Starting from Scratch: Bids to Year End Championships via Points

This idea is a way to choose participants for a Year End Championship. Right now this idea will be presented with several options that will allow it to be tailored to the needs of those using it. In the near future more specific ways to implement these ideas will be presented.

This idea would enable all member companies to award Points at all sanctioned competitions and allow teams to earn Points at every sanctioned event attended. The number of Points earned at each event depends primarily on the number of teams beat within their division, (see the options below for additional ways to earn Points and additional restrictions on earning Points), and the number of Points earned throughout the season will determine if a team qualifies for the Year End Championship. The number of Points earned could also be used to determine if the team earned any money toward the Year End Championship.

Options for Awarding/Earning Points

• Earn Points for every team beat in the division. Example – In a 5 team division 1st place would get 4 points, 2nd place 3 points, 3rd place 2 points, and 4th place 1 point.
• Limit the number of teams in a division that can be awarded points at an event. Example – Top 3 in divisions of 9 or fewer teams and Top 5 in divisions of 10 or more teams earn points. This will make the number of points awarded, and the EPs cost of those points, more manageable.
• Award more points for 2-day events than 1-day events.
• Allow EPs to choose 1 event per season to award double points. Example – An Event Producer’s “National Championship” can award double points.
• Allow all events of a certain size to award double points. Example – Events with more than 200 teams or events with more than 50 teams in a level.
• Allow a Grand and/or Level Champion bonus. Example – 5 Point bonus for the highest scoring team in each level or 10 Point bonus awarded to the highest scoring team at the event.

Options for Qualifying for the Postseason

• Points can be used to determine the teams qualifying for a Regional Championship and use the placement at the Regional Championships to determine teams qualifying for the Year End Championship or Points can be used to qualify directly for the Year End Championship.
• Accumulate a predetermined number of points. Example – Every team with 50 points automatically qualifies for the Regional or Year End Championship.
• Finish the qualifying season close to the top of a division. Example – The Top 20 in each division qualify for the Regional or Year End Championship.
• Allow events meeting certain criteria to offer automatic qualifiers for Level Champions. Example – “National Championships” or events with more than 200 teams.
• Only count a predetermined number of events for Year End Championship qualifying. Example – A team can only count points earned from 5 events.

Options for Awarding Money

• Points earned can be converted to money to be used for the Year End Championship. Example – Each point coverts to $250.
• Placement within a division determines the amount of money earned towards the Year End Championship. Example – The team with the most points in Large Senior earns $25,000, 2nd place $24,000, etc.
• Placement determines the type of bid. Example – Top 5 earn Paid Bids, next 5 earn Partial Bids, next 10 earn At Large Bids or every team with more than 25 points gets an At Large.
• All events meeting certain criteria to sponsor their Grand Champion. Example – “National Championships” or events with more than 200 teams.
• Use Points to award bids to Regional Championship and award Paid Bids to the team advancing to the Year End Championship.
• Keep the Paid Bid process the same and replace awarding At Large Bids with the Point System.

General Points

• Event Producers buy points from the governing body. Unused points contribute to the governing body’s budget. Example – The Top 20 qualify for the Year End Championship, but teams in 21-50th place earned points that were purchased from the governing body. The money spent to purchase these points contribute to the governing body’s budget and the money awarded to the qualifying teams.
• EPs can combine divisions to increase the number of points awarded in a division. Combinations must be done before competition begins and must be the same age group and level.
• Points are Gym and Division specific, so a team switching from Small Senior to Small Coed would have to earn Points in each division separately.

Expected Consequences

• Teams are encouraged to compete more to earn more Points, but teams will be able to buy bids and poor gyms will be at a disadvantage.
• Bids can be earned locally, but areas with more events have the advantage.
• Teams will be rewarded for being in larger divisions, possibly making teams want to combine more divisions.
• Takes away the mood swing from being on high from being named National Champion to being on low due to not getting a Paid Bid.
• Takes away from events that are only attended because they are Worlds Qualifiers.
• It would be unlikely that a team could compete at 1 or 2 events and get a money toward the Year End Championship.

Additional Consequences (Dependent on Options)

• If bids per division are limited it may lead to better team distribution among division during the season.
• The number of teams competing in each division at the Year End Championship could be controlled.

Other Points (Not Directly Related to Qualifying)

• The Points race as well as the bids can be tracked on a website that can be linked to each gym site so that all athletes, coaches, and parents can track the season progress of each team.
• Team Members and Substitutes would need to compete with the team 4 times and Alternates would need to compete with the team 1 time to be eligible for the Year End Championship.
• Points could be used to determine initial performance order.
• The Governing Body would have more access to event results for statistics.

Challenges

Determining the Event Producer’s cost for each Point. It needs to be reasonable to the EPs, cover any money awarded for the Year End Championship, and provide funds to the Governing Body for general expenses. The number of Points awarded can increase quickly as a division grows, which is why limiting the number of teams of teams that earn Points is an option. Here is the total number of Points awarded based on the number of teams in a division:

• 2 Teams – 1 Point
• 3 – 3
• 4 – 6
• 5 – 10
• 6 – 15
• 7 – 21
• 8 – 28
• 9 – 36
• 10 – 45
• 11 – 55
• 12 – 66
• 13 – 78
• 14 – 91
• 15 – 105
• 16 – 120
• 17 – 136
• 18 – 153
• 19 – 171
• 20 – 190
• 21 – 210
• 22 – 231
• 23 – 253
• 24 – 276
• 25 – 300

Conclusion

We are open to any and all suggestions or changes to this process and think most people agree that the current process should be changed or updated. Our main request is that any changes be easy to understand. We feel that one of the largest obstacles we face is the complexity of the process in everything related to Cheerleading. It needs to be simple for kids and parents to follow and understand.

David Hanbery, Founder and CEO, Deep South Spirit

Andre Carter, Founder of Spirit Post