An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply "All-Americans".

Term usage[link]

As of 2009, the term is used in U.S. team sports to refer to players who are selected by members of the national media.^{[citation needed]} The term is used primarily with regard to college and, occasionally, to high school players. Outstanding professional players usually are referred to as "All-Stars", or, in the case of professional American football, "All-Pros": (as opposed to Pro Bowlers, who are selected by players, coaches, and fans to compete in Pro Bowl games).^{[citation needed]}

Selection to an All-America team for high school and collegiate players, however, is honorary in nature, and All-America teams do not typically play any games as a unit, unlike many of the all-star teams.^{[citation needed]}

The original use of the term "All-America" seems to have been in reference to a list of college football players who were regarded as the best at their respective positions. The first "All-America" team was the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Caspar Whitney and published in This Week's Sports in association with Walter Camp.^[1]

The United States Army 82nd Airborne Division was given the nickname "All-American" because its members came from all 48 U.S. states which, at that time, constituted the United States (Hawaii and Alaska did not enter the union until 1959).^{[citation needed]}

Other uses[link]

The use of the term has been expanded to honor persons outside of the field of sports, especially informally; for example an individual may be popularly referred to as, an "All-America" level entertainer, educator, or other activity which does not have anything to do with athletics.^{[citation needed]}

The term has also been used in athletics in new ways to recognize the academic achievements of student-athletes as "Academic All-America" teams are named.^[2] The term "Academic All-America" is a registered trademark of the College Sports Information Directors of America, which began the program in 1952 to recognize college athletes at all levels of competition and in all collegiate sports.

The term "All-American" is also colloquially used to describe stereotypically clean-cut, mainstream or conventional American middle class people, particularly teenagers and young adults. This usage was popularized by the radio series Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy, which ran from 1933 to 1951. The "mainstream" culture was dominated by white Americans, but this connotation is changing along with demographics and acceptance of a multi-racial society.^[3]

Collegiate sports[link]

Each year different sets of All-American teams are recognized toward consensus and unanimous selection recognition. A "unanimous selection" is a player who is listed as a first team All-American by all recognized lists. A "consensus All-American" is a player who is listed as a first team All-American by at least half of the recognized lists. (See #Football (below).

All-America teams are selected annually in various collegiate sports.

Baseball[link]

In baseball, All-America teams are selected annually by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Collegiate Baseball.

Basketball[link]

Cross country running[link]

Selections are administered by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). In Division I, the top 40 overall finishers at the national meet are all named to the All-America team. In Division III, the top 35 finishers garner All-American distinction. The student-athlete's team must be a member of the USTFCCCA. ^[4][5]

Football[link]

The National Collegiate Athletic Association recognizes College Football All-America Teams selected by the Associated Press, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News, and the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF) to determine consensus All-Americans.^[6]

Ice hockey[link]

The American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) selects All-Americans at the Division I and Division III levels, for both men and women. For Division I men, they select a first- and a second-team for East and for West; for Division I women, they select national first- and second-teams. For Division III men, they select a first- and a second-team for East and for West; for Division III women, they select two East teams and a single West team.

Lacrosse[link]

The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) annually selects men's lacrosse All-Americans, distinguished by first team, second team, third team, and honorable mention.^[7]

The Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) annually selects women's lacrosse All-Americans, distinguished by first team, second team, third team, and honorable mention. [1].

US Lacrosse, the national governing body for men's and women's lacrosse, annually selects national boys' and girls' high school All-Americans. [2].

Soccer[link]

In soccer, the NCAA annually names an eleven-member All-America team following the season.^[8]

Swimming and diving[link]

In NCAA swimming and diving, athletes and relay teams who make the championship final (top eight) are considered First-Team All-Americans. Athletes and relay teams that qualify for the consolation final (determines places 9–16) are considered Honorable Mention All-Americans.^[9]

Tennis[link]

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association annually selects men's and women's D-1 players with the following criteria SINGLES (denoted by 'S') 1.) Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Championships, or 2.) Reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Championships, or 3.) Finish in the Top 20 of the final ITA Rankings. DOUBLES (denoted by 'D') 1.) Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championships, or 2.) Reach quarterfinals of NCAA Doubles Championship, or 3.) Finish in Top 10 of final ITA Rankings.^[10]

Track and field[link]

Also administered by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, the selection rules are that the top eight finishers in each individual event, as well as American competitors who finish outside of the top eight in their event but are among the top eight of the American finishers in an event, earn All-America designation. Relays are judged strictly on a top-eight basis. The cutoff of eight places is the same for both indoor and outdoor competition. The student-athlete's team must be a member of the USTFCCCA.^[11]

Wrestling[link]

See Collegiate wrestling

In all NCAA and NJCAA divisions the top 8 placers at the national championship tournament are considered All-Americans.^[12]

High school sports[link]

At the high school level, noted All-America teams are selected by Parade magazine in basketball and football,^[13] and the McDonald's restaurant chain in basketball.^[14] The McDonald's All-American Team is unlike other All-America awards because it stages an annual game involving these players. Since 2000, the United States Army has sponsored its own annual All-American high school football competition.

In 2005, Offense-Defense Sports began publishing a Top 100 ranking for nation's the top high school football athletes.^[15] The Offense-Defense All-American Bowl is held every January, featuring the 88 top-ranked high school seniors.^[16]

Athletes who place in the top 15 of each gender division at the Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, a series of annual cross country running races which are held in various regions of the US, are awarded All-American honors.^[17]

The National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association publishes All America lists for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, and Academics for athletes in aquatic sports.

See also[link]

• All-Australian team
• Academic All-American
• Underclass All-American
• All-Japan (disambiguation)
• All-American American
• AAU Men's Basketball All-Americans

References[link]

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Kenichi Ebina (蛯名 健一, Ebina Ken'ichi^?) is a dance performer. His solo act features his unique self-taught style which combines a number of different styles, including freestyle hip-hop, mime, jazz, and ethnic dance. In 2006-2007 he won the Apollo Amateur Night seven times and became grand champion for the season. In 2001 his dance troupe BiTriP won 1st place at the Apollo Amateur Night. He remains the only two-time grand champion. He is also featured in Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps where he talks about his dance performance involving a story about a mannequin brought to life.

External links[link]

• YouTube videos uploaded by Ebina
• TED Talks: Kenichi Ebina's magic moves at TED in 2007

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Bonnie Leigh McKee (born January 20, 1984)^[1] is an American singer-songwriter, formerly signed to Reprise Records. She released her debut album Trouble in 2004, which was a minor success. The single "Somebody" was included in the soundtrack to the 2004 comedy film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!. As a songwriter McKee has enjoyed success writing international hit singles for Katy Perry ("California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "Part of Me"), Taio Cruz ("Dynamite") as well as Britney Spears ("Hold It Against Me").

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

McKee was born in Vacaville, California, and spent her formative years in the Seattle area. Upon moving to Seattle, she joined the Seattle Girls Choir. She toured Europe in 2000 as a member of its top Prime Voci choir, including a concert in Rome at the request of Pope John Paul II. She recorded two albums with the choir, including "Jackson Berkey Meets The Seattle Girls' Choir" and "Cantate 2000".

McKee's youth was somewhat unconventional. She attended the private high school, The Bush School, but amid failing most of her classes, and at the requests of parents concerned with the influence McKee would have on her classmates, she was kicked out before she could finish her freshman year. However, the week after her expulsion, The Bush School did allow her to participate in a program in which she spent a week in a recording studio with her classmates. This demo contained several songs that ended up on her album Trouble, including the title track and "When it All Comes Down", the latter being inspired by her rejection from the school.

[edit] 2004–2005: Trouble

McKee had progressed to writing her own music by the time she was twelve. By fifteen she was performing on her own and had produced her own six-track EP. This material, re-recorded, formed the core of her first major label album, Trouble released September 28, 2004. She gave the EP to a friend, who happened to babysit for a family with connections to the music industry in Los Angeles. Her EP sparked interest around town, and her song, "Somebody" fell into the hands of Nic Harcourt, who played it on Morning Becomes Eclectic, igniting a bidding war among the major labels.

At sixteen, McKee ultimately signed with Tom Whalley as his first artist as the CEO at Warner Brothers, and signed of one of the last 'big' record deals before the industry began to suffer.

At seventeen, McKee moved to Los Angeles on her own, and recorded her album with Rob Cavalo.

McKee's first major brush with national exposure came in the March 7, 2004 "Shoot the Moon" episode of the American Dreams TV series, in which she portrayed Janis Joplin. Her song "Somebody" was featured in the 2004 film Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, garnering enough notice to cause her album to be released ahead of its (previously delayed) schedule.

There was lots of press, including interviews and shoots with Blender, Nylon, Interview, Paper, The Los Angeles Times and Teen People. She played on Jimmy Kimmel Live and was also featured on MTV's Buzzworthy, VH1's You Outta Know, and MTV's Pre-RL.

She toured nationally with Ryan Cabrera in 2005.

In the non-fiction book "The Long Tail" by Chris Anderson, McKee is used as an example of how the internet, specifically Yahoo's Launchcast service, forced Reprise to change how they marketed McKee. According to the book, Robin Bechtel, Warner Bros. and Reprise Records Head of New Media, tried to convince the label that because of the internet data, the label was marketing McKee to the wrong audience. Reprise was trying to target the adult contemporary audience (women in their 30s and 40s), but when an early track release on Launchcast revealed the song was a hit with a strong preteen, teen and 20-something female audience, Reprise gave McKee more 'edge' and targeted them instead. Even though McKee's single was a hit on the internet, Trouble sold fewer than 17,000 copies and got very little airplay. Bechtel pitched this story to Chris Anderson for his book.

2007–present: Acting, songwriting and second studio album[link]

In mid 2007 McKee was dropped from Reprise. Feeling happy about her departure, she soon started recording new music and eventually got a supporting role in the film August Rush.

She made an appearance on CSI: NY in the episode "Help" alongside Alex Band. McKee played a dead subway singer and performed her own songs including "Trouble" and "To Find You". The song "If That's Love" was heard in the eighth season of the CBS reality drama series "CSI: Miami".^{[citation needed]}

McKee collaborated with Dr. Luke and Katy Perry for Perry's second album, co-writing both of Perry's international hit singles, "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream", both of which topped the Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Last Friday Night". She co-wrote five songs for Britney Spears's 2011 album,^[2] including the lead single, "Hold It Against Me". McKee is also a co-writer on Taio Cruz's hit single, "Dynamite" found on the international edition of his second studio album, Rockstarr, and has written songs for Leighton Meester, Fefe Dobson, Miranda Cosgrove, and Elliot Yamin.

McKee is currently working on her second studio album.^[2] She is working with American producer Dr. Luke, who is also the executive producer of the album.

In an interview with alexkazemi.com, McKee said that she had worked with Kelly Clarkson on her fifth studio album, Stronger.^[3] The album was released on Oct. 21, 2011.

McKee appeared in Bravo's Platinum Hit as a guest judge. On episode 6 (of season 1), she judged the challenge where the final seven contestants were tasked with writing a song about risk. She told the second place team that they should write pop song lyrics that a four-year-old could understand.

McKee revealed via her twitter page^[4] that she is working on new music and hopes to have a new single released by summer of 2012.

It seems that she's also working with Leona Lewis, writing a song called "Lovebird".^[5]

McKee revealed she had been signed to Epic Records in April via her twitter.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]