The topic was civil and constructive on the "spirit sports" topic last night and it was still taken off. I don't think that they want the topic even approched. Regardless, it's an issue and people are wondering and talking. It would be better to get it out in the open and put to rest then to keep taking it off of this board.

I wasn't there, but wanted to say congratulations to all the teams that competed, it seems that it was a very tough competition. I do feel at this point in the game at other competitions, such as Jamz and other events at this point in the year, that bids are just going to be given. Seriously now that California all stars already has a bid, then then the other teams will just receive it. I just feel worlds should be at a higher prestige than the what it is becoming. If you plan right, then it will become a very easy task to receive a bid. I feel getting a bid should be a VERY hard task to accomplish and now towards the end of the season it feels certain teams will go to worlds who happen to get 2nd or 3rd in divisions which aren't very competitive.

The scoring to me was...questionable. It reminded me of USA a few years ago when everyone was talking about just not going back.

There were many divisions where there was a clear-cut winner and so there isn't much you can say about those. However, there were also many divisions that ended up almost entirely backwards, where teams with several falls were in the lead and teams with flawless routines were in last place. After Saturday, the placements in some divisions had me completely baffled.

We've talked about how they've changed their scoring, but after looking at their score sheets this weekend, there doesn't appear to be any change other than that they added penalties. There is still the completely subjective score out of 10 points in each category (standing tumbling, running tumbling, partner stunts, pyramids, etc, etc) where the judges are not accountable for any of their scores based on difficulty of routine or things like that (like American Championships has), and then penalty deductions on top of that. So teams that have ended up within 5 points of each other out of 600 all year long at other competitions were suddenly 30 points from each other out of 300 at GSSA, and there's no way to dispute the scoring because it's not based on anything.

Thank you for saying that. I think people forget this "board moderator"!

Go visit another webiste message board, if you don't like this one's rules!!!

As someone who has judged and watched hundreds of cheerleading competitions with various companies I just wanted to put a few things out there about what goes into tabulating a score:

1- What age group it is. This is the most important to me as a starting point, you obviously won't judge the mini-prep division the same way you do a senior team. But that also means a Senior level 2 should be just as clean as a senior level 5 team, but with different skill levels

2- What division it is. As I said before a Senior L2 should be as clean as a Senior L5, but I am not so naive to think that they will be the same, there is a reason this team is competing at level 2 and although some of it is related to skill, I know that's not the whole story.

3- Difficulty, but skill is not everything. It is truly amazing and impressive to see a team throw 18 double fulls. It's even more amazing when they stand up all 18 of those doubles, but if in the air their body position isn't correct it takes away from the overall effect. I think cheerleading right now is getting lost in who's got the most of what skills, and I do think that is an important part of it, but there are other things to consider, which brings me to my next point:

4- Cleanliness. I cannot stress how important this is! I do not care if every girl and/or guy on your team can do a kick double basket. If your legs aren't together in your twist and your split isn't fully extended as far as I'm concerned it's hardly worth counting as a skill. Execution does not just mean how many times you touch down or bobble in a stunt, it does relate to how the stunt looks in the air or how the tumbling looked before you landed. This means that a team with no "deductions" for touchdowns or mistakes can still get a lower score than a team with mistakes. and I truly believe that's how it should be, cheerleading is a performance, not a skills routine. Also this category would include your transitions. Nothing breaks up the flow of the routine like a transition where everyone is running as fast as they can, all the way across the floor to get to their next spot. I look for creativity (see below) in transitions, and in a really good routine you should hardly notice them at all.

5- Creativity. This is one thing that can truly set a team apart in a division. Creative choreography can make or break a team. As I said before skill isn't everything, this is not gymnastics, this is cheerleading. The way a routine is put together can either hide or accentuate the flaws of a team. It is very hard to go up into a stunt and execute 3 or 4 different leg positions, but as a judge once you've seen 4 teams do similar things it becomes hard to distinguish them. Sometimes things that are creative, but easy, give the routine something special without requiring a high level of skill from your cheerleaders. This is also true for dance sections, most times they start to blend together. A team that uses a unique song or creative motions or formations can really stand out, especially if the kids look like they're having fun.

6- Overall Performance. This ties in with all of the other categories. A routine should be put together like a production. You shouldn't notice the technical things that go on (i.e. transitions). Your strengths should be highlighted. If you are a great tumbling team, use that to your advantage. If you struggle with tumbling instead of having a set tumbling section use your creativity to fit the tumbling in elsewhere so that it can be highlighted that you have some skills, but not that you lack a large quantity of those skills. Mostly I just like to see the kids out there having fun, selling their routine to me.

These are just some of the things that I as a judge look for when coming up with my score. I personally liked GSSA's combination of subjective and objective scoring. I believe that cheerleading needs to have some kind of subjectivity to it or else we're all going to have to watch the same routine, with the same skills, over and over again. The subjectivity is what keeps it interesting. But the point deductions are also necessary to keep everything in check and to make it fair. At the competitions where they base all of their scores off of objective numbers, a team could go out there without any set choreography and just tumble and stunt for 2 and 1/2 minutes and receive a perfect score (minus the 1 pt for the dance section). Having this combination of the two is what makes cheerleading any good.

With all that being said, although I did notice minor inconsistencies this weekend at GSSA (NO competition company is perfect), I think the judges got it right when judging the Super Six. They gave 1st place to the team that had the whole package, the difficulty combined with a really great, clean performance.

I do not work for any of the companies that were in the Super Six, so I don't have "favoritism issues" and I hope this post gives everyone a little insight as to what the judges are thinking when they gave out their awards.

And on a final note, congrats to all the competitors yesterday in all the divisions. And to the Super Six competitors, fantastic job, that was one of the most exciting, exhilarating competitions I've ever seen. Regardless of placement you should all be very proud of yourselves for what you've accomplished.

oops, i meant judge...... but maybe you are a coach too?

I saw that Power is going to Vegas so I am sure they are competing for the Small Bid

Cheer force large coed should have beat all-american, plain and simple. Cheer force was flawless, while all-american had a few bobbles and what not.

Thanks for being true to yourself. That's integraty and it took alot of guts to admit.
Now that is what Good Sportmanships is truly about.