The USASF sent the following email to event producers on Thursday, July 19, 2007:

Dear USASF Member Event Producer:

As many of you know, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the “International Open Cheer” divisions being offered for the 2008 Worlds event and the recent decision in June to restrict team sizes and the number of males on each team for those divisions. Several event producers have asked how these changes are to be implemented for divisions they offer at their Worlds qualifying and non-qualifying events, especially since these divisions were not specifically listed on the 2007-08 USASF age grid.

In addition, there was concern expressed about limiting these divisions in size given the time of season when several teams have been picked and choreography has been (or is in the midst of being) completed.

In an effort to address these concerns and to comply with the mandate that divisions offered must be on the USASF age grid, the USASF Board voted yesterday to increase the Level 5 International Open Cheer divisions by two, adding a small and a large component. This decision was an effort to accommodate as many countries as possible, encouraging their participation in the 2008 Worlds. These new divisions and the June voted team size and number of male restrictions have been added to the age grid. Therefore, you will see on the attached grid the following divisions for the International Open category:

Division	Age	# of Males	# of Members
Small International Open All-Girl	14 yrs & Older	No Males	5 – 24 Members
Large International Open All-Girl	14 yrs & Older	No Males	25 – 36 Members
Small International Open Coed	14 yrs & Older	1 – 12 Males	5 – 24 Members
Large International Open Coed	14 yrs & Older	1 – 18 Males	25 – 36 Members

Please note that the total team size dictates small verses large. In addition to that, for the co-ed division there is a limit of total males that may participate on the team.

USASF member event producers are not required to offer all of the divisions above, but may choose which divisions to offer based upon their customers’ needs. Of course, you may offer all four divisions and then roll divisions together (i.e. Small and Large All-Girl become just All-Girl if you do not have enough teams to field 2 teams each in the divisions split out by size) as it states in the division consolidation guidelines.

As a reminder, a USASF-member event producer may only offer divisions from the USASF age grid or combine/split divisions based upon the guidelines contained within that grid, unless prior written approval is granted from the USASF.

The Board and USASF/IASF committees are working hard to establish a timeline that meshes the development of the age grid with the divisions that are set forth for the Worlds competition as well. As you can imagine, given the needs of numerous countries, this is no small task. Although the decisions for these divisions have come late this year, we hope that ultimately these divisions now meet both the needs of domestic U.S. programs as well as those of the various countries who will send teams to the 2008 Worlds event.

The updated grid below (rev. 7/19/07) will be posted on the USASF website early next week.

On a separate note, please remember that the Safety Judges’ Certification Course in Dallas is fast-approaching at the end of August. If you have not yet sent your registration in for representatives of your organization, please contact Jimmie Jo Schmidt (email omitted) as soon as possible to complete all the necessary information.

Thank you for your continued support.

Mike Burgess
Chair — USASF Rules Committee

(See attached file: USASF Divisions – July 19, 2007)

Michael Burgess
United Spirit Association
President

The first bids to Worlds for the 2007-2008 season were handed out at the Future Cheer Brighton International Championship. The Ascension Eagles All-Girl team earned a Partial-Paid bid, while the Goldstar Galaxy and Ascension Eagles’ Co-Ed team earned At-Large bids. In Dance, Goldstar Galaxy earned a Partial-Paid and Angels Dance Academy Dark Angels earned an At-Large bid. Congratulations to all.

The USASF has handed down the following changes for 2008.

1. We will no longer allow the pass down of At Large (unpaid) cheer bids.
2. All teams must go through prelims to get to finals and teams will be seeded in finals based on prelim results with the highest scoring teams going last.
3. For the international category only: Open Level 6 all girl and coed divisions will be added, only the top 3 teams per country will go from prelims to finals, the team size limit will be 24, and coed teams will be limited to 12 males. There is one exception in which the International Junior Divisions will be allowed 36 team members for the 2008 Worlds but will be limited to 24 beginning in 2009.

Domestically, the most voiced complaint was that too many teams were at the Worlds that should not have been there. This was mainly the result of At Large bids being passed down. There has been a truly massive effort to listen to everyone and to make the appropriate changes. You will note that most of the changes are in the International Division and are the result of input from international partners through the IASF World Coaches Conference, the IASF Rules Committee, the World Advisory Board, and the International Competition Committee.