Gymnastics Meets- Distance?

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beamgymnast

My gym usually tries to go to as many relatively local meets as possible, and go to around 2 to 3 out of state/farther away meets. A gym nearby will go to Las Vegas for a meet and then Florida the next! I really like going to meets were you get to stay in a hotel:), but I understand why many parents would hesitate to go to far away meets that require plane-flights. I was just wondering if your gym goes to many far-away meets, and also how far your parents (or how far you are willing to take your kid to compete) are willing to take you to compete.....
Thanks!
~ Paige, gymnast:p
 
All of our meets are 1-3 hours away. Every few years provincials, like States, might be up to 7 hours away, but that is very rare. Not sure how far I would go for a meet. Sometimes I dream about some of your Florida invitationals though, cool medals, sunshine and Disney, plus lots of CB'ers
 
We only do meets within 3-4 hours during the season, half of which is less than 1.5 hours away. The only exceptions are the post-season meets that a few of our girls attend.

I, for one, do not like long distance meets, except for the post season ones which I would consider as an honor. I think it's a waste of time and money to go far for a regular meet (or any form of competition) -- not mentioning it takes valuable time away from the gym.
 
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Most of the meets are usually no more than 2 hours but we do have a few that are 4+ hours and 1 or 2 a year that need a plane flight. If money wasn't an object we would go to all of them but with the economy the way it is that isn't happening this year. This year if we have to get a hotel room or flight to go then we aren't going with a HUGE pay cut in my hubbys pay and me loosing my job there just aren't enough dollars on the tree left to pay for the far away meets.

I know my DD loves going to the far away meets because she gets to stay in a hotel usually with a pool which she loves and she gets to compete with a new group of gymnasts instead of the same old group from meet to meet. She loves seeing new gyms and meeting new gymnasts.
 
My daughter who is a compulsary has meets 2-3 hours away. I probally would of told somebody they were crazy if they said I would be doing this a few years back but my daughter has suckered me into it and after 2 years I think I am getting used to the travel. The older optionals go to a couple of far meets across the country but they usually travel with the coaches and the parents stay home.
 
About 7418 miles

I saw this thread and it made me smile. My daughter just finished competing in Tel Aviv, Israel, which is 10 time zones away.

Back when she was competing J.O., most meets were within a 2 hour drive, but even as a compulsory, we had an annual trip to Reno (we're in Northern California). Later, there were travel trips to Hawaii, Seattle, Cincinatti, Las Vegas and St. Louis.
 
I saw this thread and it made me smile. My daughter just finished competing in Tel Aviv, Israel, which is 10 time zones away.

Back when she was competing J.O., most meets were within a 2 hour drive, but even as a compulsory, we had an annual trip to Reno (we're in Northern California). Later, there were travel trips to Hawaii, Seattle, Cincinatti, Las Vegas and St. Louis.


Wow what a great experience to compete in the Maccabi games, I ws just reading up on how our Canadian girls did. Did dhe get to do some touring too, to see such history must be amazing .
 
How in the world, do these gyms find parents that can afford this sort of travel for meets? Basically all our meets are local, by local I mean a maximum of 20-30 minutes drive. Most parts of Australia are like this, as the population is centralized in a few cities, I presume in the USA the population is more spread out so you would have to travel further. Once a year usually we do a competition which is about 2 hours drive away and that is a big end of season one.

The only ones who go on planes to a meet would do so for nationals. You can qualify for nationals in level 7-10, it is held once a year in July and the top 6 gymnasts in each level from each state qualify and they go as a team with the state team, not with the gym. So only a very limited number of gymnasts do this.
 
Wow what a great experience to compete in the Maccabiah games, I was just reading up on how our Canadian girls did. Did she get to do some touring too, to see such history must be amazing .
She has been, and is continuing to tour the country (Dead Sea, Masada, Jerusalem, etc.) The gymnasts competed the first two days after the Opening Ceremonies and get to spend the remainder (about 12 days) touring and rooting on other teams. It's also an incredible opportunity to meet athletes from other countries.
 
Most of DD's meets are within an hours drive. We do have one out of state meet for the first time this coming season. It is about 5 hours I think.
 
All my meets are about 3 hours or less away. But my state meet is about 4 hours, and nationals is in California. (I'm from NJ so that's a big trip)
 
She has been, and is continuing to tour the country (Dead Sea, Masada, Jerusalem, etc.) The gymnasts competed the first two days after the Opening Ceremonies and get to spend the remainder (about 12 days) touring and rooting on other teams. It's also an incredible opportunity to meet athletes from other countries.


What a fabulous experience for her. To be able to compete for the US and to see ones heritage at the same time. I imagine this will be a trip of a lifetime.
 
In USAG, our meets were mostly less than 2 hours away, but we would usually do 2 that were 3-4 hours away. Regionals could be a little further. For college club, our drives are closer to the 6-8 hour range, although we do have one meet that is about 2 hours away (and of course our home meet). If Nationals is within an 8-9 hour ride, we drive; otherwise, we fly.
 
This is an interesting thread. It got me to thinking about where we have been for meets - In 9 years of competion from L5 on, and counting 3 regional meets and 2 Eastern nationals, we have been to meets in Ohio (obviously), Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, South Carolina, Florida, Mississsippi, Nevada, Arizona and California. Ironically, the first year for L9 nationals was in Dayton, OH; about 60 miles away. No big adventure there! This year it was Mississippi which was a fun trip.

Yes, it does add considerable expense to the sport, but it has also added a lot of new experiences and enrichments to dd and family and we have become close friends with other team families due to traveling together. We sometimes have made travel meets into mini vacations and have been to the zoo in San Diego, Disney world in Orlando, the grand canyon in Arizona, Navy Pier in Chicago, etc. Then there was the night our van slid sideways down an icy mountain highway in western Maryland. That's one I'd rather forget, but we survived.

All in all I think the travel has added a great deal to the gymnastics experience.
 
This is an interesting thread. It got me to thinking about where we have been for meets - In 9 years of competion from L5 on, and counting 3 regional meets and 2 Eastern nationals, we have been to meets in Ohio (obviously), Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, South Carolina, Florida, Mississsippi, Nevada, Arizona and California. Ironically, the first year for L9 nationals was in Dayton, OH; about 60 miles away. No big adventure there! This year it was Mississippi which was a fun trip.

Yes, it does add considerable expense to the sport, but it has also added a lot of new experiences and enrichments to dd and family and we have become close friends with other team families due to traveling together. We sometimes have made travel meets into mini vacations and have been to the zoo in San Diego, Disney world in Orlando, the grand canyon in Arizona, Navy Pier in Chicago, etc. Then there was the night our van slid sideways down an icy mountain highway in western Maryland. That's one I'd rather forget, but we survived.

All in all I think the travel has added a great deal to the gymnastics experience.


that's what we do to for meets we have to get a hotel at we will usually stay a few day and do a family mini vacation. We live in New Hampshire (NH)so most places we go are either within NH or within the 6 New England States. There are alot of tourist attractions in the area no matter where you go here so we do the tourist things if we can. Also we will do fundraisers for the trips that are really far away and will cost alot and have plane fare. Otherwise, yes it is expensive. Where do we get the money well we haven't been on a "real vacation" in years, we cut our budget in other areas and make due. All of our "extra money" goes to gymnastics. It's easier now that we only have one competeing - my son isn't competeing anymore. When we had 2 doing it it was really hard.

I guess its a matter of setting priorites with money and doing without some of the extra that most people have.
 
Our club gymnasts make two big trips each year.

Once to the Regionals, which is anywhere from 800km to 1000 km drive.

Then to the state finals which are held in Perth. This is a 600 km trip.

We usually try to make it into a bit of a holiday for at least one of the trips.

Sometimes we travel on the club bus and the kids think this is a great adventure (painfully slow though!).

In addition to this we usually travel to Perth (600 km trip) every one or two years for the annual coaching course.
 
most of the meets our gym goes to are 1 - 3 hours away. but once or twice a year, we go to meets that are 6+ hours and we go and stay in a hotel for the weekend.
 
Our compulsory meets are all in state except one. Most are about an hour away, but a few are farther. We rarely stay overnight because my DH is a pilot:eek:

Our level 8-10 girls go to CA, FL, and some other fun places. DH will have to get a faster plane if we are going to fly there! (LOL:D)

What's really funny is that everyone in her level acts jealous that we fly, but whenever we offer to take someone with us (plane seats 6) they never want to come with us, or they end up having to take extra people with them or something. I think we only overnighted once last year, and that was because the nearest airport was about 40 minutes away and she had an early morning time.

snowbound
 
Our compulsory kids do not go out of state, but may end up going to meets that are a 3+ hour drive. They usually try and designate one of those meets to be a "travel" meet where they arrange for everyone to stay in a hotel and have a fun weekend.

The optionals do travel although if a girl is doing a 6/7 season, she does not travel to an out of state meet with the L7 team. The girls that have trained L7 all year get to go to 1 out of state invitational and L8-10 do 2. Since our booster club pays for the meet/coach fees and has been able to pay for airline tix/hotel for the girls, they are asking the HC to look at meets this year that will not be as pricey. If we go to the east or west coast, it usually involves 2 flights each way. Then there are regionals, westerns etc.
 

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