MAG How many meets

[skschlag]

So, how many meets do your guys do? We just got our schedule and while the coach is trying to work it out, it seems a bit odd. How many do your guys do and what level?

 

[J&A's mom]

Each of the teams does either seven or eight meets. This year we have two out of state and then regionals is also out of state.

 

[skschlag]

What level?

 

[themonkeysmom]

Level 6, 5 or 6 meets plus states and regionals

 

[MyBoysFlip]

Level 5, six meets and States

 

[BlairBob]

Preferably no more than 2 per month and not back to back and never on SuperBowl Sunday. This ends being around 5-7 meets counting States and Regionals and perhaps a last chance qualifier for State's.

I'm not a fan of 3 meets per month or back to back meets and definitely not 3 in a row. Burnout. Back to back is acceptable one time during meet season.

My philosophy is to peak for State's and Regionals. You'll get enough ribbons and medals during the season anyways.

This is way different if you also compete Nationals. Less is more.

 

[skschlag]

Thanks. This is good to hear. Right now D is schedule 1 in Nov, 2 in Jan, 2 in Feb, and then states and Regionals. Seems a lot lighter than usual so I wasn't sure what to think. I guess we will just see how it goes OF course, we don't know what level he is officially yet, but it is looking like 6.

 

[Quadqueen]

Preferably no more than 2 per month and not back to back and never on SuperBowl Sunday. This ends being around 5-7 meets counting States and Regionals and perhaps a last chance qualifier for State's.

I'm not a fan of 3 meets per month or back to back meets and definitely not 3 in a row. Burnout. Back to back is acceptable one time during meet season.

My philosophy is to peak for State's and Regionals. You'll get enough ribbons and medals during the season anyways.

This is way different if you also compete Nationals. Less is more.

funny that you mentioned Super Bowl Sunday...this will be the 2nd year that we are attending a meet on Super Bowl Sunday....it's about 2 hours away and my husband is not happy! (again!) It is a Super Bowl-theme, which is interesting...

 

[LilHawkMom]

Level 7, 10 meets this year that includes state and regional, 4 of the meets are in state meets which is helpful.

 

[BlairBob]

^^^ This is what I'm talking about.

I understand the desire by parents to compete every weekend just like they do in other ball sports. But gymnastics is not the same sport and you only get burnt out by doing this. And unfortunately in some areas, many parents pretty much demand this from their gyms/coaches. If you don't compete every weekend, that family will take their kid to one of the gyms that does.

The burnout isn't even just physical. It's driving 4-5 hours a weekend. Now for those parents and gymnasts, that's only 1 day but sometimes 2 for us coaches. Yes, sometimes we might get a hotel but often we don't. Yes, we get paid for it (meet pay makes us rich for the competitive season compared to training season) but it gets old fast. Besides I like to ski so that means I need snow days.

Some of my parents could care less about SuperBowl Sundays. However, most of my boys got really perturbed about missing it and most gyms would have some big screens playing it or handheld tv's or web devices. I could probably watch it on my tablet, heh.

Seriously if your kid can't qualify for states in 2 meets out of 5, they probably won't in another 3 or 4.

 

[profmom]

My guy is L5 and we have five meets on the calendar now, including states, but one more will likely be added. They're spaced out pretty well. Our L6s and up do one more invitational and of course the regionals/nationals option is there for those who make it. Our gym does not take the compulsory guys to regional championships and I have to say I am totally fine with that!

Not having a lot of meets allows room for some uptraining during meet season or at least working toward adding bonuses. The week before a meet, it's a pre-meet workout schedule during practice, which focuses on preparing to compete. I think my little guy does better this way -- mixing up working on new skills he hasn't yet mastered with polishing the ones he has -- than if he were very intensely focused on just polishing during the meet season.

We may be so incredibly lucky this year as to have meets for both my daughter and my son in different locations Super Bowl weekend, which also coincides with the third, non-gymnast child's birthday. How awesome is that?

 

[J&A's mom]

What level?

I tried to answer this three times, and it won't post.

Level 5. Two out of state meets are like two hours away, so not to far. Only Regionals is a hike. We are planning to make a mini vacation out of it.

 

[Mom2twingymnasts]

I understand the desire by parents to compete every weekend just like they do in other ball sports. But gymnastics is not the same sport and you only get burnt out by doing this. And unfortunately in some areas, many parents pretty much demand this from their gyms/coaches. If you don't compete every weekend, that family will take their kid to one of the gyms that does.

I really have a hard time believing that it is ever parents asking for more meets. Most of us have a heart-attack when we get the meet schedule with meet assessments and fees listed. I know that my daughter got burnt out from her schedule last year - she was really never fully healthy for all of meet season.

My daughter is at a new gym this year and this gym allows us to say no to one out of state meet. We are definitely saying no to one of the fly meets. For the level 7-10s, they have 7 meets (option to say no to one) plus states and regionals.

At my son's gym, we are not "allowed" to say no to a meet. At my son's gym, the boy's level 7 - 10s have 5 meets plus states and regionals. He is also doing Future Stars regionals in Oct and maybe nationals in Nov.

I really do think 4-5 regular meets in a season is the right number and I don't understand the need for meets requiring far travel.

 

[Mom2twingymnasts]

Bob Blair, I'm glad you brought up the point about not doing back to back meets. I hadn't thought of that before. I just looked at my daughter's schedule from last year to see if back to back meets might have been part of the issue. It was!! She had 8 regular meets plus state meet. She had 4 meets back to back weekends with 3 of those being out of state: 3.5 hour drive, cross country flight, local meet, 5 hour drive. Yikes!! She than had 2 weeks off and another two meets back to back weekends that required long drives and hotel stays: 3 hour drive and 5 hour drive. I will pay attention to back to back meets going forward.

 

[skschlag]

I know as they get older, the out of state meets help the kids get more exposure to coaches and colleges. Otherwise they are just fun We are kind of bummed. If D is a 6, he will not get to travel this year except to Albuquerque (twice!) If he is a 7, we will get to go to California and Minnesota. We love the travel meets! And since we are not doing future stars, it just seems like not many. But I will enjoy the lower costs and more time at home!

 

[uniqueRN]

Yikes We haven't gotten our meet schedule yet. I think with all the changes and our gym hosting a meet, states and regionals they are a bit late. Did someone say they get paid to travel? Maybe I didn't read that right.

Last year my son for level 6 did 6 meets plus states and regionals which was a tad more than I would like to do. I like to attend his meets but I don't like to travel far. We only did 2 out of state meets and only needed one hotel, which was not bad.

 

[Coach S]

Wow. In Ontario, our kids only do 3-5 meets per year. National level kids may have a few more depending on if they qualify or not.

 

[profmom]

Bob Blair, I'm glad you brought up the point about not doing back to back meets. I hadn't thought of that before. I just looked at my daughter's schedule from last year to see if back to back meets might have been part of the issue. It was!! She had 8 regular meets plus state meet. She had 4 meets back to back weekends with 3 of those being out of state: 3.5 hour drive, cross country flight, local meet, 5 hour drive. Yikes!! She than had 2 weeks off and another two meets back to back weekends that required long drives and hotel stays: 3 hour drive and 5 hour drive. I will pay attention to back to back meets going forward.

That sounds like the eighth circle of hell to me! She must have been beyond exhausted. I don't understand why the heck the coaches would want to do this to themselves, much less their athletes.

We will have a couple of meets that will be on the farther end of the scale, but no fly meets at our gym for anyone under L8. Our longest drive will be 5 hours, which is bad enough! My DS will have one back-to-back meet, but I don't think DD will have any. The exciting part for us is that two of the meet weekends have meets for both kids, going, of course, in opposite directions. I will go with the one who needs the bun, as DH's bun-making skills have been rated "unacceptable."

 

[jen1957]

My DD is Level 4. She has 5 meets plus State, no more than 2 meets in one month.