Parents Sleep Over meets

[RileyG]

Just curious if your gym does this and how far away you travel. Are the meets you travel to big? Are they held at the host gym or at another venue?
Do all the gymnasts go to all the sessions of the meet?
Just curious how it works for others.

 

[Sixmonkeyjungle]

We do one. It's 3-4 hours away. It's at a host gym but bigger than our typical meets. Girls don't typically stay for other sessions (they span three days) but obviously could if they were motivated to. One session is plenty for us.

 

[MaryA]

Most of our meets are between 2-4 hours away, plus one travel meet per year. At the travel meet we may try to catch some of the other sessions, and at other meets we might possibly watch the session right before or right after DD's, depending on time of day and travel time. This year DD is supposed to be competing 8 (fingers crossed) and most of her best friends are repeating 7, so I expect she'll be trying to convince us to go to watch the level 7 competitions, but again, it will depend on time of the meet plus travel time. Usually we stay over if it's an early morning session or if the meet is ending late and I'm the only driver. I love being able to stay over, but it gets expensive pretty quick. Plus Monday morning rolls around and you feel like you need another weekend to recover from your weekend.

 

[RileyG]

We do one travel meet a year that requires sleep over. We are told we HAVE to attend every session. So that means between jo and xcel 2 days. 7 other sessions give or take, besides the one my dd is in. Thats a lot of gymnastics to watch.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

We have 1 big travel meet this year! Chicago Style. We are at a new gym so I do not know if we are required to stay for other sessions or not. The meet spans an entire weekend so I can't imagine being able to attend all sessions.

 

[vagymmomma]

Differs between optionals and compulsory, but most optional meets are 2 -4 hours away with one airplane meet. The longer driving distances is to get the girls to see competition they would at regionals. I must admit that I consider hotels for even supposed "local" meets with an hour or more travel and an early start. But I'm directionally challenged and know my limitations.

 

[thefellowsmom]

We do two airplane travel meets per year, one it required and one is optional. The rest tend to be local as there are several really nice larger meets here and then they mix in smaller local ones as well. Some years there may be a hotel stay long drive meet and some years not, just depends.

When we travel it is not required to attend all the sessions. Depending on where the meet is in relation to the hotel will influence how much gymnastics we watch. Our travel meet this year is in the hotel we are staying at so we plan on buying weekend passes so we can come and go as we please and watch between activities.

We try to make travel a bonding experience for the girls. There is usually at least one planned group activity and/or meal and our coach is big on experiencing the city that we travel to. He wants the girls to use gymnastics to increase their opportunities in life and experience things they may otherwise not.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Our gym has one optional travel meet for all gymnasts, and a team travel meet for national, pre national and L9s. You are not obligated to go to all sessions, though girls end up at the sessions of their friends, etc. The team travel meet is a first I think and the girls will travel with coaches only, so I expect they will be at all sessions our girls are at. They will fly.

Many of our "local" meets are 1-2 hrs away, so depending on the session time start, and the relative location to Toronto (ie on the other side for an 8am start would be killer on a weekday) we consider hotels. I expect to be in a hotel room up to a half dozen times this year for meets, and flying at least once. Closest meets are about 3km from home.... We host a provincial qualifier and the largest invitational meet in Canada.

 

[kitkat]

Our club has a few away meets which require hotels. I remember as a figure skater going away for competitions and staying in a hotel. Some of my best memories are playing with my friends at the hotel. So much fun.
Some of our away meets are gymnasts and coaches only and some are gymnasts go with their families. I was very hesitant the first time she went away with the team. Who was going to do her hair? When will she go to bed? Will she eat properly? All those worries. But in the end it is way less stressful her going with the coaches & team rather then her parents. And honestly it was less stressful for me. She did fantastic and had a great time.

I also think its a lot of fun for the parents being able to get away and hang out in a social setting with other parents from the club.

 

[gymmiemom]

All of our meets are usually a minimum of 4 hours away, so most require a night before or night of stay depending on which session she is in.

We almost always plan on a hotel because of weather during meet season.

We have one meet that requires a flight, but it is optional. All other meets besides that one are mandatory. We don't stay at all sessions...

 

[Ex member]

We just get back from dd's first competition, it was 6 hours away so we had to stay over night, British Gymnastics had arranged a hotel that all the gymnasts who were competing both days stayed in, they held a disco in the evening and breakfast in the morning.

 

[gymmomtoo]

We typically have two travel meets a year--one is Optionals only and the other is the whole team--the whole team one is always driving distances, but typically about 4 hrs away. We try to attend other sessions and cheer the rest of her team on (and it's encouraged), but it isn't always possible. Sometimes the expense alone is too much (especially at meets that don't let the gymnasts into other sessions for free and don't have a weekend rate).

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

It's our first season, but we already know the meets will all be between 2-4hrs drive (in great weather, probably quite a bit longer in winter...) away. Depending on what session my gymmie is competing, we will probably have to get a hotel room before most meets. She's competing new L4 and from what the more experienced gym parents tell me, the lower levels are usually earlier in the day. I'll be able to plan more as I find the actual meet times and schedules online, if we don't have to spend the night we won't. There are two meets in smaller towns that I'm not even sure they have hotels.... Never been there.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

For invitationals, we do 2 local (within an hour), 2 driving distance (2-4 hrs) and 2 travel (flights). For our travel meets, we are expected to all other sessions that teammates are competing in. Our optionals (especially 9/10s) are an exceptionally tight group of families and we usually all attend all other sessions for all meets. Even if sometimes the parents cannot stay, girls will arrange on their own, to go with another family. The girls also attend sessions for compulsory levels if they don't conflict with our practice schedule. We watch ALOT of gymnastics, lol. For States, Regionals, Nationals, non-competing team members also travel to watch the others if at all possible (not required).

The travel meets are big and held at other venues (not at host gym).

 

[Bajanswife]

Our coach wants the girls to watch each other, but within reason. e.g. if a gymnast is competing at a late session, she doesn't want them at the venue all day long watching others, she'd prefer if they get some rest time at the hotel. She encourages gymnasts to watch as much as possible after they have competed.