There are two very similar races being run to determine governance over the gymnastic infused, acrobatic derived skill set of competitive cheer. The race between the NCATA and USA Cheer towards NCAA status and the race between the IFC and the ICU towards SportAccord recognition. Both the NCAA and SportAccord are the organizations that grant an official status and legitimacy to a group as a bona fide sport and governing body of that sport. But it appears both are getting it wrong!
All you have to do is read the NCAA football sports page and you will see the vast corruption and financial issues the NCAA is facing with amatuer athletics. Companies and inviduals have no place in amatuer athletics except as the sponsors. The NCAA stands on this principal as an organziation. Yet, the company backed USA Cheer application for STUNT to be a college sport with USA Cheer at the helm is getting some traction with the NCAA. Even a non cheer person could see the connection between Varsity Brands and USA Cheer. The executive director of USA Cheer is an employee of Varsity Brands. The flip side is that the true non-profit group that orginally started the sport, the NCATA is made up of NCAA member institutions who already sponsored the sport on their campuses a whole year earlier. These are university athletic directors and presidents that have developed this sport, not a for profit company. There still aren't any institutions that sponsor a varsity STUNT team as a true athletic department varsity sport. There are only cheerleading teams that compete in the STUNT format. By the NCAA's own philosophy, shouldn't USA Cheer not even be in the conversation due to its painfully obvious relationship to the for profit industry?
The NCAA isn't the only group getting it wrong. Internationally, an organization must be recognized by SportAccord as a first step towards world acceptance as an Olympic sport. SportAccord is the organization comprised of most of the international govering bodies of sport. When you talk about the format and blueprint for how a governing body is supposed to be structured, members of SportAccord and the IOC follow a high standard. One that is not met my the varsity controlled ICU. As a matter of fact, the ICU has dozens of member federations that aren't even recognized in their own countries. Yet they claim to have over 100 member countries. Quite a misleading statement when some members are nothing more than a local organization in that country who called themselves a federation and joined the ICU.
SportAccord is getting it wrong just like the NCAA. The IFC is the original and true non profit organization that was positioning itself to be the international governing body of cheerleading. It follows the standards for an international governing body and is not owned and backed by a private cheerleading company. The true interests of the IFC are to promote the sport of cheerleading for the development and well being it provides for the athletes involved. Yet, SportAccord seems to be entertaining the ICU application for recognition equally as the IFC effort. If the latest news reports are true (most likely just ICU media spin), then shame on SportAccord if they move one inch farther with Varsity Brands.... oooopppssss, I mean, the ICU.
If the ICU and USA Cheer become the official governing bodies of cheerleading nationally and internationally, it will be a sad day for the sport. On the surface, the sport will have moved a step further, but the ominous issue is at what price and in what direction. Under the foot of Varsity Brands there has been very little progress towards becoming a sport in the last decade or two of their market dominance. Behind the push from the NCATA and IFC, suddenly the last couple years have brought a whirlwind of activty and movement towards becoming a sport.
The underlying point to be noted, is that nothing motivates a company like money. There are two ways money motivated this situation. When Varsity Brands dominated the American market, the next exploit was to expand oversees. But other countries don't treat cheerleading as an activity like it is treated here in the US. Instead, it's a quasi sport and is typically developed through a national federation for that sport that uses government funding to develop programs for youth and high school age students. Suddenly, cheerleading couldn't be an activity anymore if it were to gain followers and develop in other countries. It needed "officialness". Thus, originated the plan to govern the world through the ICU and be able to develop growth and new markets in foreign countries. The best way to legitimize an ambitious plan like that is to become the true international governing body for cheerleading and be recognized by SportAccord. That would pretty much seal the plan. Start with the US and make a national governing body there, USA Cheer. That would be the Varsity controlled US representative to the ICU. But when the NCATA started moving toward NCAA status as the US governing body for what is basically competitive cheer, USA Cheer had to either stop it or win the race. The same battle developed internationally with the pre-existing IFC.
Again, the bottom line, is that control over the sport translates into the ability to monopolize revenue streams and market share. That just doesn't sound like "for the greater good of the sport and the well being and development of the athlete." This is precisely why the NCAA and SportAccord need to get it right. That will be my Christmas wish!
