We were recently at a competition that, I think because of low attendance, mixed the large with the small. We were one of the large teams, but even to us it didn't seem fair to the small team (we have over 25, they have under 10). How do the judges even judge that fairly? I see another example of a team of 8 going against a team of 36, wow. How can that be? There is a reason competitions divide small and large, and it just doesn't seem right when competitions don't do it. What do you guys think???
No matter what, large teams can make nicer pyramids and have a good chance of having a lot more tumblers on the squad. i agree with you and I think its unfair for them to be combined.
well anything is possible. at gssa in scaremento cheer force put a small/small coed in large coed and added one guy. They had 5 guys now and like 16 girls and still won large coed because they were clean and consistant hitting almost flawless routines each time and what i believe a flawless routine in the super six. If a small small coed team can beat large coed teams so can other small coed teams. i think however the reason why cheer force did so good is that the other teams had a few tumbling mistakes as cheer force had none which i saw and very few mistakes in the routine. but anyways if small small coed teams can beat large coed teams i think everyone can. power all girl did it also and thats no guys(they beat them in the over all scores they didnt actually compete in large coed) so yes i believe as it may be unfair to some it is still possible to win.
Personally, I wish we could go back to the gool old days of being divided by age divisions only. (jr prep, jr, sr, etc) Nowadays, it seems like there are 1800 divisions, small jr prep level 1-5, large jr prep 1-5, thats 10 divisions at the jr prep level alone. Yes, I know why its done, give everybody a chance to win, entice more teams to pay money to come (who wants to come to a comp when they know they're gonna get badly beaten by the other teams.) But, this Tball mentality gets me. Actually, the large and small doesn't bother me, its all those levels! Whoever said its lonely t the top wasn't talking about cheerleading. At any given competition, you can have about 70 champions! I'm sorry, thats a bit much. How bout a compromise and go back to the novice, intermediate and advanced divisions?
I agree, there seem to be too many divisions. I happen to agree with the addition of Excel however (Level 4) because it gives teams who are above the Intermediate Level but don't have more than half of their team with fulls (Advanced) a chance to compete closer to their true talent. There have been some excellent Excel teams this year.
What would I get rid of?? I would get rid of Jr. Prep and Sr. Prep. Let's examine these two ... Jr. Prep is 6th grade and under, Junior is 7th grade and under. Same with Sr. Prep and Seniors, it's 11th grade and under vs. 12th grade and under. I just don't feel one grade makes a difference. I know some competitions have eliminated Sr. Prep.
Some might wonder why a team of eight would even sign up at a competition knowing they would be mixed in with large. The answer is, they didn't know. The competitions do this last minute based on how many attend. Of course by the time you realize what has happened and that your team has virtually no chance at all, it's too late to back out.
I definitely agree about getting rid of the senior prep and even maybe junior prep divisions. Let's have senior, junior and youth(mini). Keep the levels though. Never quite understood all the age divisions. There is amazing talent at all levels. I think dropping the prep divisions would clean it up.
I was going to say that USASF deleted a few divisions/categories. There is no more junior prep and senior prep categories. That will force teams to either compete in youth or senior divisions. That will definetly increas the competitive nature of the sport. I don't agree with some of the new divisions, but understand why people are pushing for less categories.
For the large and small argument. It is always better to divide the divisions. Americas Best, GSSA and some other organizations sometimes combine the divisions for the "sake of competition", but usually the larger teams win. I like competitions that stick to their divisions no matter how the registration turns out. I think you should compete in what you register for, not what the company decides.
Thanks for the information regarding the new divisions (USASF) for the 2006-2007 season. It states at the bottom something like competitions that are USASF members must offer the divisions listed. I guess that means those who aren't part of USASF don't need to. But does that mean competitions like GSSA, America's Best, etc.. that are USASF members are now REQUIRED to offer small vs. large? That's how I read it. Am I wrong? Jamz regionals doesn't separate the two either, but I don't know if Jamz is a member of USASF. I might be confused about competition companies and how they're associated with USASF (and what rules they need to stick to, which ones they don't). But again, unless I read that wrong, it seems to me the mixing of large and small may very soon disappear.
Another Question wrote: ...But does that mean competitions like GSSA, America's Best, etc.. that are USASF members are now REQUIRED to offer small vs. large? ...
It also states that each competition company has the option of combining divisions at their discretion.
"Co-ed and/or small/large divisions may be combined to one division depending upon the final enrollment for a particular competition. This decision will be made by the company holding the competition."
Wow, thanks for the information Fan. So we're back to where we started, and USASF defining them really doesn't mean a thing if it's up to the competition companies to decide. The lesson learned here is that it's up to each cheer organization to decide which competition companies had low attendance this past year, to try to avoid this situation. Yes you want competition, you don't want to go against nobody, but you want it to be fair, and I agree with the original post... 8 against 36 is ridiculously unfair.
I like the new divisions though. It will be interesting to see how that impacts teams this next season.
It seems at most competition companies "regionals" they tend to combine the large and small divisions. It isn't until their "nationals" where they usually split. But if some "nationals" are low attendance I guess they would combine. So, yes, it would be up to the gyms to decide which competitions to attend.
But...what I don't like seeing is 1 team in a large division and 1 team in a small division. Where is the competition in that? As a fan I would rather see these two teams go against each other to see how they do. And I don't think just because you are a small team means you won't win. I've seen a team of "8 or 9" win against a team of "20" in a small division.
