We're almost halfway through the season, and we're going to see a switch to the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) in a few weeks.  Now that the jitters and novelty of the new season is wearing off, we're starting to see some clear trends emerge.  "Slow Starters" are making big improvements while "Early Leaders" are finding new teams nipping at their heels.  As we head into the "mid-point shakeup", here are some observations.   

We're a full month into the season and we're going to take a break from our regular weekly recap to take a look at how judges score routines.  But rather than explaining the basics, we are offering a course in "Scoring 201":  an intermediate look at some of the deductions beyond the obvious and clear deductions taken by the judges.  We are hoping to shed light on where the judges in more strictly judged meets are taking their deductions, for fans that may be unfamiliar with the more subtle points of scoring.  We're not experts, but this will hopefully serve as an intermediate lesson on some of the key things that you can usually watch for.

Another weekend has passed, and we've see more questions open up about the season as the rankings have shuffled once again.  Team that started strong have since wobbled a bit, while others with some early stumbles have steadily climbed.  And we've seen some others that have been steady and consistent in the meets thus far, and have solid Top 25 positions to show for it.  As 197 becomes the new 196, let's see how the week has gone....

The second full week is in the bag (the third weekend overall) and we are already seeing the fan excitement, enthusiasm and in some cases, speculation and angst, build.  It's a been a wild weekend full of standout performances and rising stars.  And, unfortunately, we're seeing injury and scoring variation dominate the conversation.  Here's our weekly recap...