There are many key elements to make a back handspring successful: stretched shoulders, fast feet over, open-to-closed hips, a neutral head position - and the list goes on. There is no silver-bullet solution on how to achieve a back handspring. All of these elements are necessary to accomplish the skill, but through my experience as a tumble instructor, I believe there's one element tumblers struggle with the most: the jump.

The conversation about redistributing small gym and large gym numbers to level out the playing field of the all-star industry began two years ago at USASF regional meetings. Today, it has become USASF’s newest initiative for the 2015-2016 season.

For years, cheer professionals have made the call for a massive scoring overhaul—and this season, the event producers have answered. This year, two brand-new scoring systems will be introduced to meet the need for a new approach at events. “Recently, there has been a push from coaches to unify scoring across the industry,” explains JAM Brands co-owner Dan Kessler. “For many years, scoring was different between event producers, and coaches were having to change their choreography and routines throughout the season.”