Did you all hear about this?
http://www.spiritxpress.com/upload/SC Results 2008 part 1.doc
And here is their initial response to getting caught cheating:
Posted on website
The USASF is the governing body of All Star Cheerleading. They issue age guidelines to follow. We have learned over the years that most gyms
follow these guidelines "roughly", not "exactly"(much like speeding, however, there is a difference between going 105 in a 35 & going 70 in a 65).
We follow these guidelines "roughly" as well. There is no process set in place to regulate registration and confirm that every athlete is registered
correctly by age. Until such a process is set in place to eliminate ALL of the "rough" registration ACROSS THE BOARD, it will continue to be an
issue for everyone involved in this sport.
We had a very successful day at JamFest in Raleigh. As a result, an envious program formed a sort of "task force" dedicated to gathering
personal information on as many of our kids as possible. They then guessed or decided own their own what teams these kids were competing on
and contacted numerous other programs that were attending the upcoming Sweetheart Classic, as well as, the company hosting the event, Spirit
Xpress/All Star Challenge. We received a heads up about the ambush the week of the event from Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge. This is how
we know who was going above and beyond to cause our program distress. We shifted one team from Youth to Juniors, and this alone eliminated
about half of our "roughly" registered kids. After looking at all the DOB's and forms we had less than 10 out of 130 kids who were "roughly"
registered. Everyone else in our program is registered strictly by USASF age guidelines. Because this envious program had contacted so many
of the programs and provided them A LOT of false information, and very little true information, Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge felt a lot of
pressure to call us out for our "rough" registration. Instead of sorting it out on a case by case basis, providing proof, and allowing us to dispute
the false information, they decided to take the easy road and disqualify the entire program of 8 teams, instead of only penalizing us for the
admitted two "roughly" registered athletes that took the floor at the Sweetheart Classic. Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge admitted to us that they
are not naive to the fact that other gyms at the Sweetheart Classic had "roughly" registered kids, and encouraged us to gather personal
information on them as well.
Plain and simple... We got caught "speeding". We were targeted by an envious program and they succeeded in ruining the Sweetheart Classic
for our program. Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge knew this was their intension, and allowed them to ruin this event for us. In addition, many
programs have been disqualified for violations but the company did not choose to post a press release on their website.
Now What:
Obviously we will no longer register kids "roughly" were they belong, but "exactly" where they belong according to USASF guidelines. We will not
attend the March event with Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge. We have contacted all the other Cheerleading Companies that we use, and they do
not agree with how Spirit Xpress/All Star Challenge handled this situation and welcome Spirit Xtreme with open arms to all events!
If you have further questions or concerns on this please do not hesitate to contact us directly.
Calgone take me away!!!!!
Tell your DD to take it slow tonight.
