Throughout the course of the All Star cheerleading regular season, teams are provided the opportunity at competition to earn what are referred to as “Bids”.
Bids are the invitation to participate in future postseason competitions that are typically not able to be simply registered for as is the case with regular competitions.
The Bids can come in various forms including At-Large, Paid, Partial Paid, etc.
Simply being invited to a postseason competition essentially means that the team receiving the bid has a chance to win some type of grander championship at the competition which the team winning the bid would be subsequently invited to compete at.
There are registration costs associated with these Bids which are usually separate from what has already been taken into account for the overall cheer season, as it would be impossible to predict this type of a particular cost until the Bid was won and any applicable fees could be figured out.
The ideal situation is that a Bid won is a type that is either partially or fully ‘Paid’.
To whatever degree the Bid won is ‘Paid’ dictates how much of the payment involved in registering the athlete on the team that won the Bid would be covered by the Brand behind the Bid.
Becoming ‘Paid’ is often a larger goal of a team aiming at competing in the postseason, as being Paid not only negates registration fees for the postseason competition that the Bid is for, but it also signifies a larger achievement at the competition that the Bid is won at.
Though a Paid Bid does not cover travel costs, etc., the relief of having to pay yet another ‘Cheer Fee’ is generally a welcomed response by families when they find out that their athlete’s team is getting ‘Paid’ in some form.
Muddying the waters a bit is the idea that Bids can be ‘Upgraded’ as the season rolls along.
In other words, if you won an ‘At-Large’ Bid to a specific comp at one point in the season, it is viable that the ‘At-Large’ Bid can be converted to a bid which is partially or fully ‘Paid’ at future competitions where this situation is possibly able to occur at.
Many cheer programs structure their competition schedule so that it provides their teams and athletes with as solid a shot as possible for qualifying for a postseason Bid of some type, geared toward the end of season event that those involved with the program would most optimally like to attend.
Bids are announced either at the competition that they are being won at itself, or within a short period of time after the event.
Some Bids even have a certain time each week (normally in the evening) that they are announced, which, if the program that may be being awarded the Bid is somewhat privy to the idea that they may be receiving a bid, allows the program to set up a ‘Bid Reveal’ at their gym or other location.
A ‘Bid Reveal’ is a get together by program athletes to watch Bids formally being announced and a chance for athletes to celebrate this truly significant achievement of their season.
As the athletes eagerly await the Bid to be announced on the TV, you can feel the excited anticipation growing up until the point where (hopefully) the team’s name flashes across the screen showing the Bid that was won as the room erupts with cheerful jubilation.
Bids definitely are a focal point of the season, not just in the way that they fuel passion to the journey of the current season, but in what they ultimately allow the teams chasing them to realize – passage to a postseason event which will surely add even more memories to a competition season that is often already as exhilarating as it is challenging!
