Parents How do you feel about 100% medals placements?

[Sk8ermaiden]

It looks like the max amount of time is "5 hours in the gym." Hard to tell, but I'm betting that doesn't include awards. How many girls are usually in your sessions? The guidelines are pretty clear that you have to run a modified format if you are over a certain # of girls. (Almost all the meets we've been to are modified capitol cup.)

 

[raenndrops]

d. Gymnasts should be on the floor (includes warm-ups and competition) no longer than five (5) hours when performing a single set of compulsory or optional exercises in one (1) session.

1) Considering the ages of the athletes in Levels 1-3, it is recommended that the session be no longer than 2½ hours in length, including warm-up time.

There can't be more than 96 girls in a compulsory session (non-traditional formats).

 

[StayTru2U]

Yes, OK then. As mentioned, 5 hours (sometimes slightly longer) has been a familiar theme this year with 80 to 90 girls per comp. I am wondering too if the girls rotate out and technically are not "on the floor", if that time counts. Per other comments, this is within the rules of USAG. Long competitions, long awards this year. There were so many girls in one comp, they had awards in 7 age groups: 7 years, 8 years, 9 years, 10 years, 11 years, 12 years, 13 years and up. The first group and last two groups in the range did not have that many girls so I thought it was ridiculous to break them out that way. But, I also understand there is more of a chance for a girl to medal. But, then, what does it really mean anyway if you are breaking it out that much?

 

[StayTru2U]

Other sports are 6-8 weeks. most do give otu something at the end.

No, I find this to be another generalization or assumption. This is not true in our area. Most of the sports programs do not give something at the end of the season. Also, many other sports are becoming year long sports. Our friends' son participates in a league for baseball all year long. Fall ball (practices and games), winter is indoor practice and conditioning, Spring ball (practices and games), Summer consists of tournaments. Another friends' son has a similar schedule for his soccer league. A friend of my daughter's has a similar schedule for field hockey. Tennis is also another year long sport and so is swimming. Gymnastics is no longer the only year long sport. But, with the exception of some swim leagues (not all), we are the only year long sport that gives out awards after every meet.

 

[skschlag]

Agree to disagree. My son appreciates the medals he has earned. His 10th place out of 80 boys means a lot to him. Yes, 3rd of 6 not as much. And no, 100% is not necessary. but he only competes 5 regular season meets a year. hopefully 3 postseason meets.

my boys have lots of year-end trophies from soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, football, robotics, speech and debate, ribbons from swimming and wrestling.

I think the hard part is, where we are, there is no school recognition. Other sports get mentioned in the paper, the school paper, on the website, etc.

But, they do a decent job of keeping meets small. And even at 15, getting 5th on an event against 30 national level gymnasts puts a huge smile on his face.

 

[raenndrops]

No, I find this to be another generalization or assumption. This is not true in our area. Most of the sports programs do not give something at the end of the season. Also, many other sports are becoming year long sports. Our friends' son participates in a league for baseball all year long. Fall ball (practices and games), winter is indoor practice and conditioning, Spring ball (practices and games), Summer consists of tournaments. Another friends' son has a similar schedule for his soccer league. A friend of my daughter's has a similar schedule for field hockey. Tennis is also another year long sport and so is swimming. Gymnastics is no longer the only year long sport. But, with the exception of some swim leagues (not all), we are the only year long sport that gives out awards after every meet.

My friend's sons in baseball get trophies for their spring season (regular season) placement... AND the pre-season tourney... and the post-season tourney... AND every tournament they go to in the summer, they come back with trophies... and then fall ball season is the same thing. However, even though baseball CAN be a year-round sport, it isn't always until a kid is more serious about it. And sometimes, they will be on a different team for fall ball and spring ball... even if it is mostly the same kids.
They also have a son in soccer. He gets trophies at every tournament he is in.
In dance, there are awards at every dance competition.
Another friend has 2 swimmers. They earn medals at their meets. Her diver also gets medals / trophies.

 

[raenndrops]

Yes, OK then. As mentioned, 5 hours (sometimes slightly longer) has been a familiar theme this year with 80 to 90 girls per comp. I am wondering too if the girls rotate out and technically are not "on the floor", if that time counts. Per other comments, this is within the rules of USAG. Long competitions, long awards this year. There were so many girls in one comp, they had awards in 7 age groups: 7 years, 8 years, 9 years, 10 years, 11 years, 12 years, 13 years and up. The first group and last two groups in the range did not have that many girls so I thought it was ridiculous to break them out that way. But, I also understand there is more of a chance for a girl to medal. But, then, what does it really mean anyway if you are breaking it out that much?

The 5 hour limit includes time from the open stretch at the beginning of the session until the last gymnast has saluted after her final event... so it DOES include time sitting around waiting. 80 girls is ALMOST small enough that it would be possible to do traditional format (limit of 72 gymnasts, so only 1 extra per event per flight), so there is no way the meet should take 5 hours unless coaches aren't on the ball rotating and warming up or the judges have to conference every routine.

 

[StayTru2U]

Wow! OK. You just made my point. Gone are the days of kids just being satisfied with winning. Why the need to give out all these medals, trophies, ribbons, etc.? This hasn't been the precedent in our area, and, hopefully, it never will be. But, wow, I had no idea all sports seem to be changing. Well, unfortunately, I may be the lone outlier and will also have to agree to disagree.

 

[Taxidriver]

During the girls' last meet, they had to rotate out twice which means they sit out and do not compete (nor warm up) on an apparatus for an entire rotation. Again, they did this twice. There were a lot of girls. This is fairly typical for their meets. Thus, with so many girls, awards take forever. Imagine, too, how agonizing it must be for the girls who do not medal...and for their parents. I dare not say these little girls or their parents call it "fun".

But, none of this addresses my original question about why winning in and of itself is not sufficient? I can understand awarding at States, Regional comps (one could compare this to a Championship game in some sports) but why after each and every competition? My DD also just participated in a winter soccer league. There were only 6 weeks, thus, 6 games. The team was new and actually practiced really hard over 6 weeks. They were 6-0, so they played in a Championship game. They won. There were no medals, no trophies...not after each game nor in the Championship game. Their reward was winning...period...along with a big hug and high fives from their coach. And, my young DD was just thrilled to tell her Dad and sister she won.

I don’t see anything wrong with giving the top 3 medals at every competition when it’s only about 5/6 competitions per year.
With a lot of other sports you know if you’ve won or not or qualified to the next round as soon as you have finished where as gym with you have to go on compete all the pieces of apparatus and then wait for everyone else to compete to get the result, so I think it’s nice then to get acknowledged in front of the crowd and a medal is a nice memento.

 

[skschlag]

Wow! OK. You just made my point. Gone are the days of kids just being satisfied with winning. Why the need to give out all these medals, trophies, ribbons, etc.? This hasn't been the precedent in our area, and, hopefully, it never will be. But, wow, I had no idea all sports seem to be changing. Well, unfortunately, I may be the lone outlier and will also have to agree to disagree.

Honestly there is no way he would be a L10 of he was only in it for the medals. But there is nothing wrong with recognizing hard work. We have honor rolls, kids get letters, etc.

I do think the participation medal is silly. But not true placement medals, or ribbons. Nothing wrong with that. My ds is extremely motivated to do well for himself. He loves the sport and has big goals. Again...10 years he has been competing.

 

[profmom]

StayTru, I am older than you and I remember getting plenty of awards at horse shows and debate tournaments. I think the main thing that has changed is that there are a lot more year-round sports and activities now. As you will find if your daughter sticks with it, gym has its own ways of teaching kids how to succeed and fail gracefully and medals have very little to do with that process.

It sounds like your coaches have chosen to compete their team at large meets with sessions run in flights. Yes, it can indeed get long with that format, and it does take some time to do awards. But your coaches certainly have the capacity to make other choices. As your child gets on, you may find that you appreciate seasons in which she competes at a variety of meets -- some big ones where she can get a sense of state- or regional- or even national-level competition, and a few friendly locals with (to be entirely honest) cupcake scoring and lots of awards.

Once again, I think the parents are far more invested in reading all kinds of deep meanings into these things than the kids are, especially once the kids have been at it for four or more years.

 

[mommyof1]

Wow, I want to live where all these short meets are. We usually expect to be there for a minimum of 3.5 hours from open stretch through the end of competition, plus another hour or more for awards. The fastest we have ever gotten out was just under 4 hours from the beginning of open stretch through awards.

 

[mommyof1]

Wow, I want to live where all these short meets are. We usually expect to be there for a minimum of 3.5 hours from open stretch through the end of competition, plus another hour or more for awards. The fastest we have ever gotten out was just under 4 hours from the beginning of open stretch through awards.

That is a typo. Minimum of 4.5 hours.

 

[raenndrops]

Wow! OK. You just made my point. Gone are the days of kids just being satisfied with winning. Why the need to give out all these medals, trophies, ribbons, etc.? This hasn't been the precedent in our area, and, hopefully, it never will be. But, wow, I had no idea all sports seem to be changing. Well, unfortunately, I may be the lone outlier and will also have to agree to disagree.

Many kids are satisfied with just winning. What is wrong with having a keepsake of that win?
Even in COLLEGE Gymnastics, they award the winner on each event and the All Around winner.
And there are college teams that have temporary "awards" for stuck landings. Alabama has the "Diva Belt" that the gymnast gets to wear until the someone else gets a stuck landing. Awards can be FUN.

And I played sports a while ago (started almost 39 years ago). I have my Baseball trophies and my MVP award from football. I also have my Academic Letter from high school (like a Varsity Letter, but for Academics). I have my Science Fair Ribbon from 7th grade. I have my Spelling Bee Medal from 6th grade. Somewhere, I still have my Volleyball "Ace" Award from 8th grade too.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I may be a little older than many of you (I had my girls a little later in life).

If a strong sense of self-esteem and self-worth is learned through hard work, determination, and perseverance, then win or lose, it is the process that is important…period…and not a medal around their little necks.

t.

I think we may similar in age. I’m pretty open about mine 58.

Regarding the medals. Gymnasticsis typically a sport where there are places at meets. Much like track and swimming to name a couple more.

I think 1-3 is just fine. And again my perspective is why a bunch age groups. Really if your doing level 4 your doing Level 4. If you need to tease it out. I’d rather it be by years at level and or hours trained. But really my opinion clearly doesn’t matter.

One of my most memorable moments was this year. My kid who got lots of bling in early levels. And as it gets harder so it gets harder to get bling. And she is fine with that. Bars has always been her weak spot. She had a meet and she finally rocked her CHS. And she knew it as soon as she landed. She was beaming. She didn’t know or care about her score. I can’t even remember what it was. The pride on her face. Priceless.

That is where we focus. And like someone said up thread the last thing she wants if she has a bad meet is a reminder

 

[PRY9]

We mostly see awards @ 50% or 50% +1. Personally, I'd be happy for them to stick to top five or even top three. My daughter is mostly excited by personal best scores or placements, or doing what she feels to be her personal best (of course- not always the same as personal best score) or making the podium. Her last meet went out 100% in AA, announcing them in order down to last place. I always feel sorry for those last few girls. What is the point of that? It's not very kind, IMO.

This is her fourth competitive season, we usually do 6 or 7 meets + states. I can't remember a meet that didn't give out a gymnast gift. I don't see those as "participation trophies" - I consider them more of an incentive to choose that meet/thank you for coming. Her favorite things are the leos - or any type of clothing. Entry fees mostly range $85-115

 

[LindyHopper]

Wow, I want to live where all these short meets are. We usually expect to be there for a minimum of 3.5 hours from open stretch through the end of competition, plus another hour or more for awards. The fastest we have ever gotten out was just under 4 hours from the beginning of open stretch through awards.

We have found that with the move from compulsory to optional gymnastics, the session times have shrunk significantly (45+ minutes) including awards.

 

[sce]

Really, to my kids the medal is just a symbol of the place they earned. The goal is not to collect a medal but to perform well enough to win. Earning that score and place and getting your name called is a big deal, the medal just commemorates the moment.

 

[GymDadWA]

Wow! Why the need to give out all these medals, trophies, ribbons, etc.? This hasn't been the precedent in our area, and, hopefully, it never will be. But, wow, I had no idea all sports seem to be changing.

One other reason for all the bling is that it is now pretty common for all sports to compete against other sports for the top athletes. More and more kids are forced to focus in on just one sport maybe a second one is allowed if it doesn't interfere with the first. My daughter is tiny and as such gymnastics was always a much more natural fit then the other sports she tried, but she is a decent soccer player, and did some ice skating camps for fun. After each one of those seasons or camps the regional coaches came up to us asking if our daughter was interested in "taking it more seriously", and they gave us material showing their competitive girls with their bling/swag/outfits trying to show off how great their sport is. The point is that all sports want the best athletes and they work collectively to try and get those kids giving out trophies and medals is just one way that the sports advertise for themselves.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

. The point is that all sports want the best athletes and they work collectively to try and get those kids giving out trophies and medals is just one way that the sports advertise for themselves.

That is selling the parents. See your investment will produce bling.

This is not directed in a personal way to any one here, there are far too many parents out there who feel that they write a check for results. And to them results mean a medal, trophy, championship.

Why do it if there is no reward. And to them the reward is a tangible touchable thing or claim. Why do I want to pay all that money, if my kid gets no medals. Bling keeps folks writing checks. As you go up on levels the parents and kids in it for the bling get filtered out. But those checks at the lower levels help support the gym, just like rec level does, and birthday parties.

They like to say my kid is a level 2 state medal champion. Do you think they explain that there were 6 or more age groups in their session and that some states have multiple state meets, times 50 states, out to how many places.......

Of course it’s an accomplishment. There are many kids who didn’t or can’t get a medal. But it’s about perspective too.