Jamie Parrish has decided to bring back Georgia Allstars.

Georgia Allstars

Congratulations to the 2008 Cheerleading Worlds Champions.

Club Teams:

• Top Gun Large Coed
• Spirit of Texas Small Coed
• World Cup Large Senior
• Stingrays Small Senior

International:

• Stingrays Coed 6
• PACE Phoenix All Girl 6
• Gym Tyme Coed 5
• South Elite All Girl 5
• Cheer Athletics Small Coed
• Cheer Athletics Small All Girl
• University Cheer Junior Coed
• World Cup Junior

We would like to wish everyone good luck at Worlds and safe travels to Disney.

Reading about the tragic death of Lauren Chang has sent a thousand thoughts through my mind and I was wondering what reaction and thoughts others are having. Please share in the forum and I will expand on my thoughts later.

ABC News: Cheerleader Deaths: Unimaginable but True

I’ve been told there will be significant changes to the divisions at UCA High School Nationals. The details are very scarce but changes include divisions being based on the size of the school, not just the size of the squad.

Here are a few of the International All Level Championship flyers:

• General Information Flyer
• Qualifying Events
• Qualifying Events Map

A member of the Energy All*Stars’ (Watertown, MA) Level 6 Coed team collapsed last weekend and passed away Tuesday night. Our condolences go out to her family, friends, teammates, gym, and coaches. Please keep them in your prayers.

The Boston Globe posted some additional information.

The official International All Levels Championship announcement was made today.

We were led to believe the International All Level Championship would be officially announced today, but if it was we missed the announcement.

Here is what we have heard:

• The inaugural IALC events will take place April 10-11, 2009, which is the Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend. The events will be held in Atlanta and Los Angeles and the winners at each location will be judged during the following week to determine the IALC Champion. The location a gym attends will be determined by the location of the gym, not the qualifying event.
• There will be 73 qualifying events, of which 41 are Varsity Brands events. ACA, All Star Challenge, American Championships, American Cheer Power, American Spirit Championships, Athletic Championships, Cheer America, Cheer Gyms Association, Cheersport, Deep South Cheer, Jamz, NCA, Pac West, Spirit Cheer, Spirit Sports, UCA, UPA, USA, and WSF will host qualifying events.
• Qualifying event winners will pay $50, runners up $70, and third place teams $90. Each event will be able to give 5 at-large bids per event. At-large team will have a $125 registration fee. Each event will also be able to award one free registration bid per event (travel not included).
• Excluding divisions offered at Worlds, all Youth, Junior, & Senior level 1-5 divisions will be offered, including Small Gym Divisions in accordance with USASF guidelines.

The announcement may be held up as they decide what to do with the central states. We’ve heard gyms located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, & North Dakota will be sent to LA and Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, & Louisiana gyms will be sent to Atlanta. We have also heard the states listed will be able to choose.

The Rumor of the Day is Varsity has bought All Star Challenge. More will be posted as information becomes available.

More rumors about the All Level International Championship are surfacing. It looks like there will be a press release around May 1st with all the details, including the qualifying event, but at least one of the participating event producers has already sent an email out. Registration fees will be $50 for teams that win qualifying events, $70 for second place, and $90 for third place. Teams that receive an at large bid will pay $125, but I haven’t heard much about how at large bids will be given.

More info will be posted as soon as possible.

In an announcement we all saw coming, JAM Rewards was introduced by JAM Brands today. Visit the JAM Rewards website for more info.

More rumors are floating around about the All Level International Championship, formerly known as the International All Level Championship. We’re hearing it will be held next Easter (2 weeks before Worlds, but the same weekend as NCA College) in 2 locations simultaneously, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The winners are supposed to be judged via internet by a panel of judges in order to declare the champion.

In short, the goal of this event is to be the Worlds for non-Worlds divisions. Varsity Brands, CheerSport, and many other appear to be involved, with the notable exception being the JAM Brands. There won’t be paid bids, but qualifiers are charged different rates depending on their success at qualifying events.

More rumors and/or details will be posted as they come in.

The USASF sent the following email concerning the 2008-09 Age and Division Grid on Monday:

Dear USASF/IASF Member:

After several months of input from a wide variety of sources, I am pleased to forward you the USASF/IASF Age Grid for the 2008-09 season. There are two copies attached, one with highlights of the changes that have been made from the 2007-08 document and the other a “clean” version with no comparisons shown.

I feel it is important that you know the procedures that were implemented in the development of this document:

• Calls for rule/age grid updates were made in the Fall, and were then voted upon by the NACCC in early January. Although event producers were encouraged to submit their recommendations, their voices are most clearly heard through several committees of the USASF/IASF.
• Results from the NACCC meeting were forwarded to the USASF/IASF Rules Committee.
• The Rules Committee spent a great deal of time throughout the past 2 1/2 months (at the height of the busy competition season I might add), reviewing the recommendations of the NACCC. Some issues had a clear mandate from the NACCC, others did not. The Rules Committee made recommendations which were then forwarded to the National Advisory Board (NAB) and the Sanctioning Committee of the USASF/IASF for their review and input.
• The final approval came from the Board of the USASF/IASF

Please note a couple of key items on the grid. First, “small gym” categories and events have been further defined. These may be run by any USASF/IASF event producer in any geographical location within the parameters established.

For “splitting” divisions, three is now the number of teams that must remain in each division that was split from a larger division. In some instances divisions must be “combined” if there are not at least two teams in a particular division.

The grid has been re-formatted to make it easier (hopefully) to follow the “combinations” and “splits” of divisions. You are reminded that as a member event producer, you must follow the mandates for “combining” and “splitting” divisions as stated in this document. The only choices that are given to event producers are statements that contain the word “may” in them. (i.e. “For divisions that are designated ‘Small’ and ‘Large,” event producers may further subdivide…). Any statement that contains a “will” statement in it must be followed by the event producer as written.

The age grid was posted on the USASF/IASF website late last week, as many programs are gearing up for try-outs and this information was critical for this process.

The Level Rules document for 2008-09 will be posted toward the end of this week. The USASF/IASF Rules Committee has been working diligently to review the level rules for presentation, clarity and ease of interpretation. I felt that no changes would be made to these which would directly impact a gym program’s try-out process, thus we are spending some additional time “word smithing” this document prior to its release.

Finally, I would like to commend the large body of coaches, event producers and industry experts who have given many hours of their time during some of the busiest months of the season to be part of the rules review process.

Ultimately, I feel very good about the overall direction that we provided for the rules process and the integrity that we maintained in allowing feedback and many eyes to review proposed items. Given the multiple agendas, various program sizes and needs, national and international issues and the varied opinions on some controversial topics, I feel that in the end we should proud of what we have accomplished. Will everyone support every decision that has been made? Unfortunately, no. However, I feel that every decision that was made was vetted thoroughly and that multiple points of view were taken into account.

Thank you for your continued support of the USASF/IASF.
Sincerely,
Mike Burgess — Rules Committee Chair

USASF 2008-09 Age Grid – Highlighted & USASF 2008-09 Age Grid

Michael Burgess
United Spirit Association
President