WAG Low number of gymnasts at meets

[kandkfunk]

I was talking to our gym owner today and it sounds like there are a lot fewer girls competing at meets this fall compared to the last several years. Our Compulsory meets started at the beginning of September. Each meet seems to have two sessions: 1 for level 3 and 1 for level 4/5. It looks like some of the biggest gyms in our area either aren't competing this fall or have very few girls competing and level 5 is almost nonexistent. Is anyone else seeing this? Is it possibly because teams aren't ready with the new routines?

We have both fall & spring compulsory seasons, but fall is our traditional season and almost all gyms have participated in the past. My DD is an optional, but I remember most of the big meets having multiple sessions over both weekend days when she was still a compulsory. Meets were large and well attended.

Anyone else seeing this trend?

 

[Aussie_coach]

That sort of thing is common when a new system, is introduced. It takes a while for it to go through the gym and all the levels to even out.

 

[Gym Beam]

We've been to two meets thus far and I'm not seeing this. Each meet has been two days with roughly 6 to 7 sessions for the weekend. DD's Level 3 sessions have had at least 60 girls in the session and the Level 4 sessions have had just as many.

 

[GymMom67]

Our meets have been a normal size, for the most part, but we only compete compulsory in the fall in our state, so there isn't another option. The one exception is Level 5. I know our gym had the girls score out of Level 5 and they will be competing Level 6 in the spring, and I guess other gyms around here must have done the same thing. At the meet we had this past weekend, someone was telling me that in the Level 5 session, they had very few girls, so they just had them do the rotations as one big group, instead of having all four things at once.

 

[kandkfunk]

thanks for the replies everyone. it sounds like it just might be my State. Maybe gyms aren't pushing hard because they can wait a few months and compete in the Spring. One of the biggest gyms in the state hosted a meet a couple weeks ago and that gym had a whopping 1 girl compete. This gym is regularly competing for state titles at every level, so I was a little baffled. The level 3 session at that meet only had three teams and about 40 girls. And the gym hosting our sectional meet is not even having their girls compete sectionals this fall. They are just hosting the meet.

 

[LIGYMMOM]

Our gym is competing two months later than usual because of new routines. Not ready yet!

 

[Gymnastisism]

Our gym hasn't started competing team yet either, however a lot of girls go off to states and their seems to be a reasonable amount of girls, this is in Australian though.

 

[JMACAZ]

I have seen more more girls than last year. Especially in L3.

 

[flippingtogether]

Our season started early September - our gym has already done 3 meets. Only choice is to do compulsories in the fall. It seems a couple of gyms in the state are starting their seasons a few weeks into the season instead of starting at the early meets.... But we are seeing the usual: full sessions with 2 sessions for level 2, 3 or 4 sessions for level 3, 2 or three sessions for level 4, and usually just one big session for level 5.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Our compulsory season is just starting--our gym hosted a meet this past weekend and it was larger than ever--about 15% more gymnasts registered than in the past.

 

[seoulmama]

There is a shortage of judges in region 6 so meets fill up SUPER fast-in fact, our gym was shut out of a meet we've been attending for years because it filled up so fast. The meet we host also filled in days. We're not seeing this here...maybe it's a regional thing??

 

[raenndrops]

In Ohio, the meet season begins October 11 (with a fun meet where judges will give you feedback as well as scores). Our YMCA District season starts 2 weeks later. Our team is not competing in that first meet. We want to make sure the judges have plenty of experience judging the new routines before we face them . That being said, our first meet is going to be a 2 day meet. All but two teams in the district will be there. Last year, this same meet was a 1 day, 4 session meet... but with the new routines, they want to allow for more conferences between judges, so they are moving at least 1 level to Friday evening. All we know is that it won't be the Optionals. Fingers are crossed that it will be Level 5 since our team doesn't have anyone ready for Level 5 and we have to drive the farthest to get to the meet (over 2 hours away... on a school day... 2 days after my sister has surgery... and would require a hotel stay... please don't be level 3, please don't be level 3, please don't be level 3! ).

 

[GymMom67]

Wow! Our meets are all at LEAST two days, with the occasional Friday night session as well. We have Judges Cup this weekend, and they are having three session on Friday, four session on Saturday, and three sessions on Sunday. I think this is the biggest meet we've been to in the two years since my daughter has been competing.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Most meets we go to are two days, plus the Friday if they have national level flights.

 

[wallinbl]

Meets have been same size, but scores are way down.

 

[curlygirls]

Meets are just as full here as last year. They are 2-3 days and sessions are so full they are lasting more than 3 1/2 hours long. We have also noticed that scores are significantly lower with the new compulsory routines.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Yeah, I noticed scores were pretty low at our meet. Judges said the girls just weren't getting the routines correct--forgetting things, etc.

We host our meet at a high school, so can't have competition on Friday--we packed in 4 sessions a day both days, but got done before 10 p.m. each day!

 

[Mustanggal99]

We're doing our first meet in December because the girls are just not ready... If we went they'd be getting 7s and low 8s because of forgetting, not polished, etc. we also have the opportunity for spring state and our lower levels compete AAU who's state is in spring anyway.


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[HoldThePhone]

We won't compete til spring, and I've heard a lot of gyms in our area are waiting as well. Our gym is still hosting meets in the fall, though, and I think they've been a little smaller than usual, but nothing major.