CHANGES ANNOUNCED
On Thursday, Varsity announced a small change to sizes and divisions. This is a deviation from USASF rules. They are going to open up the competition rule that says you have to have 2 teams in one size and 2 teams in another size to split the division. They stated that it is to add “additional flexibility”.
They are changing the rule to read, that if there is a 12 athlete difference, you can split with less than 2 teams on each size. Let me give you an example, you have 3 teams in Senior 3. One team has 28 athletes and 2 teams with 16 athletes, they can split the division Small (2 teams) and Medium (1 team) instead of the USASF rule that they need 2 medium teams to split.
This is both a good thing and maybe a bad thing. Let’s dig into both.
Good – well it puts teams on a more fair ground, especially when you are at a smaller comp and you have a very small team that would have to compete against a bigger team. It will give everyone more chances to earn bids. And the big difference of 12 athletes will make it so it’s not used to terribly often.
Back a few years ago, my kid was on a D2 medium team. They had 23 athletes. At the time there wasn’t hardly any other medium teams in their level. We went to NCA Nationals. We were told that there was no other medium D2 teams in our level, we either had to drop an athlete to compete small or compete against D1 medium teams. Either option took us out of bid contentions, took us out of winning (in our rightful division) and basically dropped the morale of the team. (We placed 3rd in the D1 division) So if this change was in effect, we would have been champions, probably won a paid bid and would have been on the road for a Triple Crown (since we had won CheerSport). I can see the positives in this changes.
Bad – on the other hand, I don’t like changes 2 days before the season starts. It gives me “Hmmm…” vibes. Like why is this change being after teams and sizes have for the most part been determined? Also, being the 12 athlete difference, this doesn’t solve some of the sizes issues that come into play in the upper divisions when you have Medium/Large teams. You will still have to have 2 Medium teams and 2 Large teams to break this group apart, unless they are 12 athletes difference… usually it’s only about 8 or 9 athletes. Lastly, it’s more divisions, more awards, more Cupid shuffle, more time to crown more champions and ultimately… more money out of parents pockets.
In my opinion, I don’t like when EPs deviate away from set rules. I know that USASF is not a governing body, but they do have a set of rules that Varsity has signed up to follow for the season. So now the other IEPs that are USASF members will still need to follow the pre-determined rules, which could lead to a disadvantage. This leads to just such randomness in the sport. As for the “Hmm…” vibe, I’m guessing that the reason behind the change is because of those gyms that field multiple teams in the same level and division. For example, a gym that makes a Small Level 2 Youth and a Medium Level 2 Youth. With this change both teams can attend the same competition and as long as there is a 12 athlete difference, both teams won’t have to compete against each other and they both can win.
I would love to know your thoughts… is it good or bad?