Level 1 2 3 Meet

[pinklemonadeliz]

Our Parent Association is planning to host a level 1/2/3 (pre-team) meet as a fundraiser toward the end of summer. We are planning to invite 6-8 other gyms and let the girls all have fun & learn about what a meet is like.

My questions for anyone that has done such a meet are:

How do we score these meets? (are there actual score sheets for our "judges" to use?)
Do these meets run pretty much the same as a level 4+ meet?
We want to do medals, but aren't sure about how these levels work - should we give out event/place medals or just AA medals to everyone?

Any advice from someone w/ experience in this area would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks!
- Liz

 

[Quadqueen]

As far as scoring/judging, yes, there are score sheets for the judges to use. although levels 1 and 2 are less common, all three of these levels have predetermined skills that are judged.

You can do whatever you want in terms of medals, as far as how far down the placements you want to go. maybe you want to give everyone a "participation" ribbon or medal, and then medals up to so many places, so no one walks away empty handed.

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

Thank you, KateR - I wasn't sure exactly how they worked as I've only been to meets for levels 4 & up. Our head coach suggested we do this as a fundraiser & I'm clueless. Guess we'll just run it like any other meet & it should be fine.

Thanks again!!!

 

[Deanna]

I agree with KateR. My DD competed L2 last season 2010-2011. And EVERY gym handled the placements differently.

DDs gym..they broke all the levels up by age groups. (L2 and L3..do not compete L1). Approx 12ish girls in each group. So it was broke down something like...L2 Age 5/6...L2 Age 7. L3 5A, L3 5B...ect. However they had to break it down to get aprox same amount of girls in each "group".
They gave everyone placement ribbons for each event..and a placement (top 3) or participation trophy for AA.

Different gyms will break them down into different "groups". Some will give everyone medals for each event. Some will give medals to the top three then ribbons for anything out. Some will give participation trophies to all..some just to the top three.
All in all..Dd never went to a meet last year where she left without something.

And let's not forget the goody bags. Sometimes they are more excited about what they get in those..lol

Bottom line is..you do what fits your budget..ect. Each meet you host is a learning experience. You are always learning new and better/quicker/less expensive ways to do things. You also learn from other meets you attend.

I think at the age most the girlies are that are in L1-L3..anything they get is a big deal to them. At that age they don't really understand the difference between 1st and 12th...unless someone makes them understand it.

Best of luck. Hosting meets can be a lot of fun. But can be very hectic. Im sure all will work out just fine. Please keep us posted on how things worked out.

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

Thanks, Deanna! I like the idea of placement medals - it makes it more like the "big girls"

What we're "thinking" is...

1 level for each session (3 sessions 1 at 8, 1 at noon & 1 at 4). Dividing each session into 4 age levels & giving place medals to 1/2+1 of the participants at each session (so if we get 60 kiddos in a session, 31 will get place medals in each event) & in addition everyone will get an AA medal (much like in a L4 meet). We're also thinking of doing trophies for the top 3 teams in each session.

I agree that the goodie bags are a big draw - we are fortunate to have a mom in our parent assoc that runs a marketing company & can get us custom screen-print T's for less than 5 bucks each which, along with a hair scrunchie should be a popular gift (I hope).

We just finished our annual spring show a couple of weeks ago - which was HUGE (1 day, 2 shows, 300 tickets per show) & hopefully this will be much easier but can be run much the same way as far as setup, concessions, raffles, etc.

Thanks again & I'll keep you updated on how it's going

 

[Natasha]

I am assuming this is not a USAG sanctioned meet, but rather just a "fun" meet? Our state rules prohibit placement awards for L2 and L3. Gymnasts are given ribbons for events (color determined by score) and everyone gets an AA medal (Gold, Silver or bronze based on AA score). I love that they do achievement awards only and not placement awards at this age as they can really celebrate personal accomplishments and not focus on placement.

 

[jsfofec]

Towards the end of of summer our compulsory team has a "fun meet" with a nearby team. It's become a tradition over the past 5 or 6 years. Since there are no "real" judges, either coaches or higher level optionals judge the events. The scoring is not a number score. They use a score sheet and the scoring is things like "good work, great job, excellent" and then there's a comment section where they will write a comment on the gymnasts overall performance on that skill. They don't give out awards since there is no placement in the meet. They get t-shirts and a goody bag.

 

[GymBee97]

My old gym use to do this type of "fun meet" What they did was have an envelope for each child with all event listed and the judge put the score on the envelope. Then in the envelope a parent sitting with the judge put a ribbon in the envelope depending on the score and writed on the back of the ribbon the event and the score for example " Bars - 8.25".

So 9.0 and up received a blue ribbon, scores in the 8's received a red ribbon, scores in the 7's received a yellow ribbon, and scores under 7 received a white ribbon. This way everyone gets ribbons/awards for the meet. Ribbons are cheap even if everyone is getting them. Usually the "judges" can be judges that volunteer their time, judges in training and need experience, experienced gym owners who have a good grasp of the events and what they would score.

We don't deduct for falls or if a coach has to assist the gymnast (especially if this is the first meet for these levels) So judges are just judging the skill not deducting for the falls.

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

Thanks for all of your advice!!! This is definitely going to be a non-sanctioned meet & we really want it to be fun - I really like the idea of ribbons for everyone & we have some beautiful custom medals we can use that everyone will get also.

Another question for everyone.... What are the most popular gymnast gifts?? What types of things should I really consider putting into our goody bags? Last year was my dd's 1st season competing and out of 5 meets & 2 championships, we ended up with a water bottle, several t-shirts, a pair of flip-flops (that fell apart after 10 minutes) & a couple of leos. Out of all of them, the leos & water bottle are the ones she still uses, but I'm thinking cost on those might be a bit much for such a small meet. What things should I think of including (a t-shirt is out "go-to" backup plan).

Thanks again everyone!!

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

Our state rules prohibit placement awards for L2 and L3.

Glad to hear you are having a "fun" meet. My DD loved competing L3 a few years back. Just an FYI- not sure if tigermom and the OP are from the same state- but that rule is not true of all states.

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

Glad to hear you are having a "fun" meet. My DD loved competing L3 a few years back. Just an FYI- not sure if tigermom and the OP are from the same state- but that rule is not true of all states.

I definitely want to look into that - I don't want to end up getting in trouble from anyone! I know my kiddo would have absolutely loved to compete at L3 & it seemed to her forever until she could make that L4 team and finally get to compete. I really think that the pre-team girls (especially those L3's who are so close to being on team) will have a great time.

 

[Natasha]

We have a t-shirt design contest for our gymnasts for our home meet every year. The gymnasts all submit designs and then the BC votes on the design and the winning design is the t-shirts that we give out to all the participants. The kids love it and it results in very unique shirts for the gymnasts.

 

[Quadqueen]

t shirts are always good...and I like gymtigermom's idea!

 

[pinklemonadeliz]

I really like the shirt design contest as well!! Awesome idea!!!

 

[Natasha]

A few things we've learned along the way with the t-shirts. Limit the designs to 2 colors plus a t-shirt color, otherwise your price for printing will go way up. Also, specify if it is front of shirt only (again more expensive). We also let them know they can't use any t-shirts that are already out there- must be original idea. Our t-shirt company takes the designs and "cleans them up" as needed- so even the little ones can submit their own artwork. We have ended up with some really cute shirts.

 

[GymBee97]

if you want to do t-shirts too see if local high school/trade school might do them up. Our high school's graphic art students do stuff like this for the cost of materials - you just have to provide the shirts and pay for the silk screen supplies. Worth a call you never know how cheap it can be.