WAG East Coast Travel Meets

[gymgal]

We really liked Christmas on the Chesapeake but the Early Dec time frame is really tough for the upper levels if you are a gym that doesn't have perfected routines prior to meet season start. It really cuts into the training time, having to focus on routines earlier than you normally would

 

[gymgal]

This isn’t about East Coast meets, but we attended an awards session this year where Xcel was combined with L9 and L10.
So it went:
Vault Xcel Gold
Vault Xcel Platinum
Vault Xcel Diamond
Vault L9 Jr A
Vault L9 Jr B
Vault Sr. Whatever
Vault L10

Start over at the beginning with Bars.

I think it took 2 hours.

we had one similar to that as well. It was a local meet and I was about to die!!! Just do one level at a time and let them go already!

 

[CoachAlex]

I’ve heard great things about Christmas on the Chesapeake, but it fills up VERY early (it’s a December meet and if you don’t register by early AUGUST you probably won’t get in).

 

[chalkbowl]

we had one similar to that as well. It was a local meet and I was about to die!!! Just do one level at a time and let them go already!

Honestly many times this tends to prolong the awards as you wait for the awards room to empty out with the previous level. We had that happen this at least once this year when level 2s were excused before the next level awards began and it was a bit of a mess.

 

[gymdog]

That isn't how we do it here although it does mix age categories. The kids are lined up in a spot in a "staging area" by their age group, then Jr A vault is lined up in the order they will be called to the podium. Once they are in line and going out, Jr B, the Jr C and so on are lined up, then as they come back they're put in order for bars. The drawbacks to this are it takes several adults to work the area, you need enough room for a staging area, and some people will complain their kid isn't getting enough time on the podium. The pluses are that it goes a lot faster and the kids are a lot less restless.

 

[Aero]

The big East coast meets I have coached at and would highly recommend:

• Star Struck Invitational, hosted by Star Bound Gymnastics Academy, Atlantic City Convention Center, NJ
• Christmas on the Chesapeake, hosted by Docksiders Gymnastics Inc., the Baltimore Convention Center, MD
• Sand Dollar Invitational, hosted by Orlando Metro Gymnastics, ESPN Wide World of Sports, Walt Disney World Resort, FL

Meets I have not personally been to, but would highly recommend based on others' reviews and opinions:

• Manhattan Classic, hosted by NYC Elite Gymnastics, Pier 94, NY
• Pink Invitational, hosted by AJS Pancott Gymnastics National Training Center, Pennsylvania Convention Center, PA

We really liked Christmas on the Chesapeake but the Early Dec time frame is really tough for the upper levels if you are a gym that doesn't have perfected routines prior to meet season start. It really cuts into the training time, having to focus on routines earlier than you normally would

Is the timing of your region's competitive season a factor in this? I ask because my experience at the meet this year was that there were many Level 10s at this meet, and they looked pretty good! I was there watching for each session (I love watching Level 10). There were three sessions of Level 10 and they were all pretty full. Granted, at least 60% - 70% of them were gyms from the East coast, but there were a few from a good distance away.

And, on a side note, I have continually heard that the Chicago Style meet is considered by many to be the best meet in the country, but it is hosted by IGI (Illinois Gymnastics Institute), which is Todd Gardiner's gym, and he was recently placed on USAG's Permanently Ineligible for Membership list. I wonder what will happen to the meet now? Does anyone have any inside information on this?

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Is the timing of your region's competitive season a factor in this? I ask because my experience at the meet this year was that there were many Level 10s at this meet, and they looked pretty good! I was there watching for each session (I love watching Level 10). There were three sessions of Level 10 and they were all pretty full. Granted, at least 60% - 70% of them were gyms from the East coast, but there were a few from a good distance away.

I would expect the tens to look decent as you have a lot of multi year tens in the mix. It would be the level nines that would look the roughest early season as it is a difficult level and ones assumes that the best level nines from the previous year have moved to ten.

And, on a side note, I have continually heard that the Chicago Style meet is considered by many to be the best meet in the country, but it is hosted by IGI (Illinois Gymnastics Institute), which is Todd Gardiner's gym, and he was recently placed on USAG's Permanently Ineligible for Membership list. I wonder what will happen to the meet now? Does anyone have any inside information on this?

I may be confusing IGI with another one (sad to have to say that), but I am sure I saw somewhere that as soon as there was an investigation Todd stood down from all club and region duties and that the meet is hosted by the parents club. I find it rather sad how fast USAG went after Todd for a breach of conduct when no criminal changes were laid, yet how long did it take them to do something about actual abuse and coaches who they had 54 pages of reports. Anyone with more insight on the situation care to correct/clarify?

 

[John]

@Aero DD has competed at Star Bound twice, local gyms at the gym itself. I must stay they were some of the best runs meets she has ever attended.

 

[gymgal]

Is the timing of your region's competitive season a factor in this? I ask because my experience at the meet this year was that there were many Level 10s at this meet, and they looked pretty good! I was there watching for each session (I love watching Level 10). There were three sessions of Level 10 and they were all pretty full. Granted, at least 60% - 70% of them were gyms from the East coast, but there were a few from a good distance away.

We are R8 and the season officially starts in Jan. never said it's impossible to be ready, just that going to the Dec meets makes you adjust your preseason training schedule . For the gyms that go to dec meets every year, it is no big deal. That's their expectation and the plan accordingly. Looking at the gyms for L10 at Chesapeake, almost all were from R7, a few from R6.

And Pineapple is correct - with multi-year level 10s (and higher caliber gyms) competing in a big meet, you will always have a sense of seeing some really good gymnastics at these sessions. In focusing on the great gymnastics from the good teams, what you don't notice at the beginning of the season are the gymnasts struggling with endurance throughout their routines, or routines that are not starting from a 10.0, missing "up to level" skills, etc.

 

[tomtnt]

i wish more big travel meets would spice it up and add "team finals" or "event finals".

We did the Coeur D'alene meet once and it had event finals the next day for the girls who podium.
I've also seen a few meet had a super-team session where the top team put up 4 gymnasts in each event with 3 scores counting to battle it out for top team.

Makes it more fun and adds some more gymnastics after flying so far.

 

[amiandjim]

i wish more big travel meets would spice it up and add "team finals" or "event finals".

We did the Coeur D'alene meet once and it had event finals the next day for the girls who podium.
I've also seen a few meet had a super-team session where the top team put up 4 gymnasts in each event with 3 scores counting to battle it out for top team.

Makes it more fun and adds some more gymnastics after flying so far.

The CGA Coaches Spectacular does a fun version of this...the top AA gymnast from each team in level 7-10 come back Saturday night as a 4 person team. The coaches decide which gymnast does which event and the top team wins. It’s fun to watch and also fun for the lower level optionals to compete like that.

 

[rjb123]

Charleston Cup has event finals- we love this meet! So much fun- it is a well run organized meet and I am not sure how they do it, but it seems like each year we have been they order gorgeous weather for us! This year it was in the 80's and sunny.

 

[B&M's mom]

IGI and Chicago Style are alive and well. Todd did step down and once he was banned, sold the gym so it still operating. Chicago Style went off well last month even with a blizzard!

 

[atlnon]

We were at Chicago Style a couple of weekends ago. It was a well run event. However, this is our first "fly-away" meet and I don't get why, if we have to spend money for a plane ticket and a hotel and miss a few days of school, why can't we go to somewhere warm with nice weather and not worry about a blizzard hitting and having flights cancelled? We got lucky that we flew out Sat evening as most flight Fri and Sun were cancelled. Am I missing anything? My wife's guess is that the best meets during winter are in the area where it snows bec it's cheaper there at that time. Or maybe most people like the snow and cold weather, and I'm the one that's not normal...

 

[John]

We went to the Bahamas but that meet is early in the season.

 

[gymgal]

IGI and Chicago Style are alive and well. Todd did step down and once he was banned, sold the gym so it still operating. Chicago Style went off well last month even with a blizzard!

That blizzard business is not what I want to hear when I was about to suggest this meet to the coaches for next year.

 

[B&M's mom]

Blizzards don't happen that often and it was just a fluke that it happened that weekend. My daughter was there for many years and we didn't have any blizzards. I think you'd be safe suggesting it.

 

[atlnon]

Blizzards don't happen that often and it was just a fluke that it happened that weekend. My daughter was there for many years and we didn't have any blizzards. I think you'd be safe suggesting it.

But why not just find meets in places with more temperate climate? I wish our gym did this. I travel a lot for work and I avoid travelling to and through Chicago in the winter.