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Justin Carrier from NCA sent the following email recently

Coaches,

The new Championship season is off to a great start here at NCA/NDA!  We’ve launched our new websites, NCA.varsity.com and NDA.varsity.com, and we’re gearing up for our second event of the year this weekend.

Many of you will be receiving our NCA/NDA Competition and Safety Guideline Book in the mail over the next several days. This year’s Safety Guideline Book includes the AACCA rules (for school teams) and the USASF rules (for AS Cheer and Dance teams). To view an electronic copy of the AS cheer section of this book, CLICK HERE.

An important point I want to emphasize is that the 2008-2009 USASF rules published in this book do NOT reflect any updates and clarifications being made by the USASF since July. Coaches will still be responsible for understanding all of the updates as they become available. In the upcoming weeks, I will be updating you with important rule adjustments and clarifications.

In the meantime, continue to practice safely and prepare for an amazing season.

Thanks,

Justin Carrier
Executive Director - Strategic Development
NCA/NDA

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Justin Carrier has hit send once again:

Coaches,
We are proud to announce exciting news. For those of you that plan on registering for the Varsity Family Plan during the upcoming season, we are excited to announce that you will not have to fill out ANY RELEASE FORMS to attend our events–not even ONCE. This should get rid of 99% of the headaches associated with doing paperwork and will give you more time at NCA/NDA events to do what you do best: coach your teams!

Click Here for information on our new No Release Form Policy.

Click Here for a list of NCA/NDA Championships for the 08-09 Season.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Justin Carrier
Executive Director - Strategic Development
NCA/NDA

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Justin Carrier sent the following email on May 1st:

Coaches,

I wanted all of you to have a first look at NCA’s revised scoring system for the upcoming season. Point ranges, definitions, and values have been tweaked ever-so-slightly based on feedback from our customers and judges.

2008-2009 NCA All-Star Scoring Grid

The first page is a grid charting skills into specific point ranges. These point ranges are contingent on a majority of the team executing the skills with a high level of perfection. The second page is the NCA’s Sliding Criteria — examples of traits and qualities of the execution to help the judges determine skill placement within the point range.

Highlights:

1. The 10 - 11 Pyramid Category has been opened up to 9 -11. This will move a majority of the Level 4 Pyramids into the 9 range and a majority of the Level 5 Pyramids into the 10 range.
2. Level of execution of jumps will be a priority in placing teams within a jump range. Jump Combinations, Additional Skills, Difficulty Level, and Variety will be the sliding criteria that moves a team within the range.
3. The Motions/Dance Ranges have been tweaked to take some of the emphasis off of choreography and directed towards execution and energy level. Remember, even though this category is listed on the AS grid, it will always be inherently subjective when scored by judges.

For those of you attending the NCA Coaches Conference this weekend, I look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks,
Justin Carrier
Executive Director - Strategic Development
NCA/NDA

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NCA has released their 2008-2009 All*Star Nationals divisions on Varsity.com. They consisted of 7 Level 1’s, 8 L2’s, 10 L3’s, 9 L4’s, 10 L5’s, 2 L6’s, 2 International, and Special Needs, for a total of 49. NCA will also offer some small gym divisions.

Update: Justin Carrier sent an email saying the initial release had an error with the International Open divisions that has since been corrected.

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Justin Carrier sent the following email on January 25th:

I wanted you to be the first to know about some exciting news in the All-Star World. Please read the announcement below concerning NCA and CHEERSPORT Nationals.

We are excited to announce that the two largest All-Star National Championships, NCA and CHEERSPORT, will take place on separate weekends in 2009. For the last several years, running these championships parallel has been neither ideal for our customers nor our companies.

In an effort to better serve our customers, both companies have shared a mutual and keen interest in resolving this date overlap. However, a number of variables, including contracts with hotels and venues booked years in advance in cities saturated with conventions, have made this an insurmountable task.

Recently, an opportunity in Dallas was presented that allowed NCA to move its date. So, in 2009 the NCA All-Star National Championship will be February 29-March 1, and CHEERSPORT Nationals will remain on February 13-15 in Atlanta.

Both NCA and CHEERSPORT are committed to exploring similar opportunities in future years, although nothing at this time has been confirmed.

This is great news for the cheerleading industry and hope this affords more gyms to experience both championships in 2009. Please contact NCA or CHEERSPORT if you have any questions.

Good luck to everyone competing at our events next month!

Justin Carrier
Executive Director - Strategic Planning

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