Rumor: High School Nationals
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.
UCA All*Star Scoring System
UCA has sent out detailed information on their scoring system:
UCA College Taping Results
Qualifying Results for 2008 UCA College Nationals have been posted on Varsity.com. Here’s a list of paid bids:
- Division 1A - Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio State, Hawaii, Central Florida, Alabama, Memphis, & Louisiana State
- Division 1 - Morehead State & Delaware
- Division 2 - West Georgia & Slippery Rock
- Junior College - Shelton State
- All Girl 1 - Morehead State, Indiana, & San Diego State
- All Girl 2 - West Georgia
- Small Coed 1 - George Mason & Hofstra
- Small Coed 2 - Northern Kentucky
- Mascot - “Smoky” (Tennessee), Aubie (Auburn), Bucky Badger (Wisconsin), & TC the Panther (Northern Iowa)
In addition, Tony & Brittany (Morehead State) won coed partner stunt & Heather, Lauren, Chelsey & Tara (Hawaii Pacific) won Girls 4.
On the dance side, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Cincinnati, & Memphis earned paid bids in Division 1A. Missouri State & Delaware earned the Division 1 bids, while St. Thomas & Orange Coast received the Open bids.
We Are the Champions?
In the early to mid 90s a now defunct coed All*Star team known as Pro Cheer went to Dallas and won in their first year in existence. Shortly after that the Senior division was split into 2, Senior All Girl and Senior Coed, because the powers that be no longer felt is was fair to have teams with a lot of guys compete against all girl teams. Since that time the powers that be have decided many other competitions are not fair, such as teams with 4 or fewer guys competing against teams with 5-8 boys or more than eight guys; teams with 21 or more people competing against teams with 20 or fewer; teams with fulls and/or double fulls competing against teams than can only do layouts, teams with layouts competing against teams with tucks, teams with tucks competing against teams with back handspring series, teams with back handspring series competing against teams with a single back handspring. I may have misstated something in listing all the unfair competitions because being someone with only 15 years of cheerleading experience and 2 Master degrees I still get confused about the divisions and ask you to forgive me.
I now ask a simple question; Who is the champion? That question may be a little too broad so instead I’ll ask Who is the National Champion? We cannot decide that until we decide which “National Championship” we are talking about. How hard can that be, right? Let’s see, we have NCA and UCA. And American Championships. And USA and ACA. And WSF. And I almost forgot Athletic Championships. OK, that gets us through the Varsity Brands. How about Cheersport or Jamfest. Or Jamz, GSSA, Cheer Power, COA, Deep South, or Mardi Gras. How about Universal Spirit and Great Lakes. Even after we choose the company we must choose an event because many on the list host multiple National Championships. Let assume we all agree on the company and event. Now we must choose a division, which involves choosing a level. The correct answer to my question “Who is the National Champion” has over 1,000 correct answers according to the jackets on the kids backs and the banners in their gyms.
If I ask who is the football national champion I will probably get one of 2 answers. Same with basketball. If I ask about cheerleading how many teams come to mind? 2? 4? more? When I think of my answer for cheerleading I think of 2 teams, Louisville and Central Florida, but even that leaves off great teams from Morehead, Maryland, West Georgia, and Wichita State (or is it SFA now?). It also ignores all of the High School and All*Star champions. A lot of people probably think of the 4 Large & Small Coed and Senior USASF World Champions, which doesn’t address the question Who is the National Champion. With this many potential answers coming from cheerleaders, what is non cheerleader to think? They probably think we need to get our act together if we want to be taken seriously. We can even tell someone who our champion is without engaging them in a game of 20 questions; which company, which competition, which level, which division, etc., etc., etc.
In My Cheer World…
The topic today is things I would change about cheerleading.
- Each company would only be able to host one event billed as a “National Championship”
- NCAA would host the College National Championship
- All*Star Division would have an age floor and ceiling
- Assisted Stunts would score lower than unassisted stunts
- College Rules would be less restrictive
- Cheerleaders and Cheerleading Parents would understand physical attributes are a part of athletics
- Divisions would be combined to ensure every team at every competition competed against someone
- Varsity Brands would count as one company per USASF
- AACCA and USASF would be and appear independent
- USASF would follow its own rules
- Companies could be members of multiple governing organizations (USASF, NLCC, etc.)
- High Schools would be allowed to compete on Spring Floors
- All states would allow teams to compete at Nationals
That’s it for now. I’ll expand on these in the future.
UCA College Nationals Division 1A Recap
Here is a quick recap of Division 1A at UCA College Nationals in order of appearance. This was written based on watching it live. I have yet to go back and watch any of the routines on tape.
- Memphis - Memphis hit a solid routine, but lacked difficulty. It was a very good way to get the competition started.
- Cincinnati - Cincinnati started with their cheer, which I’m not a fan of, and were kind of slow. They had a really high basket, but overall weren’t great.
- Oklahoma - Oklahoma was not energetic and a little shaky.
- Ohio State - The Buckeyes had a good pyramid, but a rough day. A couple drops and a no go took them out of the single digits.
- Alabama - Alabama looked good, but had a few bobbled stunts and one in a pyramid. More importantly they were one of few schools who held there own stunts.
- Kansas - Kansas was okay, highlighted by a tower double cupie. They lost a stunt and had a pyramid no go.
- Southern Miss - The Eagles lost an elite sequence and lacked difficulty, but had a visual routine.
- Louisiana State - LSU had a hot cheer which included 6 rewind to hands with signs so they could spell out TIGERS. They lost an elite, but did very well.
- New Mexico - New Mexico was another team that had a rough day. They lost a few stunts and a pyramid and bobbled some of the stuff they hit.
- Kentucky - Kentucky was a little rough around the edges then lost the ending pyramid. Overall they had the most difficulty, including holding there own stunts, but the pyramid cost them.
- Hawaii - Hawaii had a few drops and a few additional bobbles.
- Tennessee - The Vols lost a stunt and a pyramid in an otherwise solid routine. They were boring compared to the other top teams, but had a good routine.
- Minnesota - Minnesota had a couple drops and lacked energy.
- Central Florida - Central Florida was very good and visual, but had assisted stunts throughout the routine. They probably had the highest energy routine of the day.
- Mississippi State - The Dawgs had a rough day.
As far as the other divisions, Morehead State walked away with Division 1 Coed and All Girl while West Georgia did the same in Division 2. Orange Coast won Junior College and Hofstra and Northern Kentucky won Small Coed 1 and 2. A couple from Delaware won partner stunt. More information is available at Varsity.com.
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