We just finished out our season and DD has been to some wonderful meets and some that were not well run.
She is still new to competition, but I wanted to pass along some thoughts. I don't run meets, but have been involved in lots of fundraising and volunteer activities.
It is not necessary or even beneficial to place out 100%, even at lower levels. It is hard for the girls to stand there in 12th or 18th place our whatever last is. 50% is plenty for awards. A couple of meets we went to called the lower half up in basically a group and give them a participation ribbon. But, they didn't give places. That was easier on the little girls. They still got to salute, but they didn't know if they were 8th or 15th. The worst was the meet that, if you didn't place, had you come up to a table afterwards to get your certificate. They called out the girls' names loud enough for everyone to hear. And, if you didn't come quickly, they kept calling it out. They should have just given the certificates to the coaches. It was embarrassing for the girls.
I am sure it was a ton of work, but a couple of meets had places and scores on stickers on the back of the awards. Great idea if you can pull it off.
The little gymmies love to help with awards, but gyms should set age limits. One meet had little 6ish year olds passing out the medals. Girls were getting 2 while others were skipped entirely. It was a mess and more than one parent was complaining in the audience.
And, it is great to get preteam parents involved in meets, but be careful what jobs you give them. If they have never seen an award ceremony, they can easily make a mess of it and potentially stick in parents mind when they plan which meets to attend next year.
Oh, and at our State meet, the award announcer was calling 1st place first. All the suspense was just gone. Not nearly as good as building to first.
If you must place all the way out, have the girls just step behind the podium. Awards take forever when they all go back to sit down and then are called right back up.
Put the gymnast check in outside of the spectator area. We have had moms come to check their gymmie in while dad parks the car only to find that the volunteers won't let them past the gym doors to drop their girls because they hadn't paid yet and their DH had the cash. Frustrating for everyone, especially when girls are cutting it close due to bad weather.
At one meet, DH drove separately. The line for spectator admission was long. They wouldn't let me buy his wristband because he wasn't right there. They had to physically out it on each person. Seriously? Are you really that worried that someone might try to cheat you out of the $8? It was insulting and he almost missed DD's first event waiting in line with sessions that didn't stay for over an hour.
Find a venue that has separate rooms if you have multiple sessions. At States the last two years they had 2 sessions of the same compulsory level going on at the same time in a large auditorium. (We have almost 700 Level 3s, so they divide them into large and small gyms and you wind up only competing against similarly sized teams). Anyway, it is very hard to be in time with the music when another session has the same music going on in the same room at the same time. They are often only a couple if second different and do hard for the girls' timing.
There are lots of good gymnast gifts. Please avoid the $10 or $15 coupon to the tshirt salesperson. These wind up costing me a fortune and so much time. We love getting leos. They make great advertisements as well. If you give them out, the girls will wear them to the gym and that can keep the meet in the mind of the person planning the meets for the following year. We received cute shorts/tank sets at one meet. DD liked that. And - so did I since I was able to a avoid the tshirt guy. String bags at one meet were nice. It just gives it a nice touch to actually get something rather than that darned coupon.
We had one meet put in their schedule that they "reserved the right to start 30 minutes early if they were running ahead." First of all, what meet ever runs early? Secondly, that many everyone had to get there early, just in case. Double the people. Parents for the next session trying to find seats while the current session is just starting the 3rd rotation.
When you have teams too big for one rotation, it is nice when they start on the same equipment, just different flights. That way, two kids from the same gym are very unlikely to be competing at the same time. We like to cheer for our whole team and hate it when we can't watch them ask because one is vaulting while another is on bars (our whatever).
She is still new to competition, but I wanted to pass along some thoughts. I don't run meets, but have been involved in lots of fundraising and volunteer activities.
It is not necessary or even beneficial to place out 100%, even at lower levels. It is hard for the girls to stand there in 12th or 18th place our whatever last is. 50% is plenty for awards. A couple of meets we went to called the lower half up in basically a group and give them a participation ribbon. But, they didn't give places. That was easier on the little girls. They still got to salute, but they didn't know if they were 8th or 15th. The worst was the meet that, if you didn't place, had you come up to a table afterwards to get your certificate. They called out the girls' names loud enough for everyone to hear. And, if you didn't come quickly, they kept calling it out. They should have just given the certificates to the coaches. It was embarrassing for the girls.
I am sure it was a ton of work, but a couple of meets had places and scores on stickers on the back of the awards. Great idea if you can pull it off.
The little gymmies love to help with awards, but gyms should set age limits. One meet had little 6ish year olds passing out the medals. Girls were getting 2 while others were skipped entirely. It was a mess and more than one parent was complaining in the audience.
And, it is great to get preteam parents involved in meets, but be careful what jobs you give them. If they have never seen an award ceremony, they can easily make a mess of it and potentially stick in parents mind when they plan which meets to attend next year.
Oh, and at our State meet, the award announcer was calling 1st place first. All the suspense was just gone. Not nearly as good as building to first.
If you must place all the way out, have the girls just step behind the podium. Awards take forever when they all go back to sit down and then are called right back up.
Put the gymnast check in outside of the spectator area. We have had moms come to check their gymmie in while dad parks the car only to find that the volunteers won't let them past the gym doors to drop their girls because they hadn't paid yet and their DH had the cash. Frustrating for everyone, especially when girls are cutting it close due to bad weather.
At one meet, DH drove separately. The line for spectator admission was long. They wouldn't let me buy his wristband because he wasn't right there. They had to physically out it on each person. Seriously? Are you really that worried that someone might try to cheat you out of the $8? It was insulting and he almost missed DD's first event waiting in line with sessions that didn't stay for over an hour.
Find a venue that has separate rooms if you have multiple sessions. At States the last two years they had 2 sessions of the same compulsory level going on at the same time in a large auditorium. (We have almost 700 Level 3s, so they divide them into large and small gyms and you wind up only competing against similarly sized teams). Anyway, it is very hard to be in time with the music when another session has the same music going on in the same room at the same time. They are often only a couple if second different and do hard for the girls' timing.
There are lots of good gymnast gifts. Please avoid the $10 or $15 coupon to the tshirt salesperson. These wind up costing me a fortune and so much time. We love getting leos. They make great advertisements as well. If you give them out, the girls will wear them to the gym and that can keep the meet in the mind of the person planning the meets for the following year. We received cute shorts/tank sets at one meet. DD liked that. And - so did I since I was able to a avoid the tshirt guy. String bags at one meet were nice. It just gives it a nice touch to actually get something rather than that darned coupon.
We had one meet put in their schedule that they "reserved the right to start 30 minutes early if they were running ahead." First of all, what meet ever runs early? Secondly, that many everyone had to get there early, just in case. Double the people. Parents for the next session trying to find seats while the current session is just starting the 3rd rotation.
When you have teams too big for one rotation, it is nice when they start on the same equipment, just different flights. That way, two kids from the same gym are very unlikely to be competing at the same time. We like to cheer for our whole team and hate it when we can't watch them ask because one is vaulting while another is on bars (our whatever).
But I am not sure how much the meet director has to do with any of that either! LOL!
