WAG Dear Awards Announcer,

[flipandfly]

"These are your Day 1, Session 2, Venue 1, Level X, Division X, Overall Champions!"

I understand you are new to announcing. But the meet was already running behind. And to say that for each EVENT in each DIVISION. Oh, and I think "All Around" was the phrase you were looking for.

I don't blame the wailing infant in the background.

 

[JazzyMom]

LOL - I'm sorry for your pain!

 

[Flyaway]

Ugh. We were at a meet that placed out ALL gymnasts on each event in every age group. Which meant announcing 13-15 places and handing out 13-15 medals 5 times in each age group. Excruciating!

 

[raenndrops]

Ugh. We were at a meet that placed out ALL gymnasts on each event in every age group. Which meant announcing 13-15 places and handing out 13-15 medals 5 times in each age group. Excruciating!

If they are efficient, this isn't bad.
We had a meet where they only placed top 12 (the biggest group only had 16... But the first two sessions didn't have a single group with more than 12).
It would have been more efficient to have the girls just step back between events -there was more than 10 feet of open space behind the podium line, so it wasn't like there wasn't room. Instead, they made them sit back down between events (stepping over teammates and wasting time).

At our meets, we try to keep the age groups down, but do place all the way out even if there are 15-16 in an age group and our awards are the most efficient in our area.

 

[flipandfly]

Ugh. We were at a meet that placed out ALL gymnasts on each event in every age group. Which meant announcing 13-15 places and handing out 13-15 medals 5 times in each age group. Excruciating!

Definitely depends on who does the awards. That sounds very tough to sit through.

Forgot to mention that all scores were read, so that means the last place AA score was read out loud with the gymnast's name, poor girl.

 

[Flyaway]

Definitely depends on who does the awards. That sounds very tough to sit through.

Forgot to mention that all scores were read, so that means the last place AA score was read out loud with the gymnast's name, poor girl.

That would be a bummer. My dd would be horrified to be recognized as having the lowest AA, even if it came with a medal. She'd rather deal with that in private.

 

[raenndrops]

Definitely depends on who does the awards. That sounds very tough to sit through.

Forgot to mention that all scores were read, so that means the last place AA score was read out loud with the gymnast's name, poor girl.

We only read the top 3 scores. Now, if we are doing our Championship meet, we only place top 12, so we read the 12th place score... Just so Little Suzy's mom doesn't come up and say that we forgot to announce Suzy and give her her medal. After all, she got a personal best score of 7.8 on bars and last meet, she only had a 7.7 and she was top 10. She must have placed today (even though last week, there were only 10 in her age group and today, there were 20).

 

[gymnastmom05]

AH! I have such a hard time. One meet went way over schedule, awards were late, etc and the announcer had to announce all the stats for each event and each girl. An hour in I wanted to stand up and scream "WE KNOW THEY'RE ALL LEVEL 4! " minus the fact that we were there for what felt like eternity and I was almost certain they would be at least a level 8 by the time we got done : ) I might have needed some food(or a stiff drink) by the end of that meet (hangry is a problem in my family!).

 

[GymDad9.9]

AH! I have such a hard time. One meet went way over schedule, awards were late, etc and the announcer had to announce all the stats for each event and each girl. An hour in I wanted to stand up and scream "WE KNOW THEY'RE ALL LEVEL 4! " minus the fact that we were there for what felt like eternity and I was almost certain they would be at least a level 8 by the time we got done : ) I might have needed some food(or a stiff drink) by the end of that meet (hangry is a problem in my family!).

Maybe they got paid by the word.

 

[flippingtogether]

As a volunteer emcee at our home meets I can tell you it is a tough job - but we are trained and try to keep things moving along.

 

[amiandjim]

We are currently at awards....they are awarding every single place and saying every single score for every single girl. Very, very slowly.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Can I add to this?
Dear Awards Announcer and Meet Director,
You should make it a habit to announce first place first. Seriously. The gymnast in 10th place gets called up first and stands there for the entire time the event is being awarded. Then the gymnast in 1st place is called up, gets her medal, and salutes. She is barely on the stand for 30 seconds. Shouldn't the 1st place winner get to stand there the longest instead of the shortest amount of time? (Once my dd won bars at a huge meet. They placed bars out to 12th place. They called my dd's name and she did not even get onto the podium or receive her medal when the announcer said "Gymnasts salute." The first place winner was not even in the photos or on the podium, there was just an empty space at 1st place.) I think the winner should be standing there the longest. I've seen it done a few times, but it needs to be done always.

 

[CTMOM]

Can I add to this?
Dear Awards Announcer and Meet Director,
You should make it a habit to announce first place first. Seriously. The gymnast in 10th place gets called up first and stands there for the entire time the event is being awarded. Then the gymnast in 1st place is called up, gets her medal, and salutes. She is barely on the stand for 30 seconds. Shouldn't the 1st place winner get to stand there the longest instead of the shortest amount of time? (Once my dd won bars at a huge meet. They placed bars out to 12th place. They called my dd's name and she did not even get onto the podium or receive her medal when the announcer said "Gymnasts salute." The first place winner was not even in the photos or on the podium, there was just an empty space at 1st place.) I think the winner should be standing there the longest. I've seen it done a few times, but it needs to be done always.

We were at a meet that did this and my DD loved it! First place should be the first one called.

 

[gymbeam]

Better yet- lets just do 1st, 2nd and 3rd and be done!

 

[gymbeam]

Better yet- lets just do 1st, 2nd and 3rd and be done!

And let me add that my kid never placed higher than 5AA last season. I still think 3 places is enough to announce. I guess when USAG comes around to ask my opinion I'll tell them this.

 

[gasrgoose]

Better yet- lets just do 1st, 2nd and 3rd and be done!

Yes Please!!!!

 

[mommyof1]

Better yet- lets just do 1st, 2nd and 3rd and be done!

... and make the age groups larger AND consistent across meets! "First place among everyone here today who will be between the ages of 8y 6mo and 9y on the day of the state meet" means a lot more than "first place in a seemingly random grouping of kids who may or may not be in your age group the next time you compete against them." I know that meets usually select the age groups to be of uniform size, but that seems silly and arbitrary especially since the number of kids in each age group also varies by meet. Sometimes I think that placements depend more on who's in which age group at a particular meet than on the actual performances.

 

[GymDad9.9]

... and make the age groups larger AND consistent across meets! "First place among everyone here today who will be between the ages of 8y 6mo and 9y on the day of the state meet" means a lot more than "first place in a seemingly random grouping of kids who may or may not be in your age group the next time you compete against them." I know that meets usually select the age groups to be of uniform size, but that seems silly and arbitrary especially since the number of kids in each age group also varies by meet. Sometimes I think that placements depend more on who's in which age group at a particular meet than on the actual performances.

Ain't that the truth. I've seen very competitive age groups in state meets where the 2nd and 3rd place finishers score higher AA than most of the other State AA champions.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Better yet- lets just do 1st, 2nd and 3rd and be done!

Ah but parents want their snowflakes to get medals.

If they don't, they drop out and that reduces revenue. So we have a ton of places out with many age groups. So bling is bestowed and folks keep going.

 

[twinmomma]

Ah but parents want their snowflakes to get medals.

If they don't, they drop out and thT reduces revenue.

Such cynicism. My daughter worked her A** off for her 7th place medal at a national meet last weekend. Is it 1st, 2nd, or 3rd? No. But it sure as heck isn't a "participation medal".

Also I totally disagree with announcing 1st place first. I love the suspense, and I think the kids do too. It's so fun to see the looks on their faces when their names are called up in that first place position. The issue isn't that they should stand there longer, it's that the awards process should ensure that everyone has time to get their photo opp. Don't rush through. Most of the meets we go to do half plus 1 for medals. Sometimes this means 4, sometimes it means 10. But it's still the same 1/2 plus 1 regardless of how many are in the group.

I will say this: This is a sport that beats these kids down time and time again. They work and work and work for a miniscule improvement in a skill. And while achievement of the skill should be reward enough, the medals for being able to do that under pressure should not be discounted. Do I think a kid who got up there and froze and didn't do a routine at all should medal? No. But I think there's nothing wrong with recognizing these kids for how difficult it is to do what they do. When there are 20 kids in a group, it's unreasonable to only medal to 3rd place. Especially when the differences in scores are often hundredths of a point. Again, I'm not saying participation medals, I'm saying there's nothing wrong with half plus 1.