal Elite looks strong and it seems like they're all having fun. I loved watching their Sr. Coed Lev 4 and Sr. Coed Lev 5 team. The Sr. Coed Lev 4 division was so much fun to watch because every single team looked really good on the 2nd day. Fame had a great performance on Sunday too (another merge that appears to be working out great). I'm really happy for these gyms, although I have to admit I do miss watching Roseville All Stars, Cheer Xplosion, and Cheer Divas. I know they're still there but it's different. Still, major kudos to them for their success this season.

-- Edited by AbbyByTheBay at 14:16, 2009-02-06

anon361 · Newbie

annon360 wrote:
I thought this competition was great! All the gyms really brought their "A" game. Congratulations to all the winners! The hooded sweatshirts were a great prize!(minus the bubble gum pink color ) I really enjoyed seeing Nor Cal's level 4 coed team! Are they from Livermore? If so, Nor Cal was really lucky in that merge, Livermore seems to be really pulling that program along!

I don't believe it is only livermore. the level 5 team from san jose was off the hook.
good job to every team that attended. the amount of talent at the competition was amazing. good luck with the remainder of the season.

InMyChEeRzOnE!!! · Newbie

SOOOO...as a cheerleader for both all-star and high school I feel that I have to make a comment. In regards to scoring systems this is one of the main reasons why I decided to do high school this year along with my all-star team. To be honest because of scoring and all the ups and downs with it (not to mention how many different companies there are now) I decided to check out high school and I like it because it's FUN! We don't compete at competitions, but we kick A** on the field and wow our crowds and that's enough of a rush for me.
It's gotten to the point that when I compete with my all-star team that I walk off the mat feeling like we just did an awesome routine and I think first or second place is in our reach. Then at awards we get 4th or 5th??? That's not fun at all. Especially when our coaches feel like they have to keep making changes to impress the next company that we are going to compete with. Next year will be my junior year of high school and i'm seriously considering doing only high school cheer because I have so much fun with my team more than with my all star team. Our coach is AWESOME too and we all LOVE him! Not only that he has decided to let us compete next year and we will stick to one company for all competitions but maybe venture out and do an "odd" company for FUN and to see what else is out there. Which brings me to my next point...
Everyone has strong opinions against gyms that stick to just one or two companies (Jamz and USA, or Americas best and USA, or UCA and Jamz...etc, etc), but seriously can you blame them? With all the companies being different, why not perfect you skills for one or two companies and go all the way to their nationals knowing you have a shot. There are almost TOO MANY companies now and it seems like gym owners want to do a little bit of all of them. When I first started all-star we did USA and Jamz. Then other "better" companies came out and suddenly we have to do all of them. It makes no sense. I with our gym would stick to one or two companies and let us have fun like we once used too.
Of coarse I can't even put my name on this message because my coach would probably KILL me but my point is, please remember who is doing this sport and remember that once us athletes feel it's not fun anymore then we will start exploring other options. I did and look i'm finding happiness elsewhere. Totally just my opinion and what i've experienced in my years of cheering.

AbbyByTheBay · Senior Member

InMyChEeRzOnE!!! wrote:

SOOOO...as a cheerleader for both all-star and high school I feel that I have to make a comment. In regards to scoring systems this is one of the main reasons why I decided to do high school this year along with my all-star team. To be honest because of scoring and all the ups and downs with it (not to mention how many different companies there are now) I decided to check out high school and I like it because it's FUN! We don't compete at competitions, but we kick A** on the field and wow our crowds and that's enough of a rush for me.
It's gotten to the point that when I compete with my all-star team that I walk off the mat feeling like we just did an awesome routine and I think first or second place is in our reach. Then at awards we get 4th or 5th??? That's not fun at all. Especially when our coaches feel like they have to keep making changes to impress the next company that we are going to compete with. Next year will be my junior year of high school and i'm seriously considering doing only high school cheer because I have so much fun with my team more than with my all star team. Our coach is AWESOME too and we all LOVE him! Not only that he has decided to let us compete next year and we will stick to one company for all competitions but maybe venture out and do an "odd" company for FUN and to see what else is out there. Which brings me to my next point...
Everyone has strong opinions against gyms that stick to just one or two companies (Jamz and USA, or Americas best and USA, or UCA and Jamz...etc, etc), but seriously can you blame them? With all the companies being different, why not perfect you skills for one or two companies and go all the way to their nationals knowing you have a shot. There are almost TOO MANY companies now and it seems like gym owners want to do a little bit of all of them. When I first started all-star we did USA and Jamz. Then other "better" companies came out and suddenly we have to do all of them. It makes no sense. I with our gym would stick to one or two companies and let us have fun like we once used too.
Of coarse I can't even put my name on this message because my coach would probably KILL me but my point is, please remember who is doing this sport and remember that once us athletes feel it's not fun anymore then we will start exploring other options. I did and look i'm finding happiness elsewhere. Totally just my opinion and what i've experienced in my years of cheering.

Good points! I just wanted to throw my one cent out regarding gyms that mainly stick to one competition company. As you said, you can't blame them since the rules and judging seems to differ between companies. But if a gym consistently dominates at one company's competitions that the top gyms in the area don't attend, can they realistically call themselves the best? No. We don't have playoffs like other sports. We can only try to choose competitions that are well attended by gyms that challenge us and make us work for that first place award. I agree with those who say there are too many competitions to choose from. Yes, you want to have fun. But you're paying a lot of money to simply have fun; I would think you would want the satisfaction of knowing you worked hard on your skills and did well against the best.