Parents How do you feel about 100% medals placements?

[profmom]

I just know when I run a half marathon, I still love the participation medal! lol By golly, that was a lot of hard work. I hang that baby up proudly! : )

Lol, me too! And thank goodness for age groups in running!

 

[tpMom]

We have attended meets where they still give out ribbons (blue for 9s, red for 8s, etc) after they are scored on an event and I think that’s great. They earn something for their hard work, everybody gets one, and they aren’t part of the awards ceremony. So everyone is a winner in that aspect!

Just let the meet gift count as the participation medal. We attended a meet last year where they only went out 50% on AA and apparatuses and they handed out a gift bag to every gymnast that did not medal before they started the awards. It was a shorter awards ceremony, every gymnast received something, the medals actually meant something to the ones that placed, and nobody was embarrassed.

Umm, confession time, my DD has been receiving these ribbons for 2 years and I never even realized that's what they meant! In fact, I would kind of complain to my husband about them sometimes... as in "She didn't take first on floor so why is she getting a blue ribbon, someone isn't paying attention!" Wow, you learn something new everyday!

 

[acam1103]

I don't like them. My littlest (6 last year) did have some devastating meets where they only did 50% and he was the only guy on his team to get nothing but even with that, I prefer they not go all the way out. Even the 50% is too much for events in my opinion. My kids end up with so many stinking medals by the end of the season that they really mean nothing (we do a lot of meets - 10-13 in a season times 6 events is a lot of chances for medals!). Most meets have given out trophies for 1st-3rd all around and THOSE mean something to the boys. The medals end up wadded up in a drawer somewhere which is the only evidence I need that they're giving away too many!

 

[skschlag]

My ds' only thought on medals is that if they are going out past 3, 4-whatever should look different than 3rd.

 

[profmom]

I really think mine don't care much about medals at this point. I told my son that if he'd been in a different session of last weekend's meet he'd have gotten blah blah, but he was mostly just happy that he hit horse and rings and unhappy that he didn't hit pbars or high bar. And my DD has said explicitly that she knows she'd get more medals and higher scores if she did less difficult routines, but she really likes being able to compete her upgrades.

 

[Mamabear123]

All the meets DD competed at this year in level 3 gave out trophies for 50% AA and medals to everyone else. For these little ones, I think it feels good to walk away with something, especially if they aren't paying attention to scores at all. It's a symbol of a job well done and I've seen some little girls jump for joy when their names are finally called for that AA medal. I do think this practice should stop at level 3 though.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

No need to go past top 5 in my opinion.... Only place I would expect to see top 10 is at Nationals.

 

[Aussie_coach]

I think even going to 50% is crazy, I have never been to a co,p that did that. It is basically saying, who is in the bottom half. At our comps only 1st, 2nd and 3rd get a medal, and there migh be 100 or more in the division.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Anything that slows down when we’re done I’m against.

Seriously for L2 maybe.

Not a fan of participation medals. And most kids once they get a bit of maturity and an understanding of scoring, really dont want a medal for essentially coming in last or close to last.

 

[raenndrops]

We only do medals at "big" meets... Championships, Regionals, and Nationals.
For regular meets, top 12 get ribbons (some meets will place all girls - I admit that I am willing to place all the way out, usually no higher than 14th ... but our ribbons for 14th-17th are cute colors). Since the ribbons have the place listed on them, it isnt like 1st place and 12th place can be confused. AND, we are so efficient that we can get awards turned around faster than any other team in our district that only places top 12. And it's better than making sure no age group has more than 12 so they have more age groups than us for the same or fewer gymnastts, lol.
At Champs and Regionals, they also go to 12, but there could be as many as 23 in an age group. At Nationals, it is 1/3 of the age group that places.

 

[trampolinemom]

Just top 3 get medals here. At big and special events (national championships and international tournaments and so) usually everyone gets a participation certificate. I think it is fine that way.

 

[gymmomx2]

I think even going to 50% is crazy, I have never been to a co,p that did that. It is basically saying, who is in the bottom half. At our comps only 1st, 2nd and 3rd get a medal, and there migh be 100 or more in the division.

Agree. Some of the competitions on the MAG side have up to 60 kids in a single level/age group, especially at the lower levels. Calling 30 kids up each time across 6 events + AA? Shoot me. I'd never make it through awards!!!!

 

[bogwoppit]

I think in the US groups are also very small, having multiple groups for each level and age. That is very unusual here. Most meets my kids did had at least 30 kids in each group. Medals ceremonies drag on forever at the US meets I have attended.

 

[skschlag]

I think in the US groups are also very small, having multiple groups for each level and age. That is very unusual here. Most meets my kids did had at least 30 kids in each group. Medals ceremonies drag on forever at the US meets I have attended.

MAG is often the same way. D has competed in meets with 20 all the way up 80 kids in his group. Most of the time it is only 10 awards so not too bad.

 

[MILgymFAM]

MAG is often the same way. D has competed in meets with 20 all the way up 80 kids in his group. Most of the time it is only 10 awards so not too bad.

I wonder if it’s regional? My DDs friends from the boys team usually have age groups that have between 10-15 boys, similar to her age groups at meets. I know back in Cali she sometimes had age groups with closer to 30 girls.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Actually interesting to hear how all the comps give out medals. Our comps usually only give out medals for apparatus top three. They usually give out trophies for AA top three. Do your comps not do trophies for AA?

 

[amiandjim]

Actually interesting to hear how all the comps give out medals. Our comps usually only give out medals for apparatus top three. They usually give out trophies for AA top three. Do your comps not do trophies for AA?

Some do trophies and some only do medals. Our state meet only did medals last year, which I thought was a little strange. Some also do plaques. At our last meet, my daughter got a really cool plaque that had a place to put a picture! I thought that was great!

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

Ours do all medals and then the first place AA in each age group gets a trophy. Occasionally we have very small age groups, but they are usually 14-24 girls.

State does not do a trophy, only medals.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Actually interesting to hear how all the comps give out medals. Our comps usually only give out medals for apparatus top three. They usually give out trophies for AA top three. Do your comps not do trophies for AA?

We’ve not every personally seen trophies, but I’ve seen them in pics of other meets.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Depending on the size of the meet, we have had as few as 10 in a category up to around 20.

I feel like a read that there is a rule somewhere that USAG sanctioned meets are required to give out at least 50% awards? I could be wrong on that though.