Parents Parents at the meet

[mommyof1]

Especially in the lower levels where even floor music doesn't exist.

You don't have floor music at the lower levels? That sounds like paradise!

 

[Sasha]

hee hee. At the big national boys' meet this weekend, they kept coming over the intercom telling us to cheer for our favorite gymnast, get loud, encourage them.. If we were too quiet...they told us to get loud.

Boys meets are fun - but the boys don't have to hear their floor music. I would not object, however, to my son performing his floor routine to Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Because awesome.

 

[kayjaybe]

Only time I've seen "excessive" cheering by our team was when a girl was getting over a mental block on a skill and she nailed it in her floor routine. Everyone cheered loudly for that.

There is one dad from our team that does the loud whistle like you might do at an outdoor sporting event. I HATE that. I can't imagine how distracting that would be for a girl on another event. I know your dd might have just finished, but there are girls on 3 other events that your ear-splitting whistle could distract. I'm surprised he's never been scolded for it. Maybe it isn't as loud/distracting to the girls out on the floor as it is when sitting next to him.

 

[duyetanh]

It truly all depends on how it is done. I personally feel that obnoxious parents should be made to perform their kid's routines for all to see.

 

[rosiekat]

Boys' meets are so different...rock music, everyone cheering....constantly. I mean, not at the top of their lungs, but definitely loud.

I'm glad you said this, as I've only been to boys' meets and yes, they're definitely "fun" feeling.

Boys meets are fun - but the boys don't have to hear their floor music. I would not object, however, to my son performing his floor routine to Thunderstruck by AC/DC. Because awesome.

We were all quite horrified at one meet recently where someone must have switched on the sleepy channel for a while. It was all very, very "easy listening" pop, like too mellow for Elton John even...I was glad that by the time my son got to high bar, it had been switched and I have the high bar video with Purple Haze playing in the background!

As parents, we all cheer for all the team but aren't obnoxious. Awards we get more loud...Last meet, we were over the top for one guy who was having a really rough meet but managed to place (a well-deserved) 1st on vault. We were so excited for him, I suspect we were briefly obnoxious. Our gym is hosting a small meet coming up, and we were so tempted to get big foam fingers and pompoms just to make them (the team) laugh, but we decided we didn't want other parents to think that's what we were really like.

My son likes the cheering. My daughter the softball player does not want us to cheer for her when she goes up to bat or when she's pitching. After she hits or catches a ball or something, she's fine - but beforehand, it makes her nervous. It always makes me feel like I look like the mean mom, refusing to cheer my daughter when she goes to bat!

 

[MomIdidit!]

I think my dd coaches would tear us apart if we ever carried on loudly at a meet. Our girls are trained to perform like they are in their gym practicing. The girls are encouraged ( and do so ) to cheer for one another at practice and at meets. During meets, the girls act like parents aren't even in the gym and they probably wouldn't acknowledge us under any circumstance.

 

[rgmom]

i lived in delaware so i was on the other side of jersey. all i knew was that part of NJ and the part near NYC. imagine how shocked i was when i went to visit a friend's parents who live in central NJ and saw how gorgeous it was. oh my word! all i'd ever seen was the ugly bits. lol

Yes!!!! There is a lot more to NJ than people realize. Central NJ is a wonderful place to live. Easy access to both NYC and Philly, gorgeous beaches, farm land, good schools, and quite a few good, competitive gymnastics teams!
As an aside, those loud "Jersey Shore" people are usually NOT from central jersey and we cringe and laugh at them too.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I know the type of parents you are talking about. It happened frequently at compulsory meets and not so much now that we are in optionals. Not sure why the difference - maybe parents are now holding their breathe. I remember many a meet where I could not even talk to someone sitting next to me or hear myself think because of the ridiculous screaming non-stop from a team's parents. It can get very out of control and is not necessary. I love to cheer for the girls on our team. I don't need to wear earplugs to a meet because of screaming parents.

 

[e'smum]

Yes!!!! There is a lot more to NJ than people realize. Central NJ is a wonderful place to live. Easy access to both NYC and Philly, gorgeous beaches, farm land, good schools, and quite a few good, competitive gymnastics teams!
As an aside, those loud "Jersey Shore" people are usually NOT from central jersey and we cringe and laugh at them too.

I loved central jersey! All green with rolling hills. It was a world apart from the industrial part that backs up to DE and the part across from NYC. I thought I'd entered the twilight zone. Haha

Those two moms were a special kind of gym mom crazy

 

[SMH]

We recently went to a meet where there was a gym A and B- in the same large ballroom in a conference center. They had level 3's and 9's competing at the same time.
The 9 side was LOUD- every kid seemed to have their own cheering section- it was an exercise in focus for the 3's, to not get distracted by the roars of the very nearby crowds.

 

[flippingtogether]

The thing I find so funny is when I compare the behavior of spectators at different sports / what is expected of spectators. Gymnastics meets are typically noisy with cheering and yelling - a meet really is a 4/6 ring circus. And gymnasts do crazy hard skills that one would think need quiet concentration. You know, a girl is doing hard skills on a 4 inch wide beam, and in the middle of her routine the crowd erupts into cheers for the gymnast who finishes her floor routine, followed by hoots and cheers for bars. It's bursts of noise - to anyone in the outside world it seems highly distracting!

Contrast that with tennis and golf - where spectators are constantly shushed if they are loud. Those athletes have quiet around them when they are in action. Great sports - but certainly nothing dangerous like gymnastics!!

(At least there is no loud whistling at gymnastics meets like you hear at swim meets - argh!)

 

[MILgymFAM]

The thing I find so funny is when I compare the behavior of spectators at different sports / what is expected of spectators. Gymnastics meets are typically noisy with cheering and yelling - a meet really is a 4/6 ring circus. And gymnasts do crazy hard skills that one would think need quiet concentration. You know, a girl is doing hard skills on a 4 inch wide beam, and in the middle of her routine the crowd erupts into cheers for the gymnast who finishes her floor routine, followed by hoots and cheers for bars. It's bursts of noise - to anyone in the outside world it seems highly distracting!

Contrast that with tennis and golf - where spectators are constantly shushed if they are loud. Those athletes have quiet around them when they are in action. Great sports - but certainly nothing dangerous like gymnastics!!

(At least there is no loud whistling at gymnastics meets like you hear at swim meets - argh!)

I've never been to an artistic meet that was noisy or raucous at all. T&T meets have music and clapping, rhythmic has regular cheering, acro has some really loud encouraging spectators... artistic has always seemed subdued to me by comparison.

 

[e'smum]

i startled one man on friday when E did a really good 2nd vault - she stuck the landing (rare). I yelled - couldn't help myself! he jumped a little in his seat and turned to look at me. that was my one, well deserved, outburst of the meet. most of the time i was hiding behind my hands praying she didn't mess up.