Dear USASF,
Concerning American Junior team qualifying for Worlds via videotape, we suggest adding a requirement. Please make the tapes be from a competition and have them submitted to the USASF directly from the event producer upon request of the team. We ask you to implement this for a few reasons.
The first reason is teams should qualify based on their performance at a competition. Competing at an event is significantly different than performing elsewhere, including at the gym. Warming up on the clock, the potential chaos of warm up rooms, and unexpected delays are obstacles great teams have learned to overcome. Taking this element of surprise out of the qualifying process may have an unintended impact on the performances at Worlds.
The second reason is to help limit cheating. If teams can submit videos taped at their gym someone will use ineligible athletes. Making teams go through the same registration checks they had to in the past should keep the use of ineligible athletes at the same level it is now.
Thank you,
CCXII
Andre
M
ACEDAD
Marcel