My daughter's very first meet is next weekend at the Excalibur Cup. Gymnastics is a new sport in our family and we have no idea what to expect. Would someone mind giving us a basic rundown of how it all works and about how many gymnasts she will be competing against? She is 7 and will be competing xcel level bronze.
For Parents What to expect at our very first meet
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You will be there several hours to watch your dd for under 4 total minutes of gymnastics time.
You get there, find a place to sit and your dd joins her team. They spend what seems like forever warming up and stretching. Then there will be a march in, national anthem, and announcing of teams. Then the competition will start.
Each gymnast has a competitor number. It will be listed in the program. You can track scores there for something to do while bored.
Teams will move in rotation, from event to event. All four events will be running simultaneously, so find which event your dd's team starts on. Depending on how big the meet, there may be two or more teams compete each event before your child moves to the next event. Each event will have a warm up period before the actual event competition. Scores will come up on a stick next to the judge's table before the next gymnast starts each event, but electric scores on the scoreboard will be a bit delayed, so your dd could vault and then you wait five minutes through two more girls vaulting before you see your dd's vault score.
The scores will make no sense to you, as routines that seem great to the untrained eye will have deductions that you will not understand. Don't even worry about that part.
After everyone has finished competing on all four events, then awards and medals will begin. Each meets does them somewhat differently, either doing all of an age group first or all of an apparatus first. They will always go in this order: vault, bars, beam, floor, all around. After awards, you will meet up with your dd on the floor, tell her how much fun it was to watch and how proud you are of all of her hard work, and you will hear her stories about what it was like to compete her first meet. Parents will be everywhere taking pictures and then getting out of the parking lot will be a nightmare.
Have fun!
And if you are bringing siblings, make sure your electronics are fully charged.
You get there, find a place to sit and your dd joins her team. They spend what seems like forever warming up and stretching. Then there will be a march in, national anthem, and announcing of teams. Then the competition will start.
Each gymnast has a competitor number. It will be listed in the program. You can track scores there for something to do while bored.
Teams will move in rotation, from event to event. All four events will be running simultaneously, so find which event your dd's team starts on. Depending on how big the meet, there may be two or more teams compete each event before your child moves to the next event. Each event will have a warm up period before the actual event competition. Scores will come up on a stick next to the judge's table before the next gymnast starts each event, but electric scores on the scoreboard will be a bit delayed, so your dd could vault and then you wait five minutes through two more girls vaulting before you see your dd's vault score.
The scores will make no sense to you, as routines that seem great to the untrained eye will have deductions that you will not understand. Don't even worry about that part.
After everyone has finished competing on all four events, then awards and medals will begin. Each meets does them somewhat differently, either doing all of an age group first or all of an apparatus first. They will always go in this order: vault, bars, beam, floor, all around. After awards, you will meet up with your dd on the floor, tell her how much fun it was to watch and how proud you are of all of her hard work, and you will hear her stories about what it was like to compete her first meet. Parents will be everywhere taking pictures and then getting out of the parking lot will be a nightmare.
Have fun!
And if you are bringing siblings, make sure your electronics are fully charged.
As far as how many girls she will compete against, it really varies. For example, there are 64 girls in our session at my DDs next meet. They will probably divide them into 6 age divisions so she will compete against 10-12 girls for awards. But, some meets have larger age groups.
So each level is probably broken into sessions? And awards are most likely given out by age groups and not just the top three in the entire level?
"Dd" is just internet shorthand for daughter. It technically means "darling daughter," but that can be situation, as I have also thought "dingbat daughter" or other d-words when writing about my own child, depending on the context.
Just a heads up the Excalibur cup is huge--from what I understand most meets aren't that big. Its my daughters Gym that hosts at the local convention center so its a big 3 day international competition. I didn't go watch it last year, this is her first year competing in it as well. They will put out the schedule 2-3 weeks before so you will know what session you are competing in.
By the way its not next weekend its February 17th-19th. Are you talking about the Beach Meet Invitational? Thats next weekend.
By the way its not next weekend its February 17th-19th. Are you talking about the Beach Meet Invitational? Thats next weekend.
As to medal groupings, typically all of the xcel bronze will compete at the same time. But the medals will be given based on age groupings. So, there may be three of four different first places on each apparatus, even though they all competed at the same time.
If the meet is at a convention center or other outside venue, be prepared to pay around $10 per person for admission. Meets held at gyms generally don't charge admission for spectators. Make sure your phone and/or camera battery is fully charged. There will be several age groups. You will likely have no idea which age group your daughter is in or how the age groups are constructed. Some meets post the scores live on meetscoresonline.com, which is nice if you miss the score being flashed or on the screen but can drive you crazy refreshing the page. If your daughter's team is large, it may be split up into two or more squads that rotate separately.
Each girl will get some sort of freebie, either at check-in or at the gym in the days following the meet. This may be a leo, a t-shirt, or some other goodie. Ask what the meet gift is at check-in so you don't buy a souvenir that duplicates what you've already paid for as part of the meet fee. Some meets give the girls coupons that are good for a basic meet t-shirt or a discount on a fancy custom t-shirt. If possible, take this coupon to the t-shirt station before the end of awards. Many meets also allow you to purchase a "gram"--candy, flowers, socks, or another small gift that is delivered to your daughter while she is awaiting awards. Purchase or do not purchase this at your own peril. If all of her teammates get one and she doesn't, she will feel left out. On the other hand, the precedent you set now will form the basis of her expectations for years to come.
For parents, seat cushions, snacks, water bottles, and large travel mugs of coffee can greatly improve the experience. I have never tried it, but I suspect that smuggling in a flask would also make it much more enjoyable as long as you didn't get caught.
If you haven't already done so, try out her meet hairstyle at a regular practice to make sure it will stay in. Pack non-messy snacks and a water bottle in her meet bag, but be prepared for her to be ravenous at the end of the session.
There may be one or more sessions at each level, and there may be more than one level competing during a session. Medals are given out by level and age group within a session. There will be a lot more than three medals per age group--where we are, meets always medal out once place past the median, but some give participation awards to everyone on AA or even on all events. Awards can last as long as an hour or more. Confusingly, some meets will later post final score lists with different placements than those announced at awards, combining age levels across sessions or listing placements within the entire session regardless of age group.
Team awards are given out by level and are based on each team's three highest scores on each event regardless of age group or session. If there are multiple sessions at a level, the team awards will be given out after the last of those sessions.
Each girl will get some sort of freebie, either at check-in or at the gym in the days following the meet. This may be a leo, a t-shirt, or some other goodie. Ask what the meet gift is at check-in so you don't buy a souvenir that duplicates what you've already paid for as part of the meet fee. Some meets give the girls coupons that are good for a basic meet t-shirt or a discount on a fancy custom t-shirt. If possible, take this coupon to the t-shirt station before the end of awards. Many meets also allow you to purchase a "gram"--candy, flowers, socks, or another small gift that is delivered to your daughter while she is awaiting awards. Purchase or do not purchase this at your own peril. If all of her teammates get one and she doesn't, she will feel left out. On the other hand, the precedent you set now will form the basis of her expectations for years to come.
For parents, seat cushions, snacks, water bottles, and large travel mugs of coffee can greatly improve the experience. I have never tried it, but I suspect that smuggling in a flask would also make it much more enjoyable as long as you didn't get caught.
If you haven't already done so, try out her meet hairstyle at a regular practice to make sure it will stay in. Pack non-messy snacks and a water bottle in her meet bag, but be prepared for her to be ravenous at the end of the session.
There may be one or more sessions at each level, and there may be more than one level competing during a session. Medals are given out by level and age group within a session. There will be a lot more than three medals per age group--where we are, meets always medal out once place past the median, but some give participation awards to everyone on AA or even on all events. Awards can last as long as an hour or more. Confusingly, some meets will later post final score lists with different placements than those announced at awards, combining age levels across sessions or listing placements within the entire session regardless of age group.
Team awards are given out by level and are based on each team's three highest scores on each event regardless of age group or session. If there are multiple sessions at a level, the team awards will be given out after the last of those sessions.
Oh sorry, I looked at my schedule wrong. She has the Rock Star Invitational next weekend and then the Excalibur Cup in February.
Here is a link to info on the Excalibur cup. One of the parents told me they give out awards based on the group size so the larger the group the more places out from first they go with the medals. There are over 3K competing but that's across all levels in JO- 3-10 and All levels of EXCEL as well. Not sure how many kids were in each levels age bracket last year.
http://gymnasticscup.com/excalibur-cup/
http://gymnasticscup.com/excalibur-cup/
For the rock star, their website says all bronze compete in one session so they will all compete and will be broken down into age groups for awards. The meet program will tell you what age group she is in and how many girls. Sometimes they just go by birthdate but sometimes they go by age she will be at the state meet.
It will be long, about 4 hours for your child doing something for about 4 min.
It will cost you cash, yes you paid her fees, next up yours. Admission, Potential snacks, drinks, trinkets, tee shirts and leos. We don't usually buy unless its states and she places or regionals, then its usually a tee.
Parking will likely be a hassle. Don't arrive too early but certainly don't be late. Our coach expects our gymmies there about 15 min before report time.
Get a seat where awards will be, unless its in a different room. Our gym sits in the same general area. And we wander, so the video/photo members (my husband does video, I do photos) get good shots. One your kid goes, get out of the way filming wise. And be aware when walking of other folks with cameras because they too are filming. I learned to edit video when my husband let a few choice words sneak out when some one walked across the camera as our kid was doing beam.
The awards will seem to go on forever (to me any how), with mulitple age groups.
Lots of chatter and its not all good.
Best advice I was ever given in a what to expect memo by our old gym. Remember nearly everyone in the audience has a gymmie they care a lot about competing. Please watch what you say.
If you pack her a snack, make it easy to eat and not messy. I try to not send nuts, because you never know if there is a kid with nut allergies. Actually I have gotten a bit lazy and tend to spring for something at the meet.
Make sure your devices are charged up and bring a charger, just in case.
My thing is if there is a professional photographer, buy the photos. They get much better shots because they are allowed on the floor. I do this usually once a season. I only buy the digital images. I photoshop my own collages, way cheaper then buying theirs.
Thats all that comes to mind at the moment.
Have fun.................
It will cost you cash, yes you paid her fees, next up yours. Admission, Potential snacks, drinks, trinkets, tee shirts and leos. We don't usually buy unless its states and she places or regionals, then its usually a tee.
Parking will likely be a hassle. Don't arrive too early but certainly don't be late. Our coach expects our gymmies there about 15 min before report time.
Get a seat where awards will be, unless its in a different room. Our gym sits in the same general area. And we wander, so the video/photo members (my husband does video, I do photos) get good shots. One your kid goes, get out of the way filming wise. And be aware when walking of other folks with cameras because they too are filming. I learned to edit video when my husband let a few choice words sneak out when some one walked across the camera as our kid was doing beam.
The awards will seem to go on forever (to me any how), with mulitple age groups.
Lots of chatter and its not all good.
Best advice I was ever given in a what to expect memo by our old gym. Remember nearly everyone in the audience has a gymmie they care a lot about competing. Please watch what you say.
If you pack her a snack, make it easy to eat and not messy. I try to not send nuts, because you never know if there is a kid with nut allergies. Actually I have gotten a bit lazy and tend to spring for something at the meet.
Make sure your devices are charged up and bring a charger, just in case.
My thing is if there is a professional photographer, buy the photos. They get much better shots because they are allowed on the floor. I do this usually once a season. I only buy the digital images. I photoshop my own collages, way cheaper then buying theirs.
Thats all that comes to mind at the moment.
Have fun.................
While I can't help since my dd hasn't been to a meet yet, I did find the link in this recent thread both amusing and informative:
https://chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/article-from-new-gym-dad.58126/
https://chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/article-from-new-gym-dad.58126/
^^^^ Yep 30 plus meets not one single one has ever been free admission. Meets are money makers for the gym.
Heck even at our home gym when I volunteer my husband and kids other relatives pay.
Heck even at our home gym when I volunteer my husband and kids other relatives pay.
We've had free meets, but for artistic only if we worked. We have had at least one, and sometimes two, free spectator meets in t&t each season.
Buckeye Classic is free and we have one at the end of Jan that is free also
I've never been to a free admissions meet over years of women's JO and T and T meets. Local gyms are $7 per person, usually cash only. Convention centers are $20-30 per person, and they are sometimes equipped with a card reader.
We never had a single compulsory meet with a gift/freebie. About half of our optional meets have gifts. We only had one T and T meet with a gift. So it really does just depend.
We never had a single compulsory meet with a gift/freebie. About half of our optional meets have gifts. We only had one T and T meet with a gift. So it really does just depend.
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