Parents How do you feel about 100% medals placements?

[Deleted member 18037]

We are a pay as you go gym. We actually prefer it rather then a blanket large fee. . And we are fortunate we are not required to attend every meet. Our coaches are pretty cost conscious and our location gives us lots of options within driving distance. And as long as the weather is OK and if report times are not first thing we rarely have to stay overnight. States will be our second over night meet of the year.

Cost matters to me. And it’s a factor at times when choosing which meets to do.

 

[John]

DD gym hosts a meet. The profit is shared evenly between the owner and the parents. He upgrades the gym with his profit and the parents use our share for the gymnasts.

A foam block costs 1.20 a piece, the foam pit has 26,000 blocks in it. I want gyms to be successful so the kids can continue to train. I understand everyone' p including the gym owners.

 

[Juniper311]

I pay the gym (not privately owned, a public, state-run utility) a monthly fee for practice hours. I pay the booster club (its own, parent-run organization) a yearly meet registrations fee. At my prior gym (a different, public, state-run utility) I know 100% for sure that my fees went to meet registration with only $100 of that going to the booster club itself for overhead. At my prior gym the total fee I paid was a direct result of the meets my kids were signed up for. We were given some leeway to say yes/no once the schedule was decided on, but then there was a deadline early in the season by which you had to pre-pay all those registrations. At my current gym, I also know that my fees go to meet registration... I'm just not sure if only $100 goes to this booster club, or if there might be a little more overhead cost. The current gym has a much larger athlete/parent base than my prior one, and there might be some cost averaging going on with the different levels of meet requirements among the different groups and levels. I have to pay for uniforms.

EVERYTHING ELSE is paid for by the booster club, with the proceeds of the fundraiser, our hosted meet.

Not everyone's situation is comparable or simple or can be painted with the brush of "the way I've known things to work".

 

[LindyHopper]

Not everyone's situation is comparable or simple or can be painted with the brush of "the way I've known things to work".

If there is ANYTHING I've learned from chalkbucket, it's that there is nothing standard about how gyms are run.

 

[MILgymFAM]

Not everyone's situation is comparable or simple or can be painted with the brush of "the way I've known things to work".

That is why that is the truest statement on CB. The way each person has known things to work is all they have to go on, all they have to offer.

 

[Along4theRide]

Chiming in to say...I definitely appreciate 100% AA medals. Mine has been injured and fought back to compete in her last meet of the season...but not in all events, so won't be going on to States. She came in last AA. I have to say, this medal means more than a last place finish. Please remember that they ALL have individual journeys in this sport. Everyone of them has worked hard to be there!

 

[PRY9]

1. Pay judges. These are not supplied by a club. They are certified by USAG.
2. Pay per gymnast head tax to USAG.
3. Pay the rental fee for the competition space. For instance, both clubs I have been a part of are run out of state-owned gymnasiums. Want to have a meet there, pay a couple thousand dollars to the state. No exceptions, whether you’re “the home gym”, or some random other gym.
4. Pay to feed coaches, judges, etc.
5. Pay other costs as matters your operation... printing programs, medals, gifts, what have you.
6. Factor in enough to generate a profit for the home club as this is the purpose of hosting the meet to begin with.

The above list is not conclusive. I’m sure there are other line items I missed that would make sense. I have tangential experience with hosted meets... and while I was not the person who ran the thing, I picked some info up.

And also, USAG sets guidelines for how much an Invitational meet should cost (though I’m unsure how hard and fast these are). I seem to remember the range was between $75-$125 per registered gymnast? And it has been my experience that much st meets here fall firmly in there. So, it’s likely to me that whatever the cost list may be, meets here cost what they do because that’s what the market will bear.

Doesn’t really matter then how many medals get given out. No point in moralizing on that detail?

Also the scoring system - it was a huge expense when we starting hosting meets.

Our owner/coaches select the meets. I have no idea what criteria they use. They give us the schedule in August, and then we have a week or so to fill out an opt-out for any particular meet in case of a known scheduling conflict or what have you. After that deadline, they start registering for the meets and you are on the hook for the meet entry fee even if your gymnast ends up not attending that meet. Families do sometimes opt out over travel costs to the out of state meets. I don't know of anyone that has opted out due to the entry fee alone. (not saying this doesn't happen). The way I look at it, she trains all year and only has 6 or 7 meets. After spending thousands of dollars and all of those hours in the gym, I'm not going to pull her out of a meet opportunity over an extra $20-30 in meet entry fees.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

I don't mind the gymnast entry fees that much, but the spectator fees are killing me!! The ones in rented venues have been $20-25 a person this year. We had three in a row at those prices, and it means choosing which parent gets to see her compete, never mind bringing the whole family! I know the venues are expensive, but the gymnast entry fees are already on the very high end.

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

My ds' only thought on medals is that if they are going out past 3, 4-whatever should look different than 3rd.

Yes exactly! My DD gets very annoyed that the subsequent awards look exactly like 3rd! She suggests a "brighter bronze" for 3rd place metals lol!

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

For some competitions they do trophies and medals for AA but you only get to keep the trophies for the year and then they have to be handed back, normally the trophies are taken home to allow them to be shown at school and then are kept in the gym display cabinet before being returned for the same competition next year.

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

I thought it was great that they always placed all the way out in level 3 -and I think it's good that it demystifies the medals. If only a few kids got them at each meet I think earning one could become a much bigger deal than it is in the mind of a young kid -and I don't think that's always a good thing. There are so many things that can effect if a gymnast places or not that are not necessarily in her control (scoring variations/unfairness, age group -sometimes one age group has much higher scores than another, etc) that I think it's good to talk the focus off of the medals -and giving one to everyone is a good way to do that. As the kids get older and have been in the sport a while they know difference, and I think most would gladly give up their last place or second to last place AA medals as they don't mean anything to them anyhow.

 

[Taxidriver]

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

Yes it is very much the norm, the schools encourage them to and allocate specific time for them to bring them in and show the school, so trophies and medals from all different sports are brought in.

 

[raenndrops]

I thought it was great that they always placed all the way out in level 3 -and I think it's good that it demystifies the medals. If only a few kids got them at each meet I think earning one could become a much bigger deal than it is in the mind of a young kid -and I don't think that's always a good thing. There are so many things that can effect if a gymnast places or not that are not necessarily in her control (scoring variations/unfairness, age group -sometimes one age group has much higher scores than another, etc) that I think it's good to talk the focus off of the medals -and giving one to everyone is a good way to do that. As the kids get older and have been in the sport a while they know difference, and I think most would gladly give up their last place or second to last place AA medals as they don't mean anything to them anyhow.

But even as they get older / higher levels, who knows what a specific gymnast has gone through to earn that last or next to last place.
Last year, OG placed 12th on Beam in the older L6 age group at a meet, but she was as proud of that medal as she was of her 1st place vault ribbon earlier in the season because of what she went through to earn it... had ripped in the last practice before the meet. Thought it was healed enough to not cover it for bars (where she started the meet)... re-ripped (bloody, stinging mess) in warm ups... had to get it taped up to compete without warming up with it taped. Then went to beam with it still stinging and MEDALED.
Every journey is different. Last place could mean the world to a gymnast that is coming back from injury or overcoming a major block or...

 

[TumbleTimes4]

I don't mind the gymnast entry fees that much, but the spectator fees are killing me!! The ones in rented venues have been $20-25 a person this year. We had three in a row at those prices, and it means choosing which parent gets to see her compete, never mind bringing the whole family! I know the venues are expensive, but the gymnast entry fees are already on the very high end.

Yes! We attended one meet where we had to pay travel expenses (hotel, gas, food, etc.), the meet fee was $115 per gymnast, and on top of that I had to pay $25 just to watch her compete, which was up $5 from last year. That’s ridiculous to me, especially when the meet has over 2,000 gymnasts competing in one weekend. I can’t think of one other elementary, middle, or high school sport, or other rec sport where the spectator fees are that high.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

My DD’s teacher has a weekend update on Monday where every kid gets to share about their weekend. She encourages them to bring in any awards they may have earned if they participated in any activities or sports. One weekend, she showed DD’s class the videos of her routines that I had posted to Facebook (teacher and I are friends on Facebook, and I post her videos on my personal page for friends, not on public sites).

 

[profmom]

One of my favorite memories from a long time ago was a meet where my son offered one of his medals to a teammate who'd been having a very rough year because the teammate finally made his kip on high bar in a routine. My guy felt like that was a much bigger accomplishment than anything he had done at that meet.

Those two, now teenagers, will be competing together this weekend at states.

Have you hugged your compulsory gymnast today?

 

[Texasmomof3]

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

Where we live, my daughter has never taken outside sports trophies to school. (Neither did my boys.). But when my daughter was state floor champion in seventh grade, she did show one of her teachers the video and he ended up showing the whole class. He was the middle school football coach and he loved having my dd compete strength skills against his football players. He's the only teacher who has ever shown any interest in her gymnastics.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

Show and tell ends in 2nd grade around. Last time my kid took a medals to school was her state medals back then. I'm pretty sure now if she could she wouldn't. Gym and school are very different things to her.

She might write about it her daily journal but that is not for out loud reading. Only the teacher sees that.

Last year it was one of her 5th grade goals, which was for us parents on open house night. She said she wanted to get a 1st place at states and was planning on attending an Ivy League school. One down, one to go

 

[Flyaway]

Yes! We attended one meet where we had to pay travel expenses (hotel, gas, food, etc.), the meet fee was $115 per gymnast, and on top of that I had to pay $25 just to watch her compete, which was up $5 from last year. That’s ridiculous to me, especially when the meet has over 2,000 gymnasts competing in one weekend. I can’t think of one other elementary, middle, or high school sport, or other rec sport where the spectator fees are that high.

We have a large(ish) family and we try to avoid bringing siblings to meets for this very reason (well, that and they are bored to tears lol). We made a family weekend trip out of one such meet this season and spent $60 just to get us all in to watch (I mean, for dh and I to watch and for our other kids to sit on the floor and play on their phones ).

 

[raenndrops]

I'm just curious -is it common for kids to bring trophies/medals from outside activities in to show at school where you live?

Around here, they still do "show and tell" at least 1x a month through 5th grade.
Last year, YG was in 6th grade. She had a teacher (Language Arts) that was interested in what her students did outside of school. She had them fill out information cards with all kinds of questions at the beginning of the school year. When it got to meet season, she would ask YG if she had a meet that weekend. She even came to one of the home meets and (with permission) videoed YG's routines and awards. Turns out, she and her husband (a techie) turned it into an awesome video (per YG - I never saw it) and showed the class on Tuesday (YG didn't have LA on Monday).