Gymnastics Meets- Distance?

[NotAMom]

Most of DD's meets are within an hours drive. We do have one out of state meet for the first time this coming season. It is about 5 hours I think.

Just curious, are these sanctioned meets? I ask because there is no way that there are enough gyms where we compete to cover the whole season without having to travel further than say 1.5 hours. Also, while some of the other local gyms do non-sanctioned meets, we are one of the gyms that don't host any meets at all.

 

[mom2kazkids]

We are in the northern part of our state and all of our meets require travel. Normally about 2 hours away, but our coaches like to get our team from level 4 and up out the other meets in other states, like Chicago in Feb. There is always one travel meet that is optional and in a vacation type area. Last year it was WDW, this year Cancun, and yes DD and I are going. We will share the hotel room with a teammate and her mom.

I like that the coaches are not afraid to get our girls out and experience meets that are not just within the state.

 

[beamgymnast]

Wow! Cancun! Sounds like you two will have lots of fun enjoy-and best of luck this season

 

[mom2kazkids]

Wow! Cancun! Sounds like you two will have lots of fun enjoy-and best of luck this season

Thanks. DD will be level 4 in the fall and level 5 in the winter season.

 

[gymkat]

Just curious, are these sanctioned meets? I ask because there is no way that there are enough gyms where we compete to cover the whole season without having to travel further than say 1.5 hours. Also, while some of the other local gyms do non-sanctioned meets, we are one of the gyms that don't host any meets at all.

If you live in a metro area that has a lot of gyms, it's certainly not impossible. Last year, there were over 20 sanctioned meets within an hour of my house.

 

[gymluvr33]

At our gym the compulsaries only have local meets. The farthest away those meets are is at the most 1 1/2 hour travel time (all in the same state). Once you get to optionals, we have one travel meet a year not including regionals/nationals. The travel meet was in Penn. this year, and it is usually either there or in Florida (not 100% sure on this point as I just moved up to Level 7). To pay for the meet though, we have a lot of funding to help bring the cost down.

 

[Granny Smith]

In our gym the lower levels have always competed in state only (through L7). The upper levels did travel. They did 1 flyaway and a few that were of driving distance, but required an overnight stay.

In late summer, us parents received an email with 2 flyaway meets mentioned. We had to say if we wanted to participate of not. If you said yes, than you were committed to going. I said yes to the Chicago one, but no to the Cancun one. I guess barely anyone said yes to Cancun because our team did not go there. I would love to do the Cancun meet, but that is the week that the kids go back to school from Christmas break and I'm not going to pull her right when she has gone back. I did hear that the upcoming Cancun Classic meet will be later, but I don't know dates. I probably still wouldn't do it.

I just hope that this yr we go some place warm!

 

[cathiann]

Our gym is similar to yours--we have 4 or so local meets, plus typically 2 travel meets. This next year we're just having one travel meet (Chicago) and I"m bummed! They're trying to save us parents money, but they're taking away one of the big fun parts of team. I'm hoping it's just for this year and they change that.

Last year we went to a meet in Iowa (at Chow's) (oh--we're in Minnesota) and in Florida. The year before we were in Texas for the Metroplex Challenge. The year before that in Las Vegas and at the Wisconsin Dells.

 

[cathiann]

Just curious, are these sanctioned meets? I ask because there is no way that there are enough gyms where we compete to cover the whole season without having to travel further than say 1.5 hours. Also, while some of the other local gyms do non-sanctioned meets, we are one of the gyms that don't host any meets at all.

I know we have a ton of sanctioned meets all within an hours drive of us--I think they could most likely not have to travel at all, if they didn't want to. This coming year 4 of our meets are near our home.

 

[cathiann]

We are in the northern part of our state and all of our meets require travel. Normally about 2 hours away, but our coaches like to get our team from level 4 and up out the other meets in other states, like Chicago in Feb. There is always one travel meet that is optional and in a vacation type area. Last year it was WDW, this year Cancun, and yes DD and I are going. We will share the hotel room with a teammate and her mom.

I like that the coaches are not afraid to get our girls out and experience meets that are not just within the state.

Cancun! How fun! Wish we had a fun one like that--just Chicago for us this year.

 

[mom2kazkids]

I did hear that the upcoming Cancun Classic meet will be later, but I don't know dates.

Cancun Classic is Jan 7 - 10, 2010. DD does go back to school on Jan 4, and then will miss from Jan 6 to 11, but she is only in 3rd grade. We will just ask for her work over winter break.

 

[mom2kazkids]

Last year we went to a meet in Iowa (at Chow's) (oh--we're in Minnesota) and in Florida. The year before we were in Texas for the Metroplex Challenge. The year before that in Las Vegas and at the Wisconsin Dells.

Was there just girls at the Wisconsin Dells meet, or boys too? We will be doing that meet this year.

 

[Granny Smith]

Thanks for the info. Yeah, that's like a week later - not good enough for me. Dd is going into 8th grade and I don't want her to miss too many days. Hopefully, it won't even be an option for our girls then I don't have to worry about it!

Cancun Classic is Jan 7 - 10, 2010. DD does go back to school on Jan 4, and then will miss from Jan 6 to 11, but she is only in 3rd grade. We will just ask for her work over winter break.

 

[cathiann]

Was there just girls at the Wisconsin Dells meet, or boys too? We will be doing that meet this year.

You know I"m not positive--our gym doesn't have a boys' team, but I didn't see any boys competing there. I know they had USAG and some other type of women's. I did look and can't find much online right now. The gym that hosted the meet DOES have a boys' team so I would think they'd have boys, but don't know!

 

[taximom]

We are in the southwest corner of our province and surrounded by the Great lakes so most of our meets require a 2-3 hour drive at least not counting traffic or weather. Our competitive season is December thru May which nicely coincides with snow! Our girls do 3 provincial qualifiers, Ontario Cup and Provincial Championships as well as the option to compete at invitationals. It is rare for us not to stay overnight at a hotel and it's usually the night before DD competes so no swimming is allowed.
We try to go out for a meal as a team when the girls are done competing.

 

[BlairBob]

Most of our meets are probably 90m away. We get away with a few local meets but most of the meets are in the bay area which is gonna be 90m away if not 2 hours.

I just don't see the point of going to big meets far away. Big meets are cool and I think they make a lot more sense at higher levels like optional.

Having one away meet per season can be really fun if you go somewhere neat and can do stuff locally. However, it can drive expenses up a lot. This also depends on how much money your boosters club can raise per year or how well off the parents are at that gym.

Basically it depends on your pocketbook. I'd hate to do too many far away meets because of time away.

 

[Flippers Mom]

Distance to meets

Our new gym tries to keep the girls in levels 4-6 meets as close as possible. At level 7, they start going to a couple of meets that require an overnight stay. Levels 8-10, we only go to one meet in-state (plus state), 4 that are approx. within a 200 miles radius, 3 a six to eight hour drive, and one "fly" meet (not required). The schedule is designed to get the girls seen by coaches at the big colleges - and it works! The gym is over-run with recruiters this summer.

 

[NotAMom]

I just don't see the point of going to big meets far away. Big meets are cool and I think they make a lot more sense at higher levels like optional.

Yup, I agree. Optionals should go outside of the competing region to get exposure. Maybe a time or two doesn't hurt for the compulsories either.

But, "big" doesn't have to be far or expensive. In the US or Canada, one can always find a big time meet that is reachable by a easy road trip (say no more than 4/5 hours).

There is something about a far-way meet that makes it more appealing to many parents and participants. After experiencing several long-distance competitions under dance, I for one still don't buy the concept (again, unless the competition itself is truly honorable or meaningful). If I want to travel, which we do a lot as a family, we just pick a place, book the trip for far less money and go. For the same money spent, it can cover for instance a cruise for two to Alaska, camp for 4 at IGC or ski with the Olympians at Mt. Hood, OR for a week.

Again, just my 2 cents.