Women Meet Question

[Lynn]

Hi! I am new here and just learning to navigate the page, so I apologize if my question has already been asked and discussed previously.

I'm wondering if someone could explain to me what Flight A and Flight B mean at a meet when the teams are all starting at the same time. Are both flights competing together or do they just compete within a flight? Meaning are these girls competing against each other?

Thank you so much in advance for any info you can provide. I'm trying really hard to catch on to all this meet stuff.

 

[gothgymmom]

different gyms/rooms at same location...just had that last month at the stars and stripes in erie pa..confused me at first but i got it

 

[gothgymmom]

example...level 3 flight red level 4 flight blue...2 different rooms, same time, same location. competing against other level 3 for the red flight...level 4 competes against level 4 in blue flight. got it?

 

[Lynn]

Thanks! My dd and her cousin are competing at the same time just different flights and we are trying to figure out if they are actually going up against each other or not.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I was wondering the same thing. My dd has a meet next weekend, and it says there are 66 gymnasts in her level, broken up into 2 flights. I was told they will just be broken up and doing different apparatuses at the same time, to speed things along. They told me dd will technically be competing against all 66 girls, but awards are meted out based on age divisions. All the girls from one age division are not in the same flight. I am thinking I am going to continue to be confused until the meet is over. Lol

 

[kandkfunk]

If they are in the same session, but different flights it generally means they are competing against one another. If they are in two different sessions, even if competing at the same time, then they probably aren't competing against each other.

Also, flights don't have to be separated in different gyms. In our area, there are generally two flights per session, all competing in the same physical gym. If there are 2 sets of equipment, one set is usually for flight A and the other for flight B.

 

[MeetDirector]

The designation of "flights" is a meet organization tool, not an awards tool. With flights there are usually two sets of equipment in each gym within the meet. Flight A will do thier timed warm-up on the set of equipment they will compete on. Then flight A will begin to compete. While Flight A is competing, Flight B will be doing thier timed warm-up on the other set of equipment. When Flight A is done, the judges will turn around (or move) to the flight B equipment and flight B will compete. At that time another squad will begin to warm-up on the flight A equipment. This goes on until everyone has competed. Since there is only one floor in this arrangement, the girls will alternate thier warm-ups and will go in sequence. It looks like madness, but they figure it out pretty quickly.

As for awards, if they are in the same session AND the same gym (if there is more than one gym) they will be competing against each other for awards. Look at it this way, whoever is being judged by the same group of judges is competing against each other.

 

[EastCoastGymMom]

Exactly what kandkfunk said for us too. A different flight doesn't mean a different session or that the girls aren't competing against each other. Sometimes there are just two groups for every rotation (eight groups instead of four, they take turns competing). It is very confusing!

 

[Lynn]

Thank you all so very much! I am feeling settled with this. The girls aren't at the same gym but same level and same session so I was very confused!! Thanks again!

 

[MeetDirector]

I think I may have confused you. When I used the term "gym" in my answer above Imwas referring to a set of equipment at the meet. Each "gym" at a meet is a complete set of equipment (floor, bars, beam, vault). So if they are in the same session and are being judged by the same set of judges and are in the same age division, they will be competing against each other.

 

[profmom]

What "flights" means to me is, "This meet will never, ever, ever, ever end, and when it ends, I should expect the awards to take longer than the meet."

 

[luvmygymdtr]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that the same set of judges have to judge the girls that are competing against one another. If I see the judges move from one gym to another than I assume my daughter is competing against that group as well. If it's a different set of judges on the other side of the gym than I assume otherwise.

 

[wgymmom]

At states, we had 2 sets of equipment, and one flight would be on floor A, while the other flight would be warming up on the other floor. The judges just moved tables.

 

[IreneKa]

I've never seen two sets of judges. They just move from one set of equipment to another.

 

[emilykatherine]

Flight A is the first group to compete, so if your in flight A you start warm ups after you stretch while the flight B kids are still stretching, flight B starts warming up once the flight A kids start to compete. As for judges they have the same judges for each flight they just change sets of equipment when the next flight starts to compete or when the other is done

 

[gothgymmom]

At Erie, it was one big area divided by the music table in the middle. Level 3's competed Flight Red which was the other side while my DD competed level 2 on Flight Blue on this side. Same exact times, 2 sets of judges ( 8+ per flight) on each side. The judges didnt move. They stayed on their own flights. Kind of confusing when I got there but I got the hang of it lol.

 

[flippingtogether]

What "flights" means to me is, "This meet will never, ever, ever, ever end, and when it ends, I should expect the awards to take longer than the meet."

So, so true. This happened to our Saurday night session at Meet Me in St Louis just last month. Loved that meet very much, but thought our session would NEVER end!! (Awards had an error and took FOREVER!)

 

[profmom]

At Erie, it was one big area divided by the music table in the middle. Level 3's competed Flight Red which was the other side while my DD competed level 2 on Flight Blue on this side. Same exact times, 2 sets of judges ( 8+ per flight) on each side. The judges didnt move. They stayed on their own flights. Kind of confusing when I got there but I got the hang of it lol.

This is two sessions, not two flights, no matter what they called it. Flights are two large groups of gymnasts competing in the same session, taking turns doing their routines, and being judged by the same judges.