WAG Meet Schedule and times

[curlymomof3]

Thank you eveyone for the feedback!! I honestly didn't know that it was such a big deal to call the gym about meet times, but now it makes sense. Thanks for teaching me a little gym etiquette Our gym has gone through lots of changes lately and our coaches are young so I didn't know if it was something they were doing wrong. Good to know other gyms have to same issue. With 3 kids, juggling sports schedules and childcare can be a little tricky if you don't get much advance notice for meets but I guess I should be grateful that we don't have to travel out of state yet! Just curious though, does the HC usually call the hosting gym to get the times or do they just wait for them to send the info?

So glad I have all of you to educate me on this stuff. I sometimes (actually quite frequently) wonder what we have gotten ourselves into with this crazy sport!!

 

[kayjaybe]

We have the schedule of the weekends of all our meets (except, perhaps, one invitational) now for the season (meets from Nov-April). We won't find out which day we compete and what time until much closer to the meet...sometimes as late as a few days before the meet.

We are lucky that at our level (dd is competing level 6 this year) all of our meets are within about a 1-hour drive except States, which I think will be in the Pittsburgh area and thus 5 hours away.

For those that need to travel 4-8 hours for every meet, is that because your dd is at such a high level or are there just no other gyms in the area? I think most of our meets even through level 10 are in our same area, although the higher levels might do an invitational farther away. I think the level 9's went to Florida last year. (we are in PA)

And yes, our gym owner gave everyone a stern warning to NOT call the host gym about times. He says as soon as the gyms are certain, they send out the info and he, in turn, sends it out as soon as he gets it. So calling the host gym will only get you the info 30 minutes early (if you happen to luck out when you call), but will mostly just tick off the gym.

 

[wallinbl]

Thank you eveyone for the feedback!! I honestly didn't know that it was such a big deal to call the gym about meet times, but now it makes sense.

Around here, compulsory meets have 800-1000 girls (all levels combined). If 10% of parents call, that's 100 phone calls.

 

[curlymomof3]

Got it!! I will never, ever call a gym and ask about meet times (repeat to self 100 times) And for the record, I was not the parent that called.

 

[gymgal]

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For those that need to travel 4-8 hours for every meet, is that because your dd is at such a high level or are there just no other gyms in the area?
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Dds gym prefers to go to the larger meets to give the girls that kind of experience. We don't have any huge meets in our state so we travel. Meets like ozone, tiger paw, Atlanta crown. This year we have a mix of small and large meets, which is nice for the girls.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha.....i love this subject matter. lolololololololololololololo.

 

[clark222]

For those that need to travel 4-8 hours for every meet, is that because your dd is at such a high level or are there just no other gyms in the area?

We are in the latter category. The next closest gym with a competing team is 4 hours away. We are 6 hours from a big enough cluster of gyms to hold meets. Things I wish I knew before agreeing to dd participating in this sport.....

 

[Quadqueen]

We are in the latter category. The next closest gym with a competing team is 4 hours away. We are 6 hours from a big enough cluster of gyms to hold meets. Things I wish I knew before agreeing to dd participating in this sport.....

wow, that's insane....

 

[skschlag]

We are running into some of this with our state meet this year. It is being held in a ski resort town (destination resort) over spring break! We will have no idea which sessions, or days our kids will compete on, so we have to book from Fri- sun at least. We have to book now while the prices are still only around $140 a night, because the price will most likely go up. SOme places allow cancellations, but many don't. I think we are just goign to make it a mini-vacay.

Of course, it is really nice to have the state meet somewhere other than "the big city!" We will just ski for a day after the meet

 

[cbifoja]

This is the first time I've been tempted to call a gym but even still, I know better. But I have a professional conference in November on the same weekend that Bella has a meet. If her session is on Saturday, I can only attend Friday night but if her session is on Sunday, then I can attend the entire thing. It really is going to be embarrassing to have to tell my principal the WEEK OF the conference which it is....but c'est la vie.

 

[gymgal]

This is the first time I've been tempted to call a gym but even still, I know better. But I have a professional conference in November on the same weekend that Bella has a meet. If her session is on Saturday, I can only attend Friday night but if her session is on Sunday, then I can attend the entire thing. It really is going to be embarrassing to have to tell my principal the WEEK OF the conference which it is....but c'est la vie.

i would just be up front about it right now. Tell him/her that you have a conflict that weekend and that you are hoping it all works out but you won't know until the week before. Or... have someone else bring your dd. We have brought other gymnasts with us when their parents had conflicts. It's not optimal but it works in a pinch.

 

[cbifoja]

i would just be up front about it right now. Tell him/her that you have a conflict that weekend and that you are hoping it all works out but you won't know until the week before. Or... have someone else bring your dd. We have brought other gymnasts with us when their parents had conflicts. It's not optimal but it works in a pinch.

I have told her about the possible conflict. My principal is a wonderful dear woman and just said to let her know as soon as I find something out. She understands about Bella's "special needs" with scheduling. LOL She's a big advocate for children being involved in sporting events so is very understanding.

 

[Natasha]

Most of the larger meets we attend (i.e. Tiger Paw) will list on their website when the schedule will be available and they post it on their site that day. The smaller meets e-mail it to the participating gyms as soon as they have it. Many of the larger meets post it up to 4 weeks ahead of time. The smaller meets usually have it out 1-2 weeks beforehand.
And yes, we hate it when parents call. I even had a parent ask me last week when her daughter's level will compete for our home meet and the registration for the meet isn't even due until mid November.

 

[Muddlethru]

Talking about last minute, it is third week in October and our gym has not given us our meet schedule for the season. It would be nice to know which meets we will be competing so we can block off those weekends.

Also, since my daughter was a level 5, she is now L9, we've had to fly to all her state meets. By the time the meet schedule is posted, usually about 2 weeks before the meet, airfare is through the roof. We've had to pay close to $1,000 every time my daughter goes to a state championship. I understand the state wants to give gymnasts the opportunity to qualify up to the last minute. But it can be very aggravating to have to pay over $300/person, when we could have paid only $100 to fly upstate.

so, to answer the OP, it seems to be standard practice and almost inevitable to find out meet times close to the meet date.

 

[Bajanswife]

wow, that's insane....

LOL try being the only competing gym in the entire country! We fly overseas (passport required) for every single meet except for our home meet, which we had for the very first time in April this year. Obviously we can't compete very often. And travel arrangements are always a challenge. Luckily our coach has good relationships with some of the meet directors and they do help us with travel conflicts by scheduling us appropriately. Because of costs we sometimes only have 1 coach travelling with the team, so we have to ensure that our team isn't split up in such a way that our coach can't cover everyone. It's not easy, but we don't have a choice.

 

[Muddlethru]

LOL try being the only competing gym in the entire country! We fly overseas (passport required) for every single meet except for our home meet, which we had for the very first time in April this year. Obviously we can't compete very often. And travel arrangements are always a challenge. Luckily our coach has good relationships with some of the meet directors and they do help us with travel conflicts by scheduling us appropriately. Because of costs we sometimes only have 1 coach travelling with the team, so we have to ensure that our team isn't split up in such a way that our coach can't cover everyone. It's not easy, but we don't have a choice.

I am just curious, what level are these kids that have to travel abroad to compete? Gymnastics has so many advantages in children's development, both mentally and physically, but if I had to spend over $1,000 for every meet, I may try to talk my daughter into a different sport. I worry about the $1,000 we spent to compete at the L8 states championship and another for L8 regionals, I don't know if I want to afford that for every meet. Sorry to hear it is that difficult for your country to find meets. Hopefully, it changes.

 

[Bajanswife]

I am just curious, what level are these kids that have to travel abroad to compete? Gymnastics has so many advantages in children's development, both mentally and physically, but if I had to spend over $1,000 for every meet, I may try to talk my daughter into a different sport. I worry about the $1,000 we spent to compete at the L8 states championship and another for L8 regionals, I don't know if I want to afford that for every meet. Sorry to hear it is that difficult for your country to find meets. Hopefully, it changes.

We usually take levels 3 - 7 to the US, and level 1 and 2 may also get to go to regional meets where it's usually less expensive (only 1 flight, and we only need to be there 2 nights max vs 3 or 4). We don't have any levels 8 and up at the moment. Yes it's expensive - I use airmiles as much as I can (we earn them from credit cards that include my husband's business expenses). We only travel to 3 meets max as a team, and most of us only do 2 of those 3. Competition is a big deal for us because we don't get to do it often. But the US meets are great to do once a year because we have a chance to do some shopping, eat at some of the US restaurants that we like etc. i.e. it's a mini holiday. I like going to a fall US meet because I do all my Christmas shopping there! Our island is tiny (14 by 21 miles) so obviously the stores are limited in their selection and prices are higher on many items due to shipping and customs duties. We really look forward to these long weekend trips once or twice a year.

 

[LoriLou]

We've had our meet schedule for about a month, but it is pretty vague. I just know the weekends that the meets fall on. I don't know times or even actual days. I think it is pretty standard.

 

[Muddlethru]

We usually take levels 3 - 7 to the US, and level 1 and 2 may also get to go to regional meets where it's usually less expensive (only 1 flight, and we only need to be there 2 nights max vs 3 or 4). We don't have any levels 8 and up at the moment. Yes it's expensive - I use airmiles as much as I can (we earn them from credit cards that include my husband's business expenses). We only travel to 3 meets max as a team, and most of us only do 2 of those 3. Competition is a big deal for us because we don't get to do it often. But the US meets are great to do once a year because we have a chance to do some shopping, eat at some of the US restaurants that we like etc. i.e. it's a mini holiday. I like going to a fall US meet because I do all my Christmas shopping there! Our island is tiny (14 by 21 miles) so obviously the stores are limited in their selection and prices are higher on many items due to shipping and customs duties. We really look forward to these long weekend trips once or twice a year.

Well bajanswife, when you put it that way, it actually sounds lovely. I would probably do the same. I hope your daughter has a great gymnastics season and that you get to go to the US in the fall. We in the US take many things for granted. But I am sure the place you live has its own beauty and rewards.