WAG How many trophies...

[Jard.the.gymnast]

How many trophies do your meets usually hand out? How many kids get nothing?

Asking because of older threads, it seems like a ridiculous amount of kins get something.

For me it is top 3 if the group is small and about 10 kids will get nothing. top 4 if it is big. Big meaning more than 20 kids. No event medals, you only get those at event finals at states.

And we don't really get trophies, just medals...

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

Here, it has so far worked like this in my very large city, at the lower levels, where there are tons of girls:

Most meets run Saturday and Sunday.
Each day has 3 sessions that are 3ish hours long (often Saturday has 4 and Sunday has less)
Each session has about 6 age groups (some have had 4 or 5)
Each age group has between 7 and 25 kids, with 14-18 seeming pretty average.

They give a trophy to the all around winner in each age group. So very roughly 36 trophies over 400-500 gymnasts. We have been in smaller meets, but the age groups are roughly the same so maybe only 4 sessions - 24 trophies for 320 gymnasts.

The medals are insane though. They give out medals to 50%+1 for each event. So in an age group with 14 girls, the top 8 will get medals in each event, and then all 14 will be called for an all around medal. Since they are giving out awards for the whole session at once, 4-6 age groups, you get to be there FOREVER.

We have been to ONE meet where they medaled all the way out on every event, and I wanted to murder someone by the end!

I wouldn't mind cutting down on the medals a bit, or at least having bigger age groups. I like when the age groups have 14-25 girls in them. We were at one meet where the age groups only had 6 girls in them and I feel like I had to qualify my statement when I told people how she did. You know she got 5th!...of 6...


But I believe this is HIGHLY variable region to region, based on the popularity of meets attended, how many girls do gymnastics in the area, how the local groups like to do things...

 

[Texasmomof3]

At most meets, there are no trophies, only medals. The gymnasts are broken up into groups of 12-20 girls, based on their ages. Each events gives a medal to the top half of the scores in the age group. With four events plus AA, each girl has the chance to take home 5 medals. It is pretty frequent that the top girls will be the same across all events, so it is not unusual for up to half the girls to end up empty-handed or with maybe 1-2 medals, while the top girls go home with 4-5.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Jard, I think the way things are done in Europe is just way different then in the US.

Personally I think that around here we give out far too many.

 

[raenndrops]

YMCA Nationals has the toughest medal breakdown of all of our meets.
For each session, the level is broken into 3 age groups. They award the top 1/3 of each age group... so 1/9th of the gymnasts in the session will medal on each event and All Around.
The rest of our season, it is top 12 in each age group awarded. Some gyms now do Child A, Child B, etc and dont go by actual ages so they can divide the girls evenly (until scratches throw it off). Some plan it so there are only 12-14 in each age group and others plan for 18.
Those that still go by ages combine young ages until there are no more than 12 (if adding the next age puts it over, they dont combine). The only way an age gets divided is if there are 24 or more in the age group - then they split it in 2 (or 3 if there are more than 40).

 

[MILgymFAM]

Most meets we’ve been to do half plus one for medals, which usually leaves a good number of girls with nothing- but that’s giving medals out to 14 or 15 places, which I find silly. I prefer the top three and done, but very few people seem to agree with me on that.

 

[BachFlyer]

In my experience it varies from meet to meet. Some of the bigger invitationals give trophies to top 1 or top 3 AA per age group, and then medals for the following placements out to 50% All give out event medals per age group, too (almost always to 50%), and then a team trophy or banner for top 3. I'm pretty sure that USAG sets this requirement for at least Regionals.

I would be fine if they did top 5 or top 3 for regular season meets. I like top 10 for States, Regionals and Nationals.

 

[Splat]

for levels 1,2 and possibly 3 they give medals to everyone for all events plus AA. For the upper levels it is half plus one once its over 4 or 5 girls. This goes for all event medals then everyone gets a medal for AA. In my area the host gym picks what they give away whether its medals or trophies. Usually the first place girl at least for AA gets a trophy some times all girls get on for AA.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Almost all the meets my dd has been to so far have had actual trophies for first AA in each age group, and occasionally for 2nd and 3rd. Medals for top 50%+1 on each event and medals for everyone for AA.

 

[gymgal]

Most meets we’ve been to do half plus one for medals, which usually leaves a good number of girls with nothing- but that’s giving medals out to 14 or 15 places, which I find silly. I prefer the top three and done, but very few people seem to agree with me on that.

completely agree. Top three and done would be great. I know the little ones like the reinforcement of their hard work but the older girls tend to not want to be publicly recognized as coming in last place - or worse yet, getting a medal for an even they didn't even compete in! yes, that happens a few times last year for dd.

I would really love to see larger age divisions too. There are some meets where there are only 3-4 girls in a division. Just combine them to make a larger division!

 

[suebee]

I think, but am not totally sure now that I think about it, that many meets dd goes to give trophies for AA (50% + 1) and medals for events (50% + 1). The trophies are often bigger for 1st and sometimes 1st-3rd, and smaller after that.

I think age groups usually have 20 kids or so.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

How many trophies do your meets usually hand out? How many kids get nothing?

Asking because of older threads, it seems like a ridiculous amount of kins get something.

For me it is top 3 if the group is small and about 10 kids will get nothing. top 4 if it is big. Big meaning more than 20 kids. No event medals, you only get those at event finals at states.

And we don't really get trophies, just medals...

This seems to be the way to do it in the Europe. We do it pretty much like this here in the Nordic countries too. We have two age groups in each compulsory level (older and younger) and TOP 3 medals and the placements 4-10 are announced and they might get something like a water bottle. In the optionals they give out medals for TOP 3 in every event and the AA. Two age groups there too if the meet is big. And those awards feel to take sooooo long. Well, maybe 10-15 minutes, but still.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

This seems to be the way to do it in the Europe. We do it pretty much like this here in the Nordic countries too. We have two age groups in each compulsory level (older and younger) and TOP 3 medals and the placements 4-10 are announced and they might get something like a water bottle. In the optionals they give out medals for TOP 3 in every event and the AA. Two age groups there too if the meet is big. And those awards feel to take sooooo long. Well, maybe 10-15 minutes, but still.

Our age groups are incorporated into the levels. But that is another story...

 

[Aussie_coach]

At our competitions trophies are usually given for 1st, 2,nd and 3rd all around in each division. But we don't split our co,ps I to lots of age divisions like they do in the US. Usually only 1-2 per level. We have had comps with 120-150 girls per division, so it is 3, get a trophy and 127-147 get nothing.

They are not usually that big, but are usually at least 30-40 kids, so at least 27-37 get no trophy. More kids leave do,ps with nothing (no medals or trophies) than with something.

 

[MILgymFAM]

More kids leave do,ps with nothing (no medals or trophies) than with something.

That’s how I feel it *should* be, personally.

 

[mommyof1]

completely agree. Top three and done would be great. I know the little ones like the reinforcement of their hard work but the older girls tend to not want to be publicly recognized as coming in last place - or worse yet, getting a medal for an even they didn't even compete in! yes, that happens a few times last year for dd.

I would really love to see larger age divisions too. There are some meets where there are only 3-4 girls in a division. Just combine them to make a larger division!

I would like to see larger age divisions that are consistent from meet to meet based on the child's age at a specified point in the season (September 1, January 1, state meet, etc.), except that groups could be combined if they were too small at a particular meet. For example, if your kid would be 10 y 2 mo at states, she would always be in the 10 y 0 mo - 10 y 3 mo group, except at smaller meets where they might need to combine that group with the 10 y 4 mo - 10 y 6 mo group.

And I would fully support medals to the top three only, even though that would mean my kid would have exactly zero medals so far because she's never placed higher than fourth.

 

[mommyof1]

I know the little ones like the reinforcement of their hard work but the older girls tend to not want to be publicly recognized as coming in last place - or worse yet, getting a medal for an even they didn't even compete in! yes, that happens a few times last year for dd.

Many of the little ones feel the same way. We had a few 8-year-olds who were very offended at one competition that placed out all the way and gave medals for scratches.

 

[sce]

The US gives out a lot of awards. Here levels are split into age groups. Then they place events and aaround. Usually at least 50% if each age group get event medals and 100% first all around. Very rarely are trophies used in my area. A few times just for 1st place All Around. Then there are also team awards.

 

[M2Abi]

We very rarely see trophies. Medals for top three in each age group, and sometimes medals to 50% plus 1. More frequently it is medals to top 3 and then ribbons to 50% plus 1. On very rare occasions I've seen medals for everyone in AA.

 

[Mamabear123]

In my state they do 50% + 1 in each event and AA. At states they did 40% in each even and AA. But... They also do "judges awards" here, which I didn't know was an odd thing until I came on CB and mentioned it. Judges awards happened at every meet except states. There are 4 "judges awards" per session. One for each event. The Judges on each event pick one girl that stood out the most to them for whatever reason. Although this makes the awards longer, it's always fun to hear the different things that stood out to judges.