Parents Do you go to out-of-state meets as a compulsory level gymnast?

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Blue Moon

Proud Parent
This question may seem naive; my dd is a level 4 and been to the same gym since she started. Last year our gym started to travel to out-of-state meets, mandatory for optional but not for compulsories although it was strongly encouraged. We, as a family, decided to skip on these travels because of prior commitments and costs involved. This year a new out-of-state meet is coming up and it is not only very expensive but clashes our state meet. We decided to skip again and feel bummed because of the lost opportunity to go to state. Since I have told the hc we are not going we feel unwelcomed in the gym. My question is: do clubs organize out-of-state meets for lower levels pretty often? I thought it would be more important on higher levels. Thank you for your responses, in advance!
 
You mean the gym chose a meet that conflicted with a level’s state meet, and didn’t make the state meet an option for that level? That’s really quite strange imo. We’ve been to gyms that had one out of state meet for lower levels, mandatory, but usually it’s either optional to do travel meets or they don’t offer them at all. Our current gym doesn’t do travel for any levels at all, outside of traveling to regionals.
 
If an out of state invitational meet has a date clash with your compulsory gymnast's "I work all season to get to" State Meet, and your Head Coach gives you a hard time, find a new gym ....your head coach is wrong. It is a serious error in judgement to expect your kid ( or any compulsory) to forego their state meet, even if it's an early state meet, to attend an out of state boondoggle...

As a compulsory, my girls did travel but there was never a conflict with their State meet...as their Head coach wanted to be there for that too.
 
Our gym stays in state until level 7. And they would never schedule any meet to conflict with states. They also don't give us a choice regarding which meets we will and won't attend (barring illness, injury, emergency). This seems very strange.
 
Thank you for your responses! Actually, three compulsory levels won't make it to state because the out-of-state one is a longer, four-day affair... When one mom asked about that the hc's response was that it is not a big deal to skip state at this level. My dd loves her coaches and team mates and it will be very hard on her to move to another gym but that is what I am thinking about now...
 
Thank you for your responses! Actually, three compulsory levels won't make it to state because the out-of-state one is a longer, four-day affair... When one mom asked about that the hc's response was that it is not a big deal to skip state at this level. My dd loves her coaches and team mates and it will be very hard on her to move to another gym but that is what I am thinking about now...
Wow! Are we talking L1/2 here??
 
Thank you for your responses! Actually, three compulsory levels won't make it to state because the out-of-state one is a longer, four-day affair... When one mom asked about that the hc's response was that it is not a big deal to skip state at this level. My dd loves her coaches and team mates and it will be very hard on her to move to another gym but that is what I am thinking about now...

Ok, he's just let you know what he thinks of your daughter and the compulsory levels at your gym...and if it's "not a big deal to skip state" , why is an out of state invitational that means zero important to attend? To spread out the costs? There are plenty of huge invites that your HC could have picked to attend, and he picked the one that conflicted with the state meet for ALL compulsories in your gym, and basically blows off your daughter's chance to go to the top meet in HER level.

Think about it and take your money elsewhere ...and when you research other gyms, look on line to see if the bring their compulsories to the state meet.
 
Sounds like they may not have enough coaches to do both and they are prioritizing the meet for the optionals. What meet is it that they are prioritizing if you don’t mind sharing?
 
Thank you for your responses! Actually, three compulsory levels won't make it to state because the out-of-state one is a longer, four-day affair... When one mom asked about that the hc's response was that it is not a big deal to skip state at this level. My dd loves her coaches and team mates and it will be very hard on her to move to another gym but that is what I am thinking about now...

I'm curious, are you saying that there would be state for levels 3,4,&5 on the same weekend!? State meets in our state are spread out over a month or so (for those levels). Totally weird priorities for your coach and so sad that your coach downplays the state meets in any of those levels.
 
My daughter went to a travel meet as a Level 3 but it was an optional meet. Our gym has a travel meet for compulsories this year, but again it is completely optional and is after their regular season has concluded.
 
My daughter went to a travel meet as a Level 3 but it was an optional meet. Our gym has a travel meet for compulsories this year, but again it is completely optional and is after their regular season has concluded.

I like this option better; thank you for your reply!
 
I agree that it's odd to schedule an out of state meet the same time as state. Are both compulsory and optional attending the same meet? Our optional team does travel out of state. Our compulsory team does not travel out of state, but maybe that's because there are so many local meets to attend. We do travel about three hours for a couple of meets, but that is still in state for us.
 
I'm curious, are you saying that there would be state for levels 3,4,&5 on the same weekend!? State meets in our state are spread out over a month or so (for those levels). Totally weird priorities for your coach and so sad that your coach downplays the state meets in any of those levels.

The L3 is on the same weekend, L4 and 5 are the previous weekend but she decided to skip that one, too. I guess it would be too much travelling for the coaches.
 
I agree that it's odd to schedule an out of state meet the same time as state. Are both compulsory and optional attending the same meet? Our optional team does travel out of state. Our compulsory team does not travel out of state, but maybe that's because there are so many local meets to attend. We do travel about three hours for a couple of meets, but that is still in state for us.

Yes, that meet is for everybody. I do not mind driving a few hours here and there but this is a fly-in and 4 days.
 
Ok, he's just let you know what he thinks of your daughter and the compulsory levels at your gym...and if it's "not a big deal to skip state" , why is an out of state invitational that means zero important to attend? To spread out the costs? There are plenty of huge invites that your HC could have picked to attend, and he picked the one that conflicted with the state meet for ALL compulsories in your gym, and basically blows off your daughter's chance to go to the top meet in HER level.

Think about it and take your money elsewhere ...and when you research other gyms, look on line to see if the bring their compulsories to the state meet.

Thank you for you reply! I am glad I am not the only one who though this was strange... I am doing my research now... see, this was not an issue here before. We did go to state last year and before that.
 
We did not travel out of state until optional levels. I am profoundly grateful that HC tries to keep it as reasonable and affordable as possible- especially for the lower levels.
 
Our compulsories have only ever had one out of state meet and it wasn't every year and its always been optional. It was also within driving distance though out of state. I would not be happy if we were missing the state meet especially so I could pay a ton of money to fly somewhere else. At that level out of state meets should be optional--I also I agree with what someone else implied above I bet they are trying to spread out the coaches costs by taking more gymnasts.
 
My gymnasts are boys so maybe a bit different but there are usually 3-4 out of state meets a year for us. 2 of them are driveable (3-6 hours) and the other two last year were flying meets. But none of the four were mandatory. We only have 3 mandatory meets - the two our gym hosts and States. I think most kids would be really upset to skip states - it sounds nuts to me!
 

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