Tag Archives: Les Stella

USASF Recommendation for Stopping a Performance

USASF LogoDear USASF Members:

The USASF’s priority is always the safety of athletes. In response to requests from coaches, and based on the lack of an industry wide standard, the USASF Rules Committee felt it imperative to recommend to member event producers a protocol for stopping a performance due to injury.

The Rules Committee is both posting and sending to all member event producers this recommendation for stopping a routine because of injury for the balance of the 2012-13 competition season. This recommendation will be sent through the Sanctioning Committee to be voted on for inclusion in Sanctioning Guidelines for 2013-14 and future seasons. This is a recommendation only for 2012-13, with the hope of becoming a guideline for 2013-14.

View the recommendation here

 

Comments and suggestions regarding the recommendation are welcome and may be sent to: Les Stella

Thank you for joining the USASF in our shared focus on athlete safety. Best of luck as you continue through the competition season.

USASF Letter Regarding Varsity’s Recommended Changes to the USASF Board

Dear USASF Members:

USASF LogoEarlier this week, Varsity announced their intent to designate one of their permanent USASF Board seats to a gym owner to be recommended by the NACCC. We thank Varsity for this generous gesture and further acknowledge the significance of their recommendation for the addition of a non-permanent USASF Board seat to be designated for a gym owner.

Through member surveys, discussions and focus groups conducted this past summer, the USASF learned that gym owners are clearly in overall support of the USASF mission and have a desire to be more actively involved within the organization. The addition of gym owner seats on the USASF Board of Directors facilitated by Varsity’s offer provides an immediate opportunity for gym owners to be more actively involved in the organization. This is an important change that we support and will formally address at the upcoming Board meeting in November.

As an additional outcome of this summer’s surveys and focus groups, and in light of Varsity’s announcement regarding one of their USASF Board seats, we recognize that some members might appreciate an update of the USASF’s relationship with Varsity. For perspective, in 2003, Varsity recognized a critical need in All Star to provide structure, consistency and safety. To launch the organization, Varsity invested an initial $1.7 million in a no interest loan to create an organization that all participants in the All Star industry were welcome to join.

In the last 10 years, the USASF has grown to a membership of more than 90 U.S. event producers, over 40 international event producers from 25 countries, over 1300 gyms, nearly 4000 credentialed coaches, and more than 51,000 athletes. While the USASF generates the revenue to support the organization and to repay Varsity’s loan over time, it lacks the resources to administer The Cheerleading and Dance Worlds and appreciates Varsity’s support of more than 300 staff including tournament officials, logistical personnel, registration staff, tv liaisons, translators and international visa administrators, and other necessary administrative and operational functions. Also, without Varsity’s support, the USASF would not be able to provide the same level of benefits it now does to full time staff members.

The USASF has been steadily repaying this loan while at the same time retaining enough capital to fund its annual operations and create a rainy day reserve.

The prudent timeframe for full repayment of the loan will in part be determined by the continued success of The Cheerleading and Dance Worlds and membership dues and renewals.

As we look to the future of All Star, our best opportunity for growth and longevity, individually and as a whole, is to work as a unified group of event producers, gym owners, coaches and athletes with a core focus on moving our sport forward. It is our renewed commitment to provide multiple channels for every USASF member to voice opinions, share ideas and help define how we will execute our priorities. Visible evidence of this commitment is already in motion through Regional Advisory Boards, the NACCC Executive Committee and additional communications support, all of which will continue to be enhanced in the coming weeks and months.

We appreciate the support of all of our members and look forward to continuing to work together to strengthen our industry and our organization for the benefit of all participants.

Sincerely,

Les Stella

Executive Director

NACCC: Attention: All Star Coaches, Athletes and Families

The members of the NACCC, along with Les Stella and Jim Chadwick met on a conference call Thursday to discuss the actions of the USASF Board and the new rules they put in place on Wednesday, March 28th, 2012. Specifically, concerns were addressed to the new limitations of tumbling skills allowed in Worlds Divisions.

The members of the NACCC are all gym owners and coaches. It is our goal to share the voice of not only ourselves, but also that of our colleagues and athletes. It was a general consensus that the way in which these new rulings were decided and then communicated (or lack thereof) fell out of line in the vision of the “voice” of our industry.

Three proposals were drawn up, which will be brought back to the USASF Board for their consideration of compromise. Please keep in mind that the USASF rulings and the new NACCC proposals of compromise have been created with the best interest of our athletes at heart. Although many disagree with the rulings handed down on Wednesday, it is our duty to remain professional and communicate our opinions in the appropriate forums. We appreciate and value the opinions we have heard, and hope that the integrity of our sport will thrive forward.

Sincerely,

Members of the NACCC:

Elaine Pascale & Joelle Antico (World Cup), Victor & Kristin Rosario (Top Gun) Morton Bergue (Cheergyms.com), Kathy Penree (CNY Storm), John Hebert (POWER), Roger Schonder (Stingrays), Debbie Love, Jamie Parrish (GA Allstars), Cheryl Pasinato (East Celebrity Elite), Theapia Best (Spirit Explosion), Brett Hansen (Spirit of Texas), Julie Gillaspie (Cheer Central Suns), TJ Sawyer (EC Cats), Tanya Roesel (Midwest Cheer Elite), Craig El (Ultimate Athletics), Kimberly Dickenson (Cheer Express), Cherokee Greendeer (Green Bay Elite), Jeff LeForce (Oklahoma Twisters), Becky Herrera (CheerForce)

Things I Wish I Knew as a Young Coach

When I started teaching camps for UCA the summer after high school I was leaving an All*Star team that I had won back to back NCA and UCA titles with and just made the Wildcat squad, now known as the Blue squad, at the University of Kentucky. I thought I knew a thing or two about cheerleading, and I probably did from a participant point of view, but I didn’t know anything about being a teacher. Fortunately I was given a very important tip by my first head instructor.

It’s not about what you can do, it’s all about what you can get these kids to do.

That head instructor was Les Stella and that tip made me realize my role had changed. It was no longer about me and was all about the kids. That was, and still is, the first step in becoming a good coach. Nowadays, if I’m put in the position to talk to young coaches and instructors I let them know that and there 5 additional things I tell them that I wish I knew when I was getting started:

  1. Kids won’t do anything for you until they think you care about them. Once they know you care about them they will do anything for you. This is incredibly true for little kids, but applies to kids of all ages.
  2. Don’t say too much at once. Athletes are limited in the number of things they can focus on while executing a skill, so don’t tell them so much as to exceed that limit. I think the limit is 3 things, so I try not to give athletes more than 2 things to think about when teaching, and when I can I limit it to 1.
  3. Say what to do instead of saying what not to do. The only things you want in their head are the things they need to do. If you tell an athlete “Don’t throw your head back” it will turn into “throw your head back” by the time they try the skill. You’ll get better results by making your athletes think about the Do’s instead of the Don’ts.
  4. You are going to get sued. If that scares you stop now. If that doesn’t scare you get in the habit of keeping good documentation so you win when you get sued. I may have overstated the likelihood of you getting sued, but I can’t overstate the importance of keeping good documentation of the progression of you kids.
  5. At the end of your coaching career if you look back and realize you have only taught your kids how to stunt, tumble, basket, pyramid, and dance, you have failed them as a coach. As a coach you need to be a mentor and a role model and teach your kids more than the skills they perform on the mat. If you don’t, you have failed.

What do you wish you were told as a young coach and what do you tell young coaches?