This weekend was definitely a learning experience for everyone involved. The cheerleaders, coaches, judges, and the event producers can all learn from a competition like this one.

I had the opportunity to review my score sheets with Bill and two main judges. As we, walked through the sheets, it was determined the scoring system is flawed and left too much room for 5 different judges opinions. Each judge was allowed to access difficulty points and performance points. This could open the door for biased opinion. In addition, there was no deductions for tumbling errors or stunting errors...and we are all conditioned to look for the errors.

UCA does want to make it right. They asked for suggestions and were very resceptive. I suggested the new standardized score sheet. It is my hope that the standardized scoresheet will eliminated the confusion when we leave at the end of the competition day.


-- Edited by UCF Staff at 13:18, 2009-02-23

Jill

I will discuss it with my youth team and staff to see what we can do to close the point spread between us. LOL  See ya in a few weeks.

JOHN

I want to respond to all the concerns about the judging and in particular to people who have posted on this site regarding a coach in warm up calling penalites on other teams. I am the cheer director for All Star Elite and I am on the board of the Northern California All Star Alliance. For those that may not know, the NCAA has been put together to better all star cheerleading in Northern California, in all areas. From competition schedules to insuring depth of competition, to discounted events and scholarships. Another component of the NCAA is the rules. Our objective is to make sure all the gyms within the NCAA are aware of the rules, the interpretation of those rules and we work together to make our voices heard to the representatives of the USASF.
We have ,in a short amount of time, positively made an improvement to our sport. As noted in another post there are 7 members of the executive board of the NCAA and all of them have made positive contributions to the NCAA but it must be said that leading this effort has been John from POWER. One of the reasons for the success of the NCAA is Johns vast knowledge and the experience he brings. He knows the rules as well as anyone and he knows how to interpret a score sheet. As someone who has worked closely with him over this past year, I can tell you he is using his knowledge and his experience to benefit all of us. His motives are to better our sport period.
One of the main topics for all of us, has been the inconsistency with judging that we see from event to event. But instead of just complaining about it we have been at the forefront trying to do something about it. Morton from Cheergyms.com, myself and John were at the NACCC meeting in Atlanta and we continuously drove home the concept that we need a standardized score sheet. We have made numerous proactive calls and conference calls to event producers expressing our desire for consistency within the judging and removing as much subjectivity as possible. And trust me, they are listening. When John was calling out penalties at Saturday's competition it was not to better himself or his team. I personally witnessed him call out his own team. John is clearly making a statement to the event producers that if you are going to bring an event to Northern California make sure you provide us with judges that know the rules, because we do!

I also want to make it clear that the event producers and the judges are all extremely professional and dignified people trying to do their best. I do not believe for one minute that politics or bias is driving these judging panels. No event producer in their right mind would stack the panel for certain teams and against others. Remember to the event producer they are a business and every team is a client. They want to please all their clients:)
The problem is with the system. Prior to the formulation of the USASF we had event producers running competitions and everyone of them had their own set of rules. Thank goodness the USASF was formed and through tireless meetings and collaboration put together our current rules and leveling system. The event producers became part of the USASF but in order to have their own autonomy they wanted to have their own scoring system. Well, that worked for a while but we are now at the place in the development of our sport where that concept is no longer working. While in Atlanta, we representing the NCAA, made our voices heard that we need a standardized score sheet and I believe we will have one for next season. It will be optional to the event producers and we are encouraging our NCAA members to only attend events where the standardized score sheet has been implemented. I understand it is easy to complain and gripe about what is not going well but collectively we are trying to be proactive and make things better. Every event producer we have worked with this year has been open and receptive to our vision for the sport. I am discouraged to hear their integrity challenged on these boards, because it is clearly not the problem. If I can get one message across, please let it be that we need to look at the system before we accuse dignified people of corruption. That is a horrible message to send out to our kids and it is just not true.
As we finish out the remainder of the season we are doing our best to work with the event producers and our members to be sure we all understand each score sheet for each event we attend. I believe the event producers and the judges are doing the best they can with the system they have and I am so grateful that the NCAA has come together to accomplish what would be so difficult for one voice, one coach or one gym to do.

These are two separate issues. First is the scoresheet issue and secondly is the organization of this particular event. In regards to the alliance I am disappointed that you have not seen the results of our efforts because there have been many. First the schedule this season was organized and put together by the Alliance in May of 2008. This was unheard of in our industry. Most event producers were not giving out dates or pricing until September. We as the alliance said this is not acceptable to our parents. They have a right to know when and where they can compete and how much is it going to cost. Along with that we negotiated discounts on pricing because we wanted to pass that on to the parents and I suggest you speak to your cheer director to see if it was passed on to you. Secondly, we coordinated the events as much as we could to ensure depth of competition, because we recognize that parents do not want to pay for recitals where your team is the only one in the division. I feel we have had more depth at the competitions than most regions as a direct result of the work of the NCAA. Thirdly, the NCAA established the NCAA Scholarship fund that is something parents have been asking for, for a long time. Through the work of many (you may call it politics) I call it hard work, we raised over $5000 to distribute to well deserving seniors in our Northern California region. These efforts were on display at four major Northern California events so I am not sure how you missed it. The people who worked these events were volunteers coordinated by the NCAA. Again, we were listening and we delivered. Fourth, rules that have been implemented in the past have affected our sport yet few in the Northern California region participated in the process. Through the efforts of the NCAA we had three Northern California representatives (at their own expense) attend the annual meeting where we made a significant impact on the rules and the vision of our sport. Not only did we convey the concerns for the sport we conveyed the concerns parents have relayed to us to the event producers. We also took it a step further by educating all the gyms within the alliance about the meeting. We met to review the rules, we advised them of the procedure and the process and we educated gyms on the voting process. We also were asked to be on boards and commitees so that we can make sure that the voice of Northern California is on the National level. On another note that I am quite suprised you have not noticed is the change in the sportsmanship at the events. In previous years all the gyms kept to themselves and of course that trickled down to the teams doing the same. This year, because collectively we were all able to put aside our egos and come together to better our sport we have developed a much friendlier environment than in the past. This has trickled down to our kids. The level of sporstmanship this year has dramatically changed and has been acknowledged on this board numerous times. When the athletes see the relationship between the owners and coaches as respectful and friendly it sets an excellent example and I for one have seen a huge difference.

In regards to your frustration at the event, that is also something the NCAA is working on. We are communicating with the event producers to improve the quality of their events because we do recognize that you are the client. Not only are you our client but theirs too. Next week we will have a schedule for the 2009-2010 season and it is up to each gym to decide which event they will or will not go to. If your gym was unsatisfied with the event then certainly do not return next season.

Believe me, we as the directors of the gyms hear and understand the frustration from you the parents, but the point I was trying to make is at least we are doing something about it. I am sorry you have not witnessed the efforts and it appears behind the scenes but how else would it be?
I am part of the NCAA because I love this sport but the four components of the sport were not talking to each other. The gyms, the parents, the event producers and the USASF were not communicating with each other effectively.
I believe we have outstanding gyms in our area with some of the most talented and passionate coaches anywhere. I believe the USASF is the best thing to happen to All Star Cheerleading. I believe the event producers give us excellent high quality events (not perfect). But what was missing was these three entities were not communicating the needs of you the parent. We at the NCAA are not saying we are a parent advocate but we are listening to you and your concerns and we are doing our best to communicate the concerns and the frustrations to the people who can do something about it in a professional and appropriate manner. I would hope that the parents would take the opportunity to see the efforts and use it as a tool to teach the kids that life is not perfect and if you want to see change, then work together for a common goal in a positive and proactive manner.

We have a great sport and I am sorry you feel that you are a guinea pig for next season. I see it completely different. This is a sport that is growing and developing and yes there have been mistakes along the way. But there has been significant improvement and yes you are right you are more aware of what is going on with the sport. But I think it has been a great season for athletes. We have seen some great events, with divisions that are extremely competitive. We have seen sportsmanship be rewarded and recognized. We have seen a scholarship fund established on our Northern California level and at the National level. We have seen events coordinated to not run on the same weekend and we have seen teams from all areas and all gyms have success. There is no dominant team any longer. The talent has spread out and we see gyms from all areas succeeding. This is a result of the USASF leveling system and coaches putting their athletes on the appropriate team. This is a result of coaches becoming more educated about the rules and developing their athletes in a safe manner. I am very optimistic about our sport especially here in Northern California.

Karen thank you for your responce. I was unaware there was such bad sportsmanship between the gyms. Thanks for clearing that up. I am glad the NCAA was able to rectify that. I also was one of the contributors to the college fund. I took your statement like the NCAA is the only contributor? I guess I did not get my point across. I am frustrated that depending on what comp. you go to the judging is different. I hope in time the NCAA will be able to have a universal scoring sheet. I thought this link was to discuss the UCA comp. I am not refering to any other comp. we have attending. As for the NCAA using their own money to fly to Atlanta for a meeting of course they would use their money. This is there buisness. Am I suppose to be greatful that they paid for there own flight to grow and organize there business? I think I do that when I gladly pay for tuition every year. Cheerleading has given so much to my children and family. I am glad to see that strides have been made by the NCAA, but don't forget about the families and the athletes that put their sweat, tears, brusies and bumps into this sport. The sacrafices gladly made by families so there children can compete. So don't rob them by bad judging or bad score sheets what ever you want to call it.

Give it time to work, it is trying to address these kinds of issues.  I think we will see a difference as soon as the standardized score sheets become a reality, can we hope to see this happen next season?   If so, attend the competitions that are using them and DONT attend the ones that arent, like the post said.  It will be the only way to force all competitions to use them, and then hopefully the problems you saw with the scoring at UCA will be gone.

I would just like to say that I support the alliance 100% I think that what they are doing is making the sport better. I can see HUGE improvements and I know there are more to come. Thank you guys for everything you are doing and people just have to remember that everyone has to start somewhere. I dont mind being a "tester" for the greater good of the sport. THANKS NCAA!

I just saw the list of the gyms involved with the NCAA and now I understnad why I am not very informed about it. My gym is not on the list. I understand this is going to take awhile to work through all the issues. Thank you for allowing me to get UCA off my chest. Sorry if I upset anyone not my intention, just very frustrated. I hope the NCAA pushes for a organized score sheet. It would be beneficial to the sport.

-- Edited by CHERZ2U at 13:42, 2009-02-24

I wanted to quickly jump on this board to say ditto to everything that Karen has written and more.

The Northern California All Star Alliance has really made an impact on the sport of cheerleading. This impact has been recognized by more than those that are involved in Northern California Cheerleading. John, Karen, and Morton have carried our opinions to national level conferences, sat down and share with the competition hosts and rules committees, our thoughts and concerns as we attend one competition to the next. And whether they (John, Morton, and Karen) agreed or disagreed with our UNITED opinions, they represented the NCAA us well.very well.

It is absolutely crazy what the NCAA has accomplished in just 9 short months, that its truly mind blogging. The NCAA has achieved a name that is well respected not just here in Northern California but across the country. Its the first unity of its kind! And I am so excited to be a part of this gathering. John, this was your brain child, and you are working your booty off to make sure all cheerleaders (and not just your cheerleaders in you gym) are being looked out for and who would have thought all this could happen? Who would of thought that we (gym owners/coaches) could all sit at a conference table take of our competitive hats and discuss what and how WE could make this sport even better? Its so very cool!

I am extremely excited to be able to hand out our very first NCAA scholarship at the GSSA competition in March! This truly is why I wanted to be a part of this alliance. Its about the kids. Its about those that have dedicated their years (mind and body) to the sport of cheerleading. Its those that make all this happen! Its truly going to be a joyous and wonderful moment for me knowing that all the hours of work, at my first job, the gym job, and meeting NCAA members paid off. This is what its all about! And I cant wait!

Thanks to all the NCAA members! Heres to a fantastic 2009-2010! I cant wait to see how this sport will evolve in Northern California. GO NCAA!!!