Hosting a meet

[htimcj]

Our gym is considering hosting our own meet. First, so that our friends and family can actually see our girls in a real competition. There is only one meet within 2.5 of us and we tend not to go becuase of polital reasons. Second we thought it might be a decent fundraiser for our general fund. Does any one have any tips, hints, project timelines, websites or anything else that might be useful in moving this forward?

 

[gymmomof1]

The first meet my DD's gym hosted did not go as smoothly as we would have liked it to so here is what I learned. 1. Person in charge of food for the judges needs toake sure there is enough variety. You need to have lunch and breakfast as well as snacks. 2. When working the scoring make sure you understand the time requirements and be loud with the warnings so the gymnast and coach can hear you. Hopefully you have parents who are good at organizing especially with set up , break down and parking. Last is the scoring program. Who ever is doing it really needs to practice it and understand it's glitches. That's all I can think of. I am sure some experienced hosts will give their pointers it's very exciting having your Dd/Dd compete in her/his home gym!

 

[Bajanswife]

I'll be watching this thread closely too, as we are hosting our first meet in April 2012.

 

[cher062]

Lets see what did we do.

Comfotable chairs for the judges to sit at when judging along with some candies, cheez-its or something like that on the judging tables. They seem to like that. Someone in charge of catering to the judges needs is always good too - to have someone make sure their food is fresh, put out when its time, the room you have for the judges to lounge in is clean and comfortable with comfortable chairs and at least a table. We have put a radio in their room as well. Reserve parking close up for the judges.

Seating for viewers is in areas where they can actually see and if you are using chairs instead of bleachers then make sure there is room between one row and the next for folks to get in and out after they have sat down. Make sure there are open areas in the rows too so folks don't have to go past 20 people to get out or they aren't trapped in the end of the row. Have some fans to put on sometimes even in the winter it can be stuffy when everyone is in the gym.
Oh Have one door as an enterance and another way to exit. So use the front door to enter and the "back door" to exit. It makes the flow so much easier from one session to the next. Make sure the exit door doesn't exit into a medow of grass or a puddle - that it is easy to walk to the parking area. Put a door monitor at the door where folks will enter so folks don't exit by that door at the end of one session and at the begining of another.
Don''t let gymnasts use the cubbies for their stuff as they will have to go back through the crowds at the end to get their stuff.

Concession stands - in an area where there is plenty of room to get around and customers don't block the flow of people. Seating and tables near the concession stands for folks to sit down and eat. You don't want food or drinks (other than water) in the gym that is a real mess to clean up afterwards. Signage for the concession stand with pricing for items. Combo meals are great like in the AM it could be a doughnut or muffin with juice or coffee for a set price in the afternoon a hot item like Hotdog or pizza slice with a soda and chips for a set price.

Bathrooms - have people in charge of making sure they are clean on a regular basis. Nothing worse than messy bathrooms that don't have toilet paper.

Have enough time between one session and the next so that the parking flows. So when one group is leaving there is a little time before the next group comes in. This gives everyone a little breather in between sessions, time to clean up the seating area (there is always garbage left by people) , the judges get a little break, and the bathrooms can be restocked and cleaned, the concession stand can be restocked and the tables for eating can be wiped down and cleaned. Trash barrels can be emptied.

USAG also requires some one who is a USAG certified meet coordinator as well.

 

[gym law mom]

Before you get too deep into planning, you have to have a USAG certified meet director---it can be a parent, coach, owner, but someone has to take the course/test online. Then check and see when your state(if you're USAG) accepts bids for hosting meets. Many states set up their meet calendars in the summer for all meets for the fall/winter/spring, so you might be looking at a meet in 2012/13.

I would start with picking some type of theme for the meet and keeping notes on what you like/dislike about other meets you go to.

For what its worth, starting with a compulsory meet is probably easier than an optional one.

 

[htimcj]

Thanks everyone! Keep them coming. It looks like I need to start with the meet coordinator thing. Didn't even know that exsistied!

 

[gymmomtoo]

Yeah, having a meet coordinator is essential. We've hosted our meet for years--and did it before I started there, so don't know about starting tips. But I just wanted to caution you that your first few years doing it you might not make any money. People generally shy away from new meets, so you might not have a ton of gyms coming that first year or two--at least until you prove yourself. A theme for the meet is always fun though and having a website to advertise it helps enormously (does your gym have a website--maybe they will let you put stuff on there?).

 

[gymnastmom38]

We're hosting our first meet this year...so nervous! Can't believe the amount of planning to do. Thanks everyone for your tips (keep 'em coming!)

 

[MeetDirector]

Hi Folks.

I am a meet director and have run several invitational and state meets. Some words of advice:

- If you are trying to do a meet to make money - don't. You should be hosting a meet for the girls; making money can be a nice side benefit. Bottomline - don't do anything in the name of raising money that takes away from the athlete's experience.
- Any size meet takes advance planning and cannot be done by a single individual. A well-planned meet takes at least 3 months to plan and a minimum of 4 people to plan. Actually running the meet takes a whole bunch more people.
- For my meets, I have 7 major committees: gymnast and coach gifts, coach and judge hospitality, site decoration, setup/teardown coordinator, vendor coordinator, sponsorship coordinator, and awards coordinator. Having done this several years in a row, we now don't start in-depth planning much before about 3 months out.
- You MUST have a knowledgeable meet director. The meet director will advise you on the rules and policies that must be followed.
- You must get the word out about your meet. Income comes from gymnast entry fees and gate admission. These two sources are where all of your expenses have to be accounted for.
- Session scheduling is one of the last things that will be done. This should be done either by the meet director or in consultation with the meet director as there are some very strict rules that must be followed. At the beginning, you just need to figure out how many days the meet will run.
- When it comes to actually running the meet there is a whole lot more that you need to think about. You need to know how the meet will be scored as this drives whether or not you need score runners. You have to have judge assistants/timers for each event throughout the meet. You need to have adults to assist with admissions and crowd control. This list goes on.

These are the biggies that come to mind at the moment as I plan our big meet in January. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions.

RK

 

[gym law mom]

I did it---the course/test are all on the USAG site, but you also have to be safety certified so that is one reason many times a coach is the official meet director---they already have the safety certification. If you do it, make sure the gym or booster club reimburses you.
Since you're starting from nothing, I would form a committee to do research and make sure you have current info on getting this meet on the state schedule and look around at available parking, how much seating you have in the gym and where you can expand etc. Also make sure there is an understanding of how profits(think positive) will be split. Many gyms take it all, some will split with the booster club----have it all down in writing.
As GD-Albuquerque said, don't expect alot of $ the first couple of times. Gyms tend to go to established meets---you do have to prove yourself so coming up with a catchy theme is good.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

just as an aside, and sorry to waiver slightly from topic but how long are your meets ? How many peoopl go and what level are you talking about ? We don't have the kind of constraints that you seem to have but then we go to meets in county so maybe 6 or 7 clubs represented and usually two sessions - morning and afternoon - maybe 100-150 gymnast in total.

'margo

 

[Bajanswife]

just as an aside, and sorry to waiver slightly from topic but how long are your meets ? How many peoopl go and what level are you talking about ? We don't have the kind of constraints that you seem to have but then we go to meets in county so maybe 6 or 7 clubs represented and usually two sessions - morning and afternoon - maybe 100-150 gymnast in total.

'margo

That's the size we are looking at for our first meet - we didn't want it to be too overwhelming.

 

[MeetDirector]

Well,
1 day or 2 days the planning work is still about the same; the execution work will be less with one day.
For the meets that I have run, they have been from 2 sessions in one day all the way to 7 sessions over 2 days. We have looked at even going to a third day. I still say that doing it right means a good volunteer base to draw from. It is not impossible, but please go in with your eyes wide open.

Our typical 2-day meet has 350 athletes.

 

[Bajanswife]

Well,
1 day or 2 days the planning work is still about the same; the execution work will be less with one day.
For the meets that I have run, they have been from 2 sessions in one day all the way to 7 sessions over 2 days. We have looked at even going to a third day. I still say that doing it right means a good volunteer base to draw from. It is not impossible, but please go in with your eyes wide open.

Our typical 2-day meet has 350 athletes.

Are you competing on only one set of equipment? i.e. not running two gyms simultaneously? We will have about 150 gymnasts, levels 1 - 8 girls and levels 4 & 5 boys (but not many boys in each level) - I am thinking we will need Saturday and maybe Sunday morning, but no more than that?

 

[MeetDirector]

The meets I have run have been of both varieties: one set of equip and two sets of equip. Our big meet actually uses two gyms: one for warm-up and one for competition. The meet is a girls-only meet; mixing boys and girls creates a whole new set of challenges given the 2 additional events for a boys meet. We split each session into two groups. Then each of those groups is divided into 4 groups, one for each event. The first group does thier timed warm-up in the warm-up gym then they transition to the competition gym and get the required touch warm-up then compete. While this group is competing, the second group (or flight) is warming up in the warm-up gym. Then they come to the competition gym, touch warm-up, and compete. This repeats until everyone is done; about 3.5 hours. Then we do awards then we break for about 30 minutes then we repeat the whole thing for the next session. It all makes for a jam-packed 2 days.

With one set of equipment you don't have to do the touch warm-up and you end up not processing as many athletes in one session but can have more sessions in a day.

Good Luck.

 

[Bajanswife]

Luckily we only have 2 boys' levels (4 & 5), and may only get about 20 boys total, so we'd probably run them as a Sunday session all by itself. We will probably only have 20 - 30 level 7 and 8 girls, who would likely be a session as well. That leaves levels 1 - 6, and we'd have about 100 girls in those levels. Do you think we could do those 100 compulsory gymnasts in one day, given only one set of equipment for warm-up and competiton (we might have an extra beam, but one of everything else)? What if it were 150 compulsory gymnasts instead - could we fit those in one day?

 

[MeetDirector]

Keeping optionals and compulsories in different sessions is a good idea; it makes life easier for the judges. 30 optional gymnasts in a session is about 8 girls per event and is a good size for rotating.

As for the compulsories, can you get 15 girls through in one day? yes you can. My timeline calculations show that you can do about 48 gymnasts in a 4-hour session using one set of equipment doing a warm-up then compete strategy. The USAG Rules and Policies contain guidelines on how much time to allow for different things.

Good Luck.

 

[htimcj]

Thanks again for all of the tips! We are going to start with some basic planning like getting the meet coordinator done. We have some one willing to do that and then next step is to find a building. Our home gym has NO place for seating or concessions or anything.

 

[Blazing15]

I sent you a PM

 

[gym law mom]

Thanks again for all of the tips! We are going to start with some basic planning like getting the meet coordinator done. We have some one willing to do that and then next step is to find a building. Our home gym has NO place for seating or concessions or anything.

This may be your biggest challenge. I would suggest you look at local high school gyms to start. They would have the seating, parking and area for concessions. The major stubbling block could be the cost since realistically you would need the gym at least the night before for set up, then 1-2 days for the meet and tear down. Also most places ask you to have liability insurance to cover that time. It does start to add up.
Are you thinking of using the equipment from your gym?? Make sure you have some coaches on board the know how to take down/set up and move equipment. You'll also have to rent several large trucks.