Parents Travel for gym meets

[justanothergymmom]

I would love to know how other families handle gym travel. Does your gymnast travel with her family or her coaches and team? Does your entire family (parents and siblings) accompany the gymnast to local meets? What about for out of town meets~especially ones with interesting destinations?

We have 4 daughters involved in gymnastics at various levels. This is our 5th year involved in competitive gymnastics and the 1st year that we have not attended local meets together as a family. For meets with great destinations (like Orlando) I have tremendous guilt over excluding my non-competing daughters, so I tend to want to plan a short family vacation around the meet. However, I know that we will not be able to afford this expense every year.

 

[cher062]

This will be our first year with lots of travel. the really far away ones just DD and I will attend and try to do a day or two of sightseeing too - nothing wrong with just her and I doing our thing. For the more closer meets (3-4 hour drive or less) Hubby will come too.

As for siblings we have a son who is now 18 but we always gave both kids the option of attending or not to meets in the state or within a reasonable driving distance. DD always wanted to go to sons meets (yes he was a gymnast too for several years) Most we let her come to but some we said it was too expensive to take everyone.

Usually I was the parent that would go as I worked out of the house with my own business and could take the time if I needed to and Hubby had to work.

It was hard when they both had meets on the same days at opposite ends of the state. That was when we would split up.

As for costs. Start saving your money with 4 in gymnastics!!! I know with 2 in gymnastics it was very expensive and the grandparents chipped in for tuition, privates and equipment like grips. Couldn't have done it othewise.

I know too that a "real vacation" hasn't been seen here in a long while. We do weekend camping in the summer which isn't that expensive but no realy vacations like disney for a week as our "extra" money now goes to gymnastics and college. It definitly is a lifestyle for everyone.

 

[my4buffaloes]

So far the farthest we have had to travel is 3 hours and the timing was perfect for it to be a day trip. We try to avoid hotels as much as possible. My daughter has food allergies and the less frequently we have to eat away from home the better. We have decided this year that it isn't fair for our other kids (we have 4) to miss their activities just because my daughter has a meet. We try to all go if we can though to the close ones and if the timing were such that we would need a hotel then we would probably all go and try to make it fun for everyone.
Jennifer

 

[MaryA]

Like "Buffalos," we never travel more than 3 hours away. That said, this year there are 8 meets (not counting sectionals, etc.) and 7 of them are 2.5-3 hours away and end up being 12-15 hour days. My daughters are twins (one in gymnastics and one not) and I don't feel like it's fair to make Tory go to every one of Kathy's meets. I especially don't want Tory to have to miss her Saturday morning ballet class (missing her "thing" in order to attend her sister's "thing"). Luckily we have family in town. What we have worked out is that my aunt and I go to every meet. My husband and my mom alternate going to the meet or staying home with Tory. Tory came to Kathy's first meet of the season and will also go to the last meet of the season (it's on their birthday so I made reservations to stay over at a hotel with an indoor pool and such). We'll figure out sectionals (dare I hope for States?) when/if they happen. It's definitely a juggling act and this is for a fairly low-key YMCA team. I can't imagine what it would be like if we were flying to meets.

 

[B Gymnast]

We have one out of state meet every year and me and my mom go and leave my dad and brother at home For meets that are closer (like state), my mom, dad, and I all go and leave my brother

 

[Megley]

I'm going to Orlando this year with just my gymnast dd. I do feel a little guilty about it, but we cannot afford to have the entire family go on the trip. It's really all we can do to afford plane fare and hotel for the two of us. I know my other two children are disappointed but I'm hoping to make it up to them by doing something special with them.

 

[lhmom]

We have had several out of town meets. So far, we've taken our son to two meets (3 hrs away) and my husband stayed at home with him during the other (4+ hrs). We have another coming up next month that's even further and I think we have decided that my husband will stay home with him. As much as my husband wants to go, sometimes the long trips are very difficult for my son (he has some behavioral/ADHD issues-changes in schedule can make things tough). So DD and I will be having another "girls weekend" while my husband and son will have a "guys weekend". I can't believe that you have 4 in the gym! Whew!

 

[lilgymmie7]

DD will finally get to compete this year, so we will see how things go this year. Her older brother wrestles and goes to far away meets with Dad. DS likes it when he goes with my husband and his Grandpa.
This year, DD's team has two far away meets with one being at Disney. It would be neat to go, but as a level 5, I don't see the point. She will not travel that far until and if she reaches optionals. Then she will need to see the competition. Level 5 and 6 should be somewhat local. The farthest she will travel is to Michigan for the Twistars meet. This will be her first meet and it is on her 7th birthday. Dad wants to be sure to make it, but things are never easy. DS has an elite wrestling competition to go to that his own gym is hosting, so he has to attend. Not like we could force him not to go. Like another poster stated, it isn't fair to make siblings miss out on doing their own 'thing' just because DD does gymnastics. Both competitions are a day apart, so we only have to figure out how to get DS to practice and weigh-ins on the same day DD competes. I think Grand parents will come to the rescue though!

 

[maddiemei]

This is our first year competing and we have two upcoming travel meets. Most of our meets are an hour or so away from our house, but these 2 meets will be about 3-4 hours away. The first one is in Hilton Head and we compete on Friday. I hate my DD's (1 competing and 1 non competing, but both in 1st grade) will miss school that day. We had thought about making it a family vacation, but will actually just go down Thursday after school and come back Friday after she competes. That way my other DD won't miss her basketball game.

The next one will be in Savannah. Hopefully we won't be on Friday. I do plan on making a vacation of that one. My DH works every Saturday, so my aunt is going down with us.

For the first meet, we will probably carpool with a couple of the other parents we are really good friends with. That way our kids will have someone to talk to. Our gym is hosting the out of town meets, so our coaches go down earlier.

 

[emandelsmom]

We travel to most-within 3 or 4 hours. With 2 girls, we usually spend the night. I suggest you join a rewards program from a hotel or use hotels.com. You book ten nights you get one free. My kids are great travelers at this point. We enjoy the away meets. They are nicer and at convention centers.

 

[3rd_time_around]

Well, I have 6 kids and no money!! So I usually attend dds meets alone. Dad has been to 3 meets in 5 years because just the entry fees alone are too much for us to take extra people. (I don't understand why we have to pay to enter our daughter in the meet and then have to pay to go in and watch her. I think one parent should get in free--but that's another topic). For away meets, I go with her alone, but the really far ones that require plane travel, I have/will send her with her coach without me. They went to Los Angeles (other coast), and I just sent her with the coach.

It would be nice to take the whole family, but gas, food, hotel (most don't let you have more than 4 in a room), and meet entry fees times 7=broke!! More than broke!! Sacrifices have to be made, that is reality. It stinks! So during meet season (1 daughter AAU, 1 daughter USA) I am usually gone every weekend at one of their meets from January to April. The other kids spend a lot of time with Dad and big brother.

 

[cathiann]

We tend to center any family vacation around where the travel meet(s) might be! That said--this coming season we can't afford to take the whole family, so it will be just Beth and me going to Chicago and Florida. At local meets, DH and I both try to go--but with my older daughter in HS gymnastics and my youngest in swim team, they frequently have things the same weekend, so we have to split up! (plus I work every other weekend, so can't always make meets anyway).

At our gym, the gymnasts travel with the parent(s) or the parent can make arrangements for them to go with another family. There is only one meet where the gymnasts go with the coaches (and that's for levels 9 & 10 only)--parents can still go and watch, but the gymnasts travel with the coaches.

 

[flipper's fan]

Just one dd, so dh and I try to go to all the local meets. If needed, we do stay overnight at times when travel is over two hours and meet is early or late. There has only been one big travel meet per year, and I have gone as dh has not been able to get off work. This year, he was going to be able to go to Orlando with us, but our gym pulled out of the meet.

 

[Bajanswife]

We have to fly to every meet, so it expensive and time-consuming no matter what. So, it's only been me accompanying my DD to meets so far. I would love to bring her 2 siblings and my DH, but it costs too much. Plus, most meets are during the school term, so it's hard to make a holiday out of the trip. The exception is one this coming March, which does occur during vacation - I may take my other DD along for fun. DS may get to go away with DH later in the year for a fishing holiday, so he won't miss out on the chance to travel.

 

[Monkeygirlsmom]

well the farthest is an hour away! but we do end up getting a hotel for that one since Well they have to be there no later than 8 am and with 3 kids and 1 being a 2 year old its too much work and I want the girls to get as much sleep the night before a meet as they can get!

 

[Ingwe]

All of the meets we attend require a hotel stay. We do two out of state meets and the in state ones are anywhere from 3 to 5 hours away.

I have two other children who are involved in travel baseball, high school baseball and travel soccer. Their schedules run the same as meet season. DH and I just divide and conquer. It's crazy from January thru April.

 

[MamaofEnS]

Unless the meet is during school, DH, DD, and myself all attend the meet. We always bring an electronic video game for DD to play during the meet. This year we have one meet that we need to fly to, so that will be just me and DD. However, my youngest DD also does cheerleading, so the gymnast (and DH) also goes to all of her performances.