Parents First "real" meet today

[Amusibus]

It was so cute, all these teeny kids doing level 1-3. There were TONS of them, and it went way overtime (function of level changes?). My injured little gymnast did two events with her knee brace on. She remembered all her moves, kept time to the music, and did the nicest bar dismount I've ever seen her do. At lunch after I mentioned something about doing this again next month - and her little eyes bulged out in surprise. She thought this was it for the year. funny.

 

[wallinbl]

it went way overtime (function of level changes?)

No. Nature of the beast.

 

[Committed]

Yep. I love when the schedule says warm-up to awards will be 90 minutes!!! I have never seen THAT happen!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Hey, every session of our hosted meet last month ended early.

And congrats to your DD on her first meet! Love that she's surprised she gets to do it again next month

 

[htimcj]

I've been to one meet that ended early. The rest have been fairly on time. Only one where it was REALLY late. That one had a strange mix of levels too, 6 and 9.

 

[mouey77]

Congrats to your DD! I just read about her knee too. Hope it's better soon!

 

[GymMomXcel]

Congrats on her first "real" meet! Sounds like she did a great job and, most importantly, enjoyed herself!

 

[amphomma]

Sounds like fun! I hope the knee is better very soon!

 

[Amusibus]

Thanks everyone! Of course, I think she did great (that's my job). I also hope the knee heals up soon. Best part of today : finding a really awesome playground in the meet town that kept the kids occupied for 2 hours. Worst part: Listening to three overtired kids bicker in the car for 5 hours.

 

[raenndrops]

Congrats on the first meet.
When it comes to meets running early, on time, or over time... it often depends on the gym (and the judges). It is a lot faster if there is only one judge per event since they don't ever have to conference with themselves. Also, if the meet is planned correctly, then there will be a little wiggle room to catch up if a session does run behind.
The worst meet we ever went to was in a November. We arrived early hoping to catch the last rotation of the second session (we were last session) and found out that we were still in the first rotation. It had started snowing outside as we arrived. By the time our session started, the meet was already running over 2 hours late! Our session finished after 945pm and there was a 40 minute wait before awards were ready. In the meantime, they disassembled the floor and put the rest of the equipment away. Then they entertained the girls by having the dj keep the music going. Awards were finished by 10:50 and we made the hour and a half trip home by 2:30am (the snow didn't stop the entire time we were there.
We haven't been back since, but we are going there 2x this season...

 

[Moxiegrl83]

Aww congrats!! My little one had her first meet last month too. She didn't realize it was only the first one either, and promptly told her dad she was now a level 3.

 

[Natasha]

Congrats to your dd! How fun!
We used to host one of the first meets of the season for most girls, and we found we had to purposely leave more time than expected for the lowest levels due to the high number of "first time competitors." It just takes a little longer to move to each event, get going on warm-ups, learn how to be ready in the rotation order, etc.

 

[Amusibus]

raendrops, that sounds horrific!!!! Gymnastics is such a crazy sport!! I did it as a kid but just for fun. This whole competition thing is totally new to me, and it is nuts. All that prep, driving, expense - for her to perform for a total of less than 60 seconds!