Parents Can meets be cancelled/postponed due to heavy snowy weather?

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Parkettes just cancelled the rest of their meet. In the middle of it! It's crazy out there!

The previous session ended and next session has not reported yet, but it was good decision on their part. Roads are treacherous. We are stuck in our hotel. Disappointing but safe.
 
I believe one of our poster's daughter is a Temple Gymnast, it looks like they may be stranded on the Pa turnpike for another night! Hope they're doing ok.
 
I believe one of our poster's daughter is a Temple Gymnast, it looks like they may be stranded on the Pa turnpike for another night! Hope they're doing ok.


Her DD is not on the bus, she was injured last week.

They apparently got military rations dropped off by the National Guard, but seemingly will be stuck for another night.
 
They left the area well ahead of the storm, but got stuck in a construction zone that turned into a bottleneck due to an accident. Then the snow came...

(According to the news story I read)
 
The competition hosts should have taken into consideration the weather. I noticed parkettes did not cancel their meet until well after the storm started, and by then people were already trying to get there. That is crazy! A storm cannot be predicted 100% and even though they were not initially IN the worst part of it, they were close.....but I can't imagine if you are from a surrounding gym and you need to get there! (Not to mention, they ended up with art more!)
Add in the 'crazy' gymnastics factor, and you have a bunch of people in danger!
 
The abruptness with which Parkettes shut it down makes me wonder who pulled the plug. I believe PA had declared a state of emergency earlier in the day. I just hope no one got hurt going to or from the meet. I can understand the incentives -- big invitationals are often a major source of revenue -- but sometimes that difficult choice has to be made.

I am part of an association that runs an annual conference in March or early April. Several years ago, we were sited in Denver, and the week before, Denver endured a crippling snowstorm that would have killed our conference if it had happened just one week later. After that, we scrimped and saved for a few years until we could purchase an insurance policy that would cover our losses if we ever had to cancel the annual conference due to bad weather. (And we haven't sited it in Denver again!) If you have something like that in your back pocket, it reduces the incentives to soldier on when you really shouldn't.
 
I'm surprised USAG doesn't have some sort of guidance on this. They are little kids. Perhaps insurance should be a factor.
 
I'm surprised USAG doesn't have some sort of guidance on this. They are little kids. Perhaps insurance should be a factor.

That would be asking a lot of clubs/booster clubs who are trying to make money to cover costs. I think parents have to make the call on whether or not to go when things are questionable. What I am willing to drive in, and what you are willing to drive in might be very different.

However, if the state has shut down travel, then it is automatic. You don't travel. No matter what the meet, etc.

Again, I just go back to the booster clubs trying to put on the meet. If they are required to have insurance or something like that, I can see the number of meets being held dropping drastically, especially in the snowier areas of the country.
 
I'm surprised USAG doesn't have some sort of guidance on this. They are little kids. Perhaps insurance should be a factor.

Never be surprised by anything that does or doesn't happen in gymnastics....USAG says the last gymnast has to be done by 10 PM at a session, and I think 8 am is the earliest you can start, but weather? USAG knows a lot of money goes into putting on a meet and to have a mandatory ( or even a guidance) on weather cancellation would just open them up for liability...by the meet sponsors, meet attendees, even if God forbid, someone got hurt going to/ from the meet...they leave it up to the governors of the states involved to say no.
 
Just for laughs, I did 3 minutes of googling. I know very little about insurance, but I found a website where you can enter particulars and get a quote. Event cancellation insurance for a gymnastics competition in PA for 3 days with 1000 attendees would have cost $358.23. Gotta say that after this, if I were part of a booster club organizing a meet, I'd do some research.

https://www.theeventhelper.com/
 

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