WAG Question about Meet Scheduling

[Amusibus]

My older daughter does marching band and is starting middle school this year. After the parent meeting the other night, I came home with a detailed schedule for the entire year of events, parades, etc, with locations, dates, and times for everything right up to the end of the year.

My husband saw this and said, "Someone should show THIS to the gym!". I told him it is not only our gym, but all gyms it seems that do not announce meet dates and times in advance. We get approximate dates about three months out, and exact days and times anywhere from one to three weeks in advance. I told him I think this is universal and I'm sure there is a good reason for it, but I don't know what it is.

It got me thinking, is it really universal? Is there a good reason for it? What is the reason? He isn't a big fan of gymnastics and any little things like this are fuel for his fire if you know what I mean! Thanks

 

[lovemygymnast]

We get our meet schedule in July but meets don't start until January. We will sometimes find out exact dates & times a month out but it depends on the meet. They have to receive all competitors entry forms before arranging the meet schedules. So, I would imagine this is a universal issue. Our gym is awesome about communicating meet info though, so I don't believe it's just our gym.

 

[profmom]

I just looked at the state websites for both girls and boys. The girls' side does have several meets listed, but at least two that I know we will attend are not yet posted. On the boys' side, there are only a handful of meets up now, and the first one we will attend isn't one of them.

Meets are run by private gyms or booster clubs for the most part. They have to book space at venues unless a meet is small enough to happen in a gym, and that means they are competing with (and mostly losing to) events sponsored by the venue's owners. A few years ago, rules in our state changed to make it impossible for a private gym to host a meet at a public school, which threw a lot of meets into complete disarray because they lost their traditional venues with the stroke of a pen.

Once a venue is solidified and the organizers have decided the meet capacity, they invite participation, and set a deadline for priority registration. If the meet fills, great -- tentative planning for session times can begin. If not, then they have to wait until closer in to get a better idea of numbers.

You know that thread about levels being determined? Right now, gyms are sending in registrations to meets with Suzie, Alyssa, and Yolanda as L7 competitors. In two months, Suzie, who was doing great over the summer, will have stopped cold on progress on her giants, and the gym will switch her to L5. Yolanda, on the other hand, will suddenly catch fire, and even though everyone thinks now that she's doing a second year of 7, she's going to get over her beam and vault fears and pick up a BHS-BHS and a nice tucked Yurchenko. She will actually end up competing L8. With Suzie and Yolanda out of L7 and Suzie added to L5, the host gym will be able to get all of the L7s in one session (yay!) but will have to add a second session of L5 (boo!) because of state rules about numbers of competitors per session.

More experienced folks, feel free to add!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Towards the end of the summer, we get a list of "planned" meets for all levels, which indicates the weekends that we are expected to be somewhere. However, this list evolves if we need more meets (i.e., someone needs an extra meet to qualify due to coming back from injury or HC just feels it's necessary for a specific level). Also, locations change if registration fills up or he decides not to travel and stay local.

As for not having report times/days till very close (1-3 weeks out), this is due to meet registration deadlines, scratches, additions, and the meet host needing time to organize teams/age groups, etc.

When we started our competitive journey 9.5 years ago (yikes), I hated the last minute crap, but it's just become a fact of life!

 

[gwenmom]

We get the scheduled meets in August. I block the entire weekend in the family calendar. I know I won't have exact session time until about two weeks before but at least I know that is potential conflict weekend well in advance

 

[curlymop]

We get the meet schedule in August (meets start in November), but the session dates and times are not provided until a couple of weeks out. Last year we went to a meet that was scheduled from a Wednesday through a Sunday. We didn't find out the exact date each level would compete until a few weeks beforehand, which made it somewhat difficult for working parents to arrange their schedules.

 

[UpsideDown]

We just got the meet schedule for the year this past week. So we do know what weekends we are expected to be somewhere, depending on level. Our first meet is in six weeks and we still don't know her level. It's not just DD, it is most of the compulsaries. Optionals have until January.

 

[IreneKa]

So far we know of two meets for sure, which are our hosted meets. The rest is not known yet, and the reason is that the meets have not been confirmed yet. They send the requests to the hosting gyms to participate in their meets, and then they have to wait for the host gyms to confirm that yes, you are in the meet. Until they have all the confirmation, they don't want to share the schedule with the parents to avoid the confusion. Last year there was a meet in our schedule, that later we found out that we were not going to, because we were on the "wait list", and never got in. There was a lot of confusion and unhappy parents over this.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Last week we got our meet schedule for September through April.
It has meet dates, and deadline to register dates, along with the cost per child.
But like others, we don't know the time/session until a couple weeks out, after the meet deadline has passed and the host gym makes that schedule.

It would drive me nuts if I didn't know the whole year right at the start...

Right now I'm just hoping that DD is on Saturday of a specific meet because Sunday night we are going to see One Direction ... hopefully.

 

[z2akids]

We should have our tentative meet schedule in the next couple of weeks. Our boosters are actually still setting the date for our meet. Ours has always been on a particular weekend and this year a large meet about 2 hours away scheduled for that same weekend. Since we go to that other meet and lots of the gyms that come to ours also go to that, we are still working on scheduling.

But, we should at least know which weekends we are scheduled. Specific days and times won't come until much closer to the meets. At least we should know which ones have the possibility of Friday sessions (seems like the little girls often wind up on Fridays) and I will know which weekends to book hotels and when to schedule my shifts at the hospital.

States this year is in mid-April and we generally have 5-6 meets before States from late-December through March.

 

[MILgymFAM]

We have our meets calendar for the season December through June, but they can't tell us which session till much closer. I always assumed it's because they don't schedule actual sessions till they see how many girls/what levels/what ages actually register. I am glad to be able to give hubby the general weekend dates so he can manage at work, plus some are far enough away, distance wise, that we will stay the whole weekend. Do you get no advance guidance at all?

 

[gymmomof1]

Meet schedule usually comes out in September for us. Optionals don't compete until December/January and levels are determined in November for reasons laided out by Profmom and not set in stone for reasons Gymmonkeymomma stated. So we plan as best we can

 

[Amusibus]

We have our meets calendar for the season December through June, but they can't tell us which session till much closer. I always assumed it's because they don't schedule actual sessions till they see how many girls/what levels/what ages actually register. I am glad to be able to give hubby the general weekend dates so he can manage at work, plus some are far enough away, distance wise, that we will stay the whole weekend. Do you get no advance guidance at all?

I'm not sure what you mean by advance guidance. We get a basic schedule of which weekends from October thru December, but no actual days/times until a couple weeks before.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I'm not sure what you mean by advance guidance. We get a basic schedule of which weekends from October thru December, but no actual days/times until a couple weeks before.

Sorry my hubby is wearing off on me- "advance guidance"is how Marines term information about upcoming events. I was asking if you get a basic schedule, which you do. It seems that's the best anyone can get in advance for gymnastics.

 

[Ali'sMom]

I'm not sure what you mean by advance guidance. We get a basic schedule of which weekends from October thru December, but no actual days/times until a couple weeks before.

Okay, so you do get the weekends in advance, just not the specific day or session until much closer to the meet...

Yes, that part is universal.
As MILgymFam says - it's because they need to know how many girls in each level before they can session it out.

 

[wnl256]

I'm not sure what you mean by advance guidance. We get a basic schedule of which weekends from October thru December, but no actual days/times until a couple weeks before.

Yes this part is universal. Meet weekends are (typically) planned and announced ahead of time. A "with it" gym will know well in advance which meets they intend to go to. But that only gets you a weekend (or a day if it is a one-day meet). The enrollment period for a meet typically doesn't close until a few weeks before the meet. The gym hosting the meet can't put together a final session schedule until it knows how many gymnasts will be competing in each level. And it doesn't know that until enrollment is closed. Then the meet director has to see the age spread in each level and divide up the gymnasts in to age groups. If one level has a large number then it has to be divided in to multiple sessions. If two levels have a small number then they could be combined in to a single session. None of that planning can happen until the list of gymnasts is complete.

Contrast this to band where nearly all of your events are performances of some type. You already know the football schedule, so you only have to decide which games you are going to. Other performances are lined up ahead of time down to the exact time, and you know when you will be going on the field or on the stage. However, if your band is participating in any contests I will bet you that all you have on your schedule right now is a day, not a particular time. That's because the contest has a similar planning problem, albeit much simpler.

 

[Pea'sMom]

Last year was the first year the gym EVER gave parents a list of meets that we would attend...hoping for a repeat this year! Prior to that the only way we knew we were going to a meet was when our parents association sent out an email say 'your account has been charges for x meet' and even that was iffy (mad at the gym parents running it.) Actual sessions aren't usually known until a week or so before the event.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

This week we got the date of our first qualifier, but only because we are hosting it. The province schedules who goes to what meets after all gyms apply for their preferences. So we can't know until they allot people to all quals for the entire season. And until that is known, coaches can't confirm our travel meet or any other invitational meets in case there is a conflict.

And provincials, etc. are also booked by the province so everyone knows at the same time.

But we should know within the next 6 weeks.

 

[MeetDirector]

So everyone has been right-on regarding the scheduling of meets. A club can put out its season meet schedule at the beginning of the season, but details of each weekend won't be known until a few weeks (at best) before the meet. It all hinges on when a meet director closes the entry window. If I close it early in the hopes of getting a detailed meet schedule out early I run a HUGE risk of cancellations and changes (injuries, level changes, etc). It really boils down to a backwards planning effort. I figure out how many maximum athletes I can handle and then figure out how long it will take me to build a detailed schedule. Remember, I have USAG rules that limit how many girls in specific levels I can have in a session. It then becomes somewhat of a jigsaw puzzle fitting it all together. The more girls in the meet, the longer it takes after entries close. My meets normally have hundreds of gymnasts; can you imagine the process for a meet like Chicago Style with thousands of gymnasts?

The best you can do is block the weekend and adjust accordingly when the detailed schedule comes out. If you can't change your travel arrangements at that point, then use the free time to explore a new city.

 

[htimcj]

We will get our meet schedule next week but like others have said we won't know exactly when on those dates we will compete until a week or two before the actual meet. There are some exceptions. We go to Lady Luck in Vegas. The meet is in January but because this meet pretty much fills up by October every year the director put out a tentative schedule by Dec.