Who feels like travelling to an exotic invitational meet next year?

[Bajanswife]

The Barbados Amateur Gymnastics Association (BAGA) is hosting its first ever invitational meet from April 20 - 22, 2012 in Barbados. I am part of the organizational committee, and also Treasurer of the BAGA. It is not going to be a large event for our first year, but because our team is the only team on the island and is all from the only competitive gym on the island, all of our invitees are flying in from other places e.g. Trinidad, Venezuela, the U.S.A. etc. It will be quite a regional event, several countries represented. It is an opportunity to compete on an international scale but in a manageable and unique environment.

Here are some of the main features:

- girls levels 1 - 8, boys levels 4 & 5 (this is based on the common levels in our region right now)
- 100% awards
- unique setting (on a tropical island, and competing next to a retired supersonic British Airways concorde jet at the Barbados Concorde Experience (fully airconditioned)
- US judges
- warm-up/compete (modified traditional) format
- accessible via direct AA flights from MIA, DFW and JFK, and Jetblue from New York

If any of you are remotely interested, please PM me and I can e-mail you more details. We would love to show some of you our island hospitality!

 

[cher062]

Would that be a nice april vacation location. That is a big expense for us up in the North East I know our gym would only take the L 6 - L10's for that. Would you consider having up to L10's. and for boys the L4 - L5 really are the intro levels and most gyms I know would do that far a travel for those levels - they barely travel the state. Would you consider upping those levels too??

I think too you would have to set up a Host Hotel where you have reserved blocks of rooms for those of us that would need overnight stays at a reduced rate.

 

[Bajanswife]

Definitely working on a host hotel, preferably one on or near the beach! More info on that to come. April 20th - 22nd is a great time to be here - it's the start of the low season (i.e. less expensive), and hurricane season hasn't started yet. It's usually breezy and warm that time of year.

Higher levels can be considered - the only problem is that we do not have those levels here (our boys' program is very new and our girls team is relatively so as well). It's hard to know what numbers to work with if we don't have a local base to fill out the sessions. If enough clubs would indicate their desire for the higher levels well enough in advance we would definitely add them in, but I know it's hard to commit too far ahead of time. Certainly as we gain experience and grow our meet each year we will be able to expand the competition to the point where we have all levels. If people can't make 2012, please consider us for the future. I do understand that travel is expensive (we have to travel for all our meets - we really do understand) and you can't take everyone, and it makes more sense for the higher levels to get the more varied experience.

 

[Bajanswife]

For those who may have missed this earlier .......

If any of you think this would be fun, let me know who to send an invitation to.

 

[bookworm]

consider having up to L10's.

Higher levels can be considered - the only problem is that we do not have those levels here (our boys' program is very new and our girls team is relatively so as well). It's hard to know what numbers to work with if we don't have a local base to fill out the sessions. If enough clubs would indicate their desire for the higher levels well enough in advance we would definitely add them in, but I know it's hard to commit too far ahead of time. Certainly as we gain experience and grow our meet each year we will be able to expand the competition to the point where we have all levels. If people can't make 2012, please consider us for the future. I do understand that travel is expensive (we have to travel for all our meets - we really do understand) and you can't take everyone, and it makes more sense for the higher levels to get the more varied experience.

The Barbados Amateur Gymnastics Association (BAGA) is hosting its first ever invitational meet from April 20 - 22, 2012 in Barbados.

Bajan's Wife...I don't mean to rain on your parade but before you start looking to accomodate the higher level optionals (i.e. 9s and 10s) , I just wanted to let you know that Level 9 and 10 Regionals for Region 6 and Level 10 Regionals for Region 7 are the exact same weekend in April so that would eliminate those two regions (and they are both on the East Coast and would have an easier time getting there) . The meet sounds nice but the timing might work against you. I know that in the gyms we've been in, most of our invitational competitions are over by March and then you head into the States, Regionals and Nationals cycle which will consume the end of March, April and May...

 

[bookworm]

And going forward, I would send out "save the date" emails or postcards for your NEXT year's meet in 2013...


Your post refers to your meet in April of 2012 as "next year" (and on the calendar it is) but in terms of planning meets for a gym, that meet would have to have been on THIS year's meet calendar for 2011-2012 for people to have considered attending it. I think what you will find with the US gyms is that their meet schedules have been out for months and your new meet won't even make it onto their radar for this competitive season.

 

[Bajanswife]

Bajan's Wife...I don't mean to rain on your parade but before you start looking to accomodate the higher level optionals (i.e. 9s and 10s) , I just wanted to let you know that Level 9 and 10 Regionals for Region 6 and Level 10 Regionals for Region 7 are the exact same weekend in April so that would eliminate those two regions (and they are both on the East Coast and would have an easier time getting there) . The meet sounds nice but the timing might work against you. I know that in the gyms we've been in, most of our invitational competitions are over by March and then you head into the States, Regionals and Nationals cycle which will consume the end of March, April and May...

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure we could accommodate them anyway - it was a thought, if clubs were really interested, but truthfully as our very first hosted meet we are trying to keep it simple. If it means that we only have regional teams this year, that's OK. We would love teams from further afield, don't get me wrong - but we don't have a high expectation, and we aren't putting a ton into promoting it in the U.S. at the moment. For our second year we can take a look at the timing, in case it really will present problems with getting teams to come - we were mindful of cost and therefore set the date for after April 15th when hotel rates and flight costs tend to come down in the Caribbean. But if different timing between mid-April and mid-June works better, then we will look at that.

Anyway, the invitation is still open to all clubs who have a girls' team up to level 8 and/or a boys' team with levels 4 and 5 who might want some different experience.

 

[Bajanswife]

And going forward, I would send out "save the date" emails or postcards for your NEXT year's meet in 2013...


Your post refers to your meet in April of 2012 as "next year" (and on the calendar it is) but in terms of planning meets for a gym, that meet would have to have been on THIS year's meet calendar for 2011-2012 for people to have considered attending it. I think what you will find with the US gyms is that their meet schedules have been out for months and your new meet won't even make it onto their radar for this competitive season.

We will keep that in mind. In our region we are not as organized in terms of knowing meet schedules well ahead of time, so we are not accustomed to having the meet dates and location set so far in advance. When do US clubs usually start deciding on which invitationals to put on their meet calendar? I'd just like to have some idea of how soon we need to pick the dates and have a "save the date" write-up prepared for 2013. Thanks for all of your comments - they are very helpful!

 

[bookworm]

We will keep that in mind. In our region we are not as organized in terms of knowing meet schedules well ahead of time, so we are not accustomed to having the meet dates and location set so far in advance. When do US clubs usually start deciding on which invitationals to put on their meet calendar? I'd just like to have some idea of how soon we need to pick the dates and have a "save the date" write-up prepared for 2013. Thanks for all of your comments - they are very helpful!

Most US clubs will at least have an idea of what their meet schedule will be (if not an actual schedule) by the end of the summer ...early September if they are slow. So if you want people to consider your meet for the 2012-13 meet calendar, send out the info in June of 2012 so they have time to think about attending.

 

[coachmolly]

I would love to coach a team willing to fund this vacation err... coaching experience for me! I think you have a lot to offer, especially as you get your feet wet with running a meet this season and learn how to better develop your resources for future seasons. Lots of teams love location meets and are willing to travel at least once a season, and an increasing number of lower levels are taking part in those kinds of things. I think it's good to plan for a smaller first meet with options to grow in coming seasons. If I were in a club setting at this time I would definitely talk it over with parents and see if it would be a reasonable option for any of them as an optional meet experience. There are lots of families willing to use gymnastics as an "excuse" for a vacation to someplace fun.

 

[superflipgirl]

Just letting everyone know that I went to Barbados a few winter breaks ago and it was absolutely AMAZING!!!!! I would totally recommend it!

 

[Bajanswife]

Just letting everyone know that I went to Barbados a few winter breaks ago and it was absolutely AMAZING!!!!! I would totally recommend it!

Thanks for the endorsement .... glad you enjoyed it!

 

[gymmomtoo]

We will keep that in mind. In our region we are not as organized in terms of knowing meet schedules well ahead of time, so we are not accustomed to having the meet dates and location set so far in advance. When do US clubs usually start deciding on which invitationals to put on their meet calendar? I'd just like to have some idea of how soon we need to pick the dates and have a "save the date" write-up prepared for 2013. Thanks for all of your comments - they are very helpful!

Our HC that choose meets picks them in July/August (at the latest) of the previous summer. And we wouldn't go to a meet that weekend--or month as it conflicts with Regionals here and our compulsories wouldn't travel that far (heck, our optionals probably wouldn't either, but it would be fun!). Good luck though! I hope you get lots of interest.

 

[Bajanswife]

I am bumping this up for next year's meet. Info as follows:

Where: Barbados Concorde Experience, Barbados (right next to a real British Airways retired concorde supersonic jet!)
When: April 20 & 21, 2013
Levels: Girls USAG 1 - 10, boys USAG 4 - 8
Cost: US$75 per gymnast; all teams of 3 or more automatically entered in the team competition for free
Awards: 100%
Competition format: warm-up then compete on each event (only 1 set of equipment available)
Judges: USAG appointed - however, the meet is not officially sanctioned
Host hotels: so far Blue Horizon Hotel ( Untitled Document ) and Amaryllis Beach Resort
( Amaryllis Beach Resort | A family oriented beachfront hotel in Barbados ), more may be added later. Special rates are not available yet.

We are developing a meet website that will soon have photos and videos of the 2012 meet (just held on April 21) and I will post the link in due course. I can also e-mail the flyer to anyone who provides me with an e-mail address.

The 2012 meet went really, really well, thanks to our very experienced technical director! Our visiting gymnasts had the opportunity to enjoy our beaches when they were not competing.