MAG 1st comp season questions

[SPX]

Thanks! No grips yet but I will keep that in mind for later.

 

[momto2js]

The thing no one mentioned ed here was MONEY. You need to have cash for you to get in to the building. Think 15-20 a person going t watch and most take cash only.

 

[lilmisssunshine]

Very good point. Like you didn't already pay $60-100 to get your kid into the competition.

Funny story...my son's first competition had a 8am (7:45 to make the coaches happy) start time, maybe even earlier,
and was 2 hours away. So we woke up really early to get there. I carried my sleeping daughter to the car.
I had been so careful about making sure that my son had everything he needed for his first comp, but forgot to
bring shoes for my daughter. LOL.

 

[momto2js]

The other thing is to take snacks for you and any siblings. These things are LONG.

 

[SPX]

Funny story...my son's first competition had a 8am (7:45 to make the coaches happy) start time, maybe even earlier,
and was 2 hours away. So we woke up really early to get there. I carried my sleeping daughter to the car.
I had been so careful about making sure that my son had everything he needed for his first comp, but forgot to
bring shoes for my daughter. LOL.

THIS would be me. Then again I don't think dd would mind she likes being barefoot

 

[karenity]

Socks, my son has no particular preference, other than need to be solid and match his pants. He does prefer the shorter socks. Sometimes we have extra and they have come in handy for other boys that have forgotten them.

Gym Bag - Well, my son still uses his old original bag that is falling apart. He has a newer one, but prefers the old one. The outside zippered pocket is full of holes and cannot be used at all. One thing I do is wash it out (if I remember) right before a meet - it gets full of chalk dust, and can coat his warmup/pants. If you don't have time to wash it, a damp paper towel will get out much of the chalk dust. If my son would keep his grips in larger quart size zip lock bags (provided) and not just throw them in the gym bag this wouldn't be a problem. Plus he uses his meet bag for everyday use too. Just what he likes. Same bag he has had for 7 seasons (next season will be 8).

Shoes - Never been an issue. My son just takes his shoes off and gives them to me at the beginning of the meet. I stick them under a chair. Even if I move around, I leave the shoes. Never had a problem with finding the shoes after the meet. He has those sliders but he never wears them.

Excellent recommendation to label everything, particularly the warm up and the pommel pants and shorts. We have had pommel pants disappear (and they were labeled) at meets more than once.

If your uniform is white shorts, might want to get white underwear. My son's normal uniform is black, so no big deal, but at the last meet it was funny to see some kids with white shorts with a variety of different brightly colored undergarments visable (not little kids, this was at nationals). We hadn't packed any white underwear or socks so picked some up at the local Kmart.

Cash - entry fees usually around $10, plus bring $$ for food for yourself or pack snacks. Although, some meets are starting to take credit cards, I wouldn't count on it.

Snack for gymnast - This is important. Many kids get tired for the last couple of events so having water and a small snack for a boost of energy to eat after the 3-4th event is very helpful so they don't run out of energy and crash. Something small and healthy. NO gatorade. I will never forget the meet that the host gym provided gatorade in coolers, we were wondering why the boys were so thirsty and kept drinking from the coolers over and over and over. Well, about 1/2 way through the meet my son was spinning around on the floor, and he wasn't the only one! It was pretty funny actually. We have video of that meet.

Hair - If your gymnast has hair that might get in his eyes, the judges may not let them compete. We had a judge tell our coach a gymnast needed to do something about his hair getting in his eyes, so his mother got scissors and chopped his bangs right there (a hair tie would have worked). My son used to wear his hair pretty long, so we used to do quick and not always straight bang trims right before meets. Or use a lot of hair gel.

Some meets don't have great seating. Some are just bleachers with no chair backs. So if you have stadium seats, if you leave it in your car you will most likely need it for at least one meet during the season. ( I forget this myself a lot and regretted it).

Video camera - charge the battery the night before. And don't turn it off when the event is over, some of the best moments are of interactions after the event. I don't always do this myself, actually don't video every meet, sometimes it is just more fun to go and relax and just enjoy the moment. Or you could trade off with another parent too, so you still have video but take turns recording.

I must say the first few seasons of competition were more stressful than now. So try to just enjoy it. My best memories are of team mates that really struggled that finally got skills at meets, or funny things that happened (like when my son did his whole P-bar routine with his pommel pants pulled up to his knees and the judge was laughing during the whole event). It's the funny things that I remember, not the ones were everything went perfect.

 

[sce]

They make clear Gatorade. My kid wears a white uniform, but still takes Gatorade

 

[SPX]

So the first meet was last Sunday. Kind of a practice run at our gym but with judges and paperwork. turns out the competition pants are white. Payless had all white socks that work, thank goodness.

Ds had a great time. He was nervous that he didn't know which bits of the uniform to wear on which events but not about anything else. His coach talked all of them through the costume changes. I kind of wonder if it isn't just something to keep them occupied while they wait for the rest of the team to have a turn.

I managed not to forget anything but in the pre-departure mayhem, younger dd ' s behavior was bad enough to be barred from leaving the house. Dh stayed home with her. I think this stems from her need to be the center of attention always. We are working on it. Secretly it was kind of nice to get to watch ds without having to divide my attention. But, we need a better plan for the meets that are further from home. Any thoughts on how to involve or at least occupy a younger sibling during meets?

 

[sce]

So the first meet was last Sunday. Kind of a practice run at our gym but with judges and paperwork. turns out the competition pants are white. Payless had all white socks that work, thank goodness.

Ds had a great time. He was nervous that he didn't know which bits of the uniform to wear on which events but not about anything else. His coach talked all of them through the costume changes. I kind of wonder if it isn't just something to keep them occupied while they wait for the rest of the team to have a turn.

I managed not to forget anything but in the pre-departure mayhem, younger dd ' s behavior was bad enough to be barred from leaving the house. Dh stayed home with her. I think this stems from her need to be the center of attention always. We are working on it. Secretly it was kind of nice to get to watch ds without having to divide my attention. But, we need a better plan for the meets that are further from home. Any thoughts on how to involve or at least occupy a younger sibling during meets?

Have a small box of non noisy toys that only go with you to meets. Pack snacks. Take a tablet and headphones loaded with a show or movie she either hasn't watched yet or is a favorite.

 

[skschlag]

How old is she? Let her pack a backpack of things to do and eat. Is there another family on the team with a child in similar age? I used to love to watch the younger siblings playing off to the side. They had so much fun.

 

[skschlag]

And...glad your ds had a great time!

 

[M2Abi]

I have a 5 y/o DS that is less than thrilled about attending his sister's meets. I bring lots of snacks and his iPad and headphones. He does have a friend that he will play with at meets, but not all meets have space for playing.

 

[SPX]

She is 4. She just started a rec class at the gym so she may be at least a little interested in watching. There are a couple younger siblings, maybe I'll talk to the other parents and see if we can give them something to look forward to. letting her pack a bag of things to do is a good idea too. Thanks. We'll see if we can make it out the door for the next one.

 

[LLmom]

This is a bit old but I will answer (hope it isn't too late!)...

athletic socks for running are my son's favorite...we need black which is a pain in the rear!! have at least two pair...can't remember a meet where we didn't go home either missing a sock or with one of someone elses!

we do the slip-on flip flops. the padded kind that UA, Nike, etc make are our favorite. I hate how crocs look and have refused to ever purchase them, so not an option . we used to just do tennis shoes, but they always just slid in, didn't tie and stepped on the backs, so they were ruined. "sliders" are the winners!

draw string back pack. anything else is just full of junk...food, too much unnecessary tape, someone else's pommel pants, etc

Good luck!!