Parents Coaches not around for awards??

[e'smum]

ours usually has another meet to be at. if it's the last meet of the day, they stay. or, if they can, one will come to awards. it's not a big deal.

 

[CoachTodd]

I would stay for the last session but usually was getting something to eat between other sessions. Coaches also usually get a print out of the scores so they know how everyone did each session. They just usually don't have time to sit through the awards. If the coaches' area is within sight of the awards, I usually watched from there.

 

[Madden3]

MAG mom here- When they can be (last session, whatever) my son's coaches sometimes are around during/just after awards, but usually not. As others have mentioned there are many good reasons for a coach to not come to awards and not really any compelling reason for them to do so. I recall being surprised at the first meet I went to that they were not at awards, but my kids knew one was eating and the other was warming up kids for the next session and straightened me out. My boys have never cared about seeing a coach after the meet at all. If there is a post mortem to be done, it can happen at the next practice. In my experience, after awards is certainly not the time they talk to the kids or parents about anything beyond "good job" as the kids are hungry and exhausted and the parents just want to get out of there. And talking during awards would be rude.

 

[SMH]

At my kid's first competition they gave medals to everyone on every event, including kids who had scratched. There were a lot of unhappy faces during that awards ceremony. It was awful. My kid still hates participation medals and meets where they place out all the way.

It’s the worst when there is a full session and they give out the ‘participation’ awards first before placing- so the kids that didn’t place at all have to go up and stand in front of everyone and smile and salute knowing they didn’t actually place at all. But I’m not a big fan of participation medals even for the little ones.

 

[Texasmomof3]

Are you talking about "achievement" ribbons that are given out first?

Those are not given to the lowest-scoring girls. Those are given to be girls who were registered to compete achievement versus placement. That means their scores were never considered for medals. The came with the intent to compete just for the experience. Achievement kids could theoretically score higher than anyone and they still wouldn't get a medal.

Lots of gyms have their level 3s compete achievement.

 

[flipping_girls]

As a brand new level 3 parent of a dd that seems to be behind many of her teammates and isn't on the podium and getting many medals her first few meets I was wondering if it is always required to stay for the awards. She has been handling it okay, but VERY ready to get out of there ASAP as many of her friends are already getting awards in nearly every event. I know it is giving her lots to work towards and improvement will be much more sweet, but it's a rough start.

Our gym requires the girls to stay and watch (and cheer) for all age groups, even when we don't have girls in the older groups. But we often see other teams scooting out when their age groups are done, even before team awards. So my guess is that it varies from team to team.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

But we often see other teams scooting out when their age groups are done, even before team awards. .

That is just bad form

 

[flipping_girls]

That is just bad form

For the most part, I completely agree, its bad form. Bad weather coming on and needing to get on the road before the storm hits, gymnast gets ill and the team bus needs to take her home, etc. By all means, take off early, I completely respect that.

But honestly, most teams are leaving because they didn't have girls in the older age groups, or place in the team awards. Even if they ducked out quietly, I probably wouldn't take too much notice. But often times we are watching the team awards over the heads of parents who have gone down to the floor to collect their children during the team awards.

 

[SMH]

Are you talking about "achievement" ribbons that are given out first?

Those are not given to the lowest-scoring girls. Those are given to be girls who were registered to compete achievement versus placement. That means their scores were never considered for medals. The came with the intent to compete just for the experience. Achievement kids could theoretically score higher than anyone and they still wouldn't get a medal.

Lots of gyms have their level 3s compete achievement.

Nope, these are just participation medals handed out for kids that competed but did not place. I’ve never heard of competing for achievent, but our gym only competes for placement, and there are a few girls who don’t often place but always get a participation medal.

 

[twinmomma]

Are you talking about "achievement" ribbons that are given out first?

Those are not given to the lowest-scoring girls. Those are given to be girls who were registered to compete achievement versus placement. That means their scores were never considered for medals. The came with the intent to compete just for the experience. Achievement kids could theoretically score higher than anyone and they still wouldn't get a medal.

Lots of gyms have their level 3s compete achievement.

Except that isn't a thing in our region. If you compete you compete. There's no "achievement" here.

 

[kayjaybe]

The only meet I've been to where everyone got a participation "something" was old L5 states -- every girl got a small participation trophy whether they placed on anything or not. I was OK with that because getting to states was an achievement in itself and it was really the first big competition for many girls.

Other than that, all awards we've been to go out 50% tops. And while waiting for awards to start can sometimes be long, the actual awards seem to finish in 30 minutes or less.

 

[momstrong]

The only meet I've been to where everyone got a participation "something" was old L5 states -- every girl got a small participation trophy whether they placed on anything or not. I was OK with that because getting to states was an achievement in itself and it was really the first big competition for many girls.

Other than that, all awards we've been to go out 50% tops. And while waiting for awards to start can sometimes be long, the actual awards seem to finish in 30 minutes or less.

I wish that was the case! Bringing my dd up for a last place medal was just cruel!!

 

[z2akids]

Nope, these are just participation medals handed out for kids that competed but did not place. I’ve never heard of competing for achievent, but our gym only competes for placement, and there are a few girls who don’t often place but always get a participation medal.

My DD maxe the funniest faces standing with her last place participation medal for vault and AA last year when she scratched due to an ankle injury. Didn't compete vault and yet received a medal and a trophy. She was gracious, but I could tell she was amused by the whole thing.

 

[Mamabear123]

At one meet last season DD got a trophy that actually said... "Participant". She was only 6 so she was super happy, but as a parent I was like, ouch. Lol

 

[Madden3]

I have no problem with participation medals or ribbons for kids (and I agree they should not say participant) who are so young they are not really understanding much about placement anyway, and these are the kids who are usually so young that going home with nothing after working so hard is particularly difficult. After all at the younger levels especially it is supposed to be about fun and bling is fun. And in my opinion the longer you can keep kids from focusing on placement, the better.

Placement is so arbitrary - The kid who gets first at an "easy" meet with little competition in her age group could be last at a more challenging meet. Due to some recent changes to MAG levels, at a meet last year my boys attended, there was one kid who was the only competitor in his level and age group. They only gave him an AA award, presumably because it would have been ridiculous to bring him up again and again for events. This seemed fair and I am not saying it should have been handled differently, but later I realized this kid actually scored very well and would have placed in the top three of almost every event if he had competed with the next highest age group. Just another lesson in why, at least before you get into the very high echelons, placement is an unreliable measure of how well one did at a meet.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

This seemed fair and I am not saying it should have been handled differently, but later I realized this kid actually scored very well and would have placed in the top three of almost every event if he had competed with the next highest age group. Just another lesson in why, at least before you get into the very high echelons, placement is an unreliable measure of how well one did at a meet.

One of the lower scoring girls on our team usually always places top 3 in most events and AA for her age group. And our stronger scoring girls, by 1.5-2 points from the lower girl, have less top 3 finishes just because of the age group they are on. They gymnastics are much better but they get less bling. It is what is and fortunately they get it.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

One of the lower scoring girls on our team usually always places top 3 in most events and AA for her age group. And our stronger scoring girls, by 1.5-2 points from the lower girl, have less top 3 finishes just because of the age group they are on. They gymnastics are much better but they get less bling. It is what is and fortunately they get it.

Yup. Last year my dd routinely placed lower AA than most of her teammates despite usually outscoring them. But she was in one of the youngest age groups and was always competing against the same girls from the same gyms that start young and are all really good. Her teammates who were 6 months to a year older didn't have as many others in their age group that were scoring as high. At the state meet, she had the highest score from her gym across all compulsory levels (mid 37's) and ended up 6th in her age group. Others scored lower and got 2nd and 3rd. But what are you going to do? Like you said, they get it and understand.

As for placement awards, every meet we go to has top 50%+1 on each event getting medals and places 100% AA. So everyone does get a medal for all around, but not each event. I think it's good for them to have something to take home.

 

[John]

Add difficulty score in JO?

 

[raenndrops]

I have no problem with participation medals or ribbons for kids (and I agree they should not say participant) who are so young they are not really understanding much about placement anyway, and these are the kids who are usually so young that going home with nothing after working so hard is particularly difficult. After all at the younger levels especially it is supposed to be about fun and bling is fun. And in my opinion the longer you can keep kids from focusing on placement, the better.

Placement is so arbitrary - The kid who gets first at an "easy" meet with little competition in her age group could be last at a more challenging meet. Due to some recent changes to MAG levels, at a meet last year my boys attended, there was one kid who was the only competitor in his level and age group. They only gave him an AA award, presumably because it would have been ridiculous to bring him up again and again for events. This seemed fair and I am not saying it should have been handled differently, but later I realized this kid actually scored very well and would have placed in the top three of almost every event if he had competed with the next highest age group. Just another lesson in why, at least before you get into the very high echelons, placement is an unreliable measure of how well one did at a meet.

What we do if there is just 1 in an age group (L9, especially at our meets), we call the girl up once and say "In first place on all events and AA, Gymnast X" and give her all her awards.
If there are only 2, we dont even have them step down... just trade places as needed, lol.

 

[2littlegymmiesmom]

Our coaches generally stay for awards, or at least one of them try's too. Almost all of our levels except optionals have their own coach so it's not too hard for them to stick around since they aren't worrying about getting to the next session. There have been a handful of times when a coach hasn't been able to stay due to another session starting.

I totally feel their pain as more than once I have found myself in a situation where one of my girls is in awards and the other is warming up for the next session. I literally was at a meet once running back and forth between the awards room and the competition floor becasuse the awards were so poorly run we had to wait nearly 45 minutes for them to even begin and my other daughters session had begun! That was not fun! Luckily, since my girls are young they are usually in the first age group to go, so I was able to quickly get it over and watch the rest of ODD's session. No way could coaches be expected to do that so I can understand them not being at awards if they are the only coach and have to coach multiple sessions.