Opinions of the Starr's Mill Competition after viewing video of each division. Thanks to my dear friend that was able to send so many to me. Not sure if I am going to be able to make many competitions this year but looking to try and make Peachtree Ridge and a few other select ones in the Atlanta area. I am going to try and give my honest feedback the best I can while taking in the history of each team.
Middle School:
Not really going to say much outside of Gardner Newman should have won this division. I am sure that is why they made a reappearance after the 4A teams went. I had heard they had some disgruntled coaches following the MS division. Can't say I blame them. Wherever that school feeds into is getting some solid coaching. Some High Schools should chase after that coach if they were smart. Always produces solid routines.
CoEd:
Model: This team appears to be getting better each year. However they appeared to be all over the place. The team clearly has some talent in areas but the question is will they be able to pull it together to pose a threat. The routine itself had some nice creative elements the crowd appeared to like based on the video. Outside of this, the team needs to hit.
Troup: This team has grown up so much in the last couple of years. They have added talent in tumbling and top girls. It shows. They looked so much better this time of the year then they have in the past. There were some technical issues in the routine that prevented them from hitting but you can tell with time, they will get better. I thought they had a good showing.
McIntosh: This is the best CoEd team out there right now. Point blank. I know and have seen the other teams and many will say, we just didn't hit that day but are as good. That's fine and all but this team OWNED the floor on Saturday. They will not be scared of the mat it appears. They ran a solid routine that appears to have the rubric covered. No gaps anywhere. I haven't seen another coed team with this presence yet. I have seen Mill Creek's routine and it is good but nowhere near the cleanliness and timing of McIntosh. Same goes for Chestatee and Winder. McIntosh looked way more ready at this point. The question for McIntosh will be: "What will they do with their routine with the time remaining?" What I know is, where they are now and what they showed already. They are the top state contender IMO.
JV:
I thought all teams made good showings. Clearly they are JV but for the most part, thought they were clean.
AAAA:
Pike: This team is showing they can hold their own in AAAA after their move from AAA. They ran a good looking routine but their ability to hit a routine appears to be missing a little. That is a hard thing to coach IMO because telling somebody how to do it is hard if you have never been there. They do lack the overall tumbling and not sure how much can possibly be added safely in a little over a month. I noticed they had the better routine than Spalding but legal issues caught them on what appears to be their secondary stunt. I believe they would have been right behind Veterans by a very small amount if I had to guess without the deductions.
Spalding: They don't appear to be on the same level as the other schools that day but did a good job holding their own to get the placement when another team doesn't show up. They would have a lot of work to do to be able to make it to Saturday or the top 6. But nothing is impossible.
Veterans: Veterans showed up for the first 1/4 of their routine. You can tell they are hiding every bit of tumbling they have so we shouldn't be surprised with a standing full from the middle girl and the three to fulls that will be added at a later time. The impressive thing they do is the two man switch ups. While it doesn't do anything for them on the scoresheet, it is impressive. But also in GHSA, other things are just as good. After the 1/4 point, it was downhill for them. They missed a stunt on the right and and their pyramid couldn't really even form to show what it truly was. but it does have some spins and flips. Your typical GHSA pyramid that you see from many teams. There were some clean parts to the routine and some sloppy parts. Knowing the history of Veterans however, they will get better and they will improve. The routine itself is a good routine that will be top 6 ready come November. Outside of this I can't predict much without knowing what Cartersville and Carrollton are bringing to the mat. Their history tells me they will threaten for the top spot again with time. And with it being September, there is some of that left.
Whitewater: Based off of what I viewed, they deserved to win. They were the cleanest routine with the most difficulty with the least amount of errors. They have a nice clean routine. They had some issues in the stunt with flexibility and a drop but outside of this, it was overall a nice routine. At this moment in standing tumbling, they didn't appear to max. I noticed they had the standing through to fulls but in their standing tucks, they had 4 girls mark. I am sure though they are working on this. I would expect judges to note this later in the season if they didn't today. Overall, they deserved to have the to spot and it was one of the better routines of the day.
AAAAA
Starr's Mill: They have improved a lot this year. I would have like to have seen where they placed in the grand scheme of things if scored. They had a lot of momentum on the back half the season last year and seemed to have carried it over to this year. Their tumbling is way better. they had small issues in many areas of their routine but overall a good one! Definitely one of the better routines I have seen this year.
Northgate: Northgate once again has a very good routine. Very sharp and clean. They had an issue on a two man that probably cost them a shot at winning for the day but it's only September. Northgate WILL have this issue fixed and you can bank on them being an easy contender. Their routine will hold it's own but I do believe they will have to up the over all excitement level to really standout above the others.
Effingham: Hands down deserved to be the winner. Their excitement and energy plus routine was the best of the day. This team has worked so hard over the past few years and are doing nothing but continuing to climb uphill. With that level of excitement and routine. I will easily say they are contending. The girls have such a good presence on the mat which makes it easy to like what they are doing. Their skill set hits all areas of the scoresheet and they even go above and beyond what is required. This team from the south will be seen and heard again come November.
The rest of the teams in AAAAA were somewhat far behind the quality of routine that these two showed. I believe the other teams were South Effingham, Creekview, LaGrange, and Hardaway. One of these teams could crack the top 6 but we all know AAAAA is STACKED.
AAAAAA
Lee: Lee is good they always have been good. Where they lack the skill is tumbling. The AAAAAA schools tumble everywhere and overtumble. They also had some stunt issues that appeared to keep them back a little. However, the history of Lee tells me they will continue to own the floor when it comes to stunting and execution. I expect them to have all of that figured out come November. They are good and definitely have the potential to be a Top 6 AAAAAA school.
Woodstock: Well deserving of the victory today. They had a very good routine with all areas of the rubric met. They have been coached well. Very clean and executed much of what they did very well. You can small areas of improvement but I feel they are definitely a top 6 team in the AAAAAA division as of September. Fun routine to watch and earned the top spot. Depending on the day, either team could have swapped places. No clear front runner.
Overall there were some great routines and the crowd appeared to be good about getting into certain elements. What we all know is true, September is the early part of the year and a lot can change. October will bring some new elements as teams continue to tweak and clean up routines. It's a long but short season. This weekend looked to have cleaner and better hit routines than the previous two weeks which should be expected. Haven't seen other competitions but would love to be able to take a look. If someone has a link or videos, Please DM if you don't feel like sharing openly!!
Looking forward to next weekend. Where is everybody at? What is the competition to go to?
