Parents Out of state meets?

[Really]

Does your gym mandate that gymnasts travel to meets across the country? If so, at what level does that start? DD is in level 3, and so far "traveling" meets have been optional, but I think that changes for us in level 4 or 5, when she will be required to fly to two meets in states too far to drive to. To me that seems like too much for the compulsory levels. I could understand requiring it for levels 9 and 10. Am I missing some deep reason to mandate traveling meets at the lower levels?

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

We do regular meets "out of state" beginning at L3, however they are driving distance (4hrs). Flyaway meets do not begin until L7.

 

[thefellowsmom]

No required fly away meets until level 7. There is usually one meet a year the whole team travels and most of the team level three and above go.

At previous gym there was one required fly away meet for compulsories.

My dd is a level 9 now and we have five fly away meets this year plus two more that require overnight stays but drivable.

Hang on tight!

With all that being said, travel is really where the girls bond and the parents get to know each other. It is really fun for them and great for team bonding. I would encourage you to participate if possible.

Have a great season!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

All of the meets dd's gym goes to as compulsories are in state. The farthest is probably a 3 hours drive away. Most, if not all, of the level 7-10 meets are out of state, depending on the year. Last year I think they had one meet in state, but this year they are all out of state except for the state meet. But from what I can tell there is usually only 1 or 2 that are far enough away to require a flight. This year they are going to a meet in Texas, last year it was Colorado. The rest of the meets they go to can be driven to, although some choose to fly to Orlando as it is a 9-10 hour drive.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We are not required to incur that kind of expense. We do occasionally have a meet where air travel is necessary to get there. But its voluntary.

As we are in the NE, most of our meets are by car. Even to other states. And very few require hotel stays. Our first hotel stay of the season will be states.

 

[MILgymFAM]

We only had flyaway meets in optionals in artistic. They weren't mandatory in the strictest sense- you wouldn't be kicked off team for not going- but they were highly encouraged and you were responsible for assessment/meet fees regardless of attendance.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

We usually do 2 travel meets each year, in compulsory it was only 1 travel meet and usually somewhere within driving distance (but far enough away to get a hotel room). Optionals 2 travel meets are usually 1 where it's team travel via a bus (this year it's in Iowa, our gym is in Minnesota, so about a 4 hour bus ride) and our second travel meet this year is in Savannah, so definitely need to fly to that one. Our coaches are great about planning the travel meets as early in advance as possible, so us parents can plan accordingly and watch for cheap flights, etc...

 

[GymDad9.9]

Our gym schedules one out of state meet each year for compulsories and it is always after States. It is not mandatory and is approached by the coaches with minimal seriousness (not so for the optionals). It is usually to a major city like NYC, Chicago, Las Vegas, etc. About a third of the girls from team are making this year's trip.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Usually our compulsory and XCel silver/gold teams will only have one meet where the need to stay in a hotel is likely (~3-4 hours driving distance), besides for this, most of their meets are local enough to not require a hotel. Our 6-7's will usually have 3-4 hotel requiring meets and only a couple local meets. Our 8-10's have almost all hotel requiring meets (unless you get lucky w/ a mid-day session time and don't mind a full day of driving). Some years we will offer a meet that pretty much requires a plane ride to our optionals (6-10) and higher level XCels, but it's usually optional and families that don't want to spend the money or travel can opt out for an alternative local meet.

I will say that in my area once you get to level 7 you kind of need to drive at least 3 hours to get good competition - i.e. a meet w/ more than 1-2 age divisions for that level. Our local area has many good compulsory meets though, so really no good reason to travel for them anyways. It may not be that way for other areas though.

 

[e'smum]

this year our gym has 2 away meets. one was in Atlantis and one is in 2 weeks in NYC. last year as a 4, dd wasn't even signed up for the Atlantis one so we didn't go. this year as a 6, we opted to not go (although the 4s were allowed to go this year if they wanted to). too expensive right before Christmas for my family of 5. and i didn't want to pull my 6th grader out of school. we are going to the one in NYC but it's driving distance from us and we don't have to miss any school. last year we did one in Atlantic city and it was a 5 hour drive and coming back was horrible. we will never do that one again if they opt to go but i think enough parents felt the same way and said the same thing, so probably won't do it again. our gym doesn't force families to go to these meets. they get that it's expensive for some families.

 

[gymnastmom05]

I know our gym has "mandatory" travel meets for levels 4+ and make it optional for Level 3. That said, they also understand finances and a few girls are not going due to cost and coach is ok. While I feel that we are in an area that we could drive to many areas in 6 hours or less, it is nice to go somewhere different. After one season of staying local (within 1.5 hours), it was pretty boring attending meets. My DD was competing against the same teams, same girls, etc. The awards were more of who had an "off" day. It was almost like having a meet against your own teammates at that point. I will happily travel a little more and go to different meets each year just so the competition can change a little. I mean, you're already listening to the same music for four hours, why watch the same exact kids?! I will also add that my DD just had her first optional meet and it was pure bliss listening to different music. People that haven't had a kid go through every level of compulsories don't understand how exciting optional gymnastics is for parents : ) I can't even fathom being a coach!