Parents How Far are Your Average Meets?

[SupportingHerDreams]

The post on "Travel Meets" got me wondering how far most people travel for regular meets. My daughter is level 4 and in the Spring season our gym competed in 4 meets. Those meets were 396 miles away, 138 miles away, 467 miles away and 358 miles away.

Apparently they kept it close in due to concern about covid restrictions. Next years meet schedule only has 3 meets on it and they are 396 miles away, 1372 miles away and 352 miles away.

I'm just curious if this is about average with what others are doing.

 

[NutterButter]

I'm in an urban are so most meets were under an hour. No travel at all for L4/5. L7/8 did one travel meet that required hotel but not air travel (under 350 miles). L9/10 did 2 travel meets that required air travel (800+ miles away). We also have twice as many meets as you not including post season.

 

[JBS]

This is a great question... I'm going to add a poll to this as well.

@skygirlpc Thank you for posting this... I added a picture to your original post as well. This allows the post to be shared better... like this...

For Parents - How Far are Your Average Meets?

The post on "Travel Meets" got me wondering how far most people travel for regular meets. My daughter is level 4 and in the Spring season our gym competed in 4 meets. Those meets were 396 miles away, 138 miles away, 467 miles away and 358 miles away. Apparently they kept it close in due to...

chalkbucket.com

 

[Lurker]

First year competing as a bronze. There are two meets that are just under a 2 hour drive. The other 3 are under 45 minutes. Then states will be another just under 2 hour drive.

 

[Coach Kate]

Our gym is Xcel only. Most of our meets are within an hour, maybe two depending on traffic. Several of the meets are within a half hour! This year, state is on the other side so it's more like 4 hours, so we are not doing another travel meet.

 

[LadyJ]

I'm in Southern California. There are 20 gyms within an hour of me and 15 of them host a meet. We usually do 2 of these and then another 2 within 3 hours away. No travel meets except regionals (and potentially westerns as DD is level 9 this year).

 

[BusyMomof2]

We have 2 local meets within an hour-ish drive (depending on traffic) and then 3 travel meets that require flights. In addition, for those who qualify, we have State (close by), regionals (4-hour drive) and Nationals (requires flight).

 

[JPC13]

All of our "local meets" are are 1.5-3 hours away by car -- one way. We live in the middle of nowhere though, so it's to be expected.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

When my daughter was in compulsories, all of our meets were in state.. ranging from about 1 1/2 - 3 hours away.

Now though, we don't usually have any local or even in state meets. This year, our closest meet is about 5 hours away. Some years we do have one in state meet which is about 1 1/2 hours away, but only when that meet is a Nastia Qualifier.

Dd's meets this year are ~ 5, 5 1/2, 7, 9 and 9 hours away for the regular season ones if driving. Most of her team has a lot more money than I do apparently, and most will fly to 2 or 3 of those meets. I may fly to one just because my daughter has exams I have to work around.

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

When my daughter was in compulsories, all of our meets were in state.. ranging from about 1 1/2 - 3 hours away.

Now though, we don't usually have any local or even in state meets. This year, our closest meet is about 5 hours away. Some years we do have one in state meet which is about 1 1/2 hours away, but only when that meet is a Nastia Qualifier.

Dd's meets this year are ~ 5, 5 1/2, 7, 9 and 9 hours away for the regular season ones if driving. Most of her team has a lot more money than I do apparently, and most will fly to 2 or 3 of those meets. I may fly to one just because my daughter has exams I have to work around.

What level is your daughter?

 

[Aussie_coach]

Wow! I’m surprised that a meet that is 3 hours away is considered local.

In Australia, we have a much smaller population and the vast majority of people live in big cities. The population is centralised.

So average travel time to a meet would be 15-20 minutes.

If the drive is more than 30 minutes, it’s not really considered local anymore.

There are 63 gymnastics clubs, within a 25 mile drive from our club.

 

[jm_gymmom]

Urban area. 5 meets in our home city/suburbs. 1 is 4 hours away. 1 is 12+ away. State happens to be local this year.
We tend to follow a 6 local, 1 drive away, 1 fly away schedule every year. If state isn’t local then it becomes our “drive away”.

 

[JPC13]

Wow! I’m surprised that a meet that is 3 hours away is considered local.

In Australia, we have a much smaller population and the vast majority of people live in big cities. The population is centralised.

So average travel time to a meet would be 15-20 minutes.

If the drive is more than 30 minutes, it’s not really considered local anymore.

There are 63 gymnastics clubs, within a 25 mile drive from our club.

We drive 70 minutes each way to gym. I think most people probably don’t drive as far as us.

 

[jillc]

My DD will likely compete level 8 or 9 this year.
2 flights (900+ miles each)
2 longer drives (200-400 miles)
2 shorter drives (100-200 miles)
1 local meet

 

[mom2newgymnast]

What level is your daughter?

She's level 10. But all of our optionals go to the same meets.

 

[GymDadWA]

All except our home meet required a hotel room last year. The "close" meets were a one night stay and we could drive home after the meet, the far meets required an extra night so we could start driving in the morning the next day to get home by dinner.

 

[Tmacs]

8 meets besides regionals for optionals. 5 are local/within an hour. Two are a 2-3 hour drive and one is a fly away meet.

 

[Janneke]

21 miles (home club)
31 miles (twice)
40 miles
87 miles
285 miles, except it got cancelled

once you get to optionals, there are at least two further away. Those are up to 300-800 miles away. We'll go by plane for those, as there is a bit of water in the way and the boat across takes 4 hours and costs more than plane tickets.

For some of the closer, but not that close we might stay overnight, if she has an early start. At large competitions, the first group can start as early as 7:15 and I refuse to get up before sunrise.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

Wow! I’m surprised that a meet that is 3 hours away is considered local.

In Australia, we have a much smaller population and the vast majority of people live in big cities. The population is centralised.

So average travel time to a meet would be 15-20 minutes.

If the drive is more than 30 minutes, it’s not really considered local anymore.

There are 63 gymnastics clubs, within a 25 mile drive from our club.

In my rural US state, we would consider anything under 4 hours local and a day trip. There are only THREE gyms within two hours of my house. We have two team members that drive over two hours one way to get to practice. So, it goes without saying that most of our meets are in the 3 hour drive range. A couple are closer and a couple are 5+ hours.

 

[Tmacs]

In my rural US state, we would consider anything under 4 hours local and a day trip. There are only THREE gyms within two hours of my house. We have two team members that drive over two hours one way to get to practice. So, it goes without saying that most of our meets are in the 3 hour drive range. A couple are closer and a couple are 5+ hours.

Two hours one way!! That is dedication!