What's your best guess at what next season will look like?

[MzPolarbear]

We are in CO and we have no idea...our coaches believe will have our Compulsory season in the spring when Optionals/Xcel/Boys compete. There is no word yet from anyone official. Our optional girls have been told that there will be no out of state travel meets this year. It is really just a wait and see game..

 

[kendo348]

Doing it by video is a good idea, if each gym has equally quality recording equipment and sufficient lighting. I think that could be especially useful for the upper levels who need to compete on more of a national level!

I heard our state is considering organizing meets with only one team coming in at a time, everyone getting their routines done in less than an hour or so, and then vacate the gym for cleaning and to rotate the next team through. I think that might work for local meets. It would be difficult to help really young girls to grow in the area of competition experience without ever doing their routines somewhere that’s not their home gym, so I like the idea of still letting them compete in new environments in front of judges (even if there are no spectators or other teams.)

 

[wandrewsjr]

There are definitely people working on this. The filming set-up could be rented or sold to gyms similar to electronic scoring equipment.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

There are definitely people working on this. The filming set-up could be rented or sold to gyms similar to electronic scoring equipment.

several gyms are already struggling financially. I don’t know how realistic it is to ask them to buy or rent equipment just for competition.

 

[skschlag]

several gyms are already struggling financially. I don’t know how realistic it is to ask them to buy or rent equipment just for competition.

I imagine this would be a part of the meet fees.....but not sure how that would work out.

 

[wandrewsjr]

several gyms are already struggling financially. I don’t know how realistic it is to ask them to buy or rent equipment just for competition.

They would collect entrance fees from the gymnasts competing to cover hosting costs, just like regular meets.

 

[LJL07]

Hey, is anyone talking about setting up meets so that athletes are competing from home, either by streaming to judges or uploading videos? I know it wouldn't be the same, but with good tech support, it would be possible to design a meet to run as a remote event.

-- gymnasts all compete in their home gyms
-- each routine is videoed or streamed to the judges for evaluation
--- judges score the routines as usual

Such a format would require formidable technical organization, but it would have a lot of advantages:

-- no bringing together people from a variety of places, reducing the possibility of sparking outbreaks in places that don't have them
-- each gym can manage spectators; no need to have arguments at the host gym and worry about how to create a safe venue in terms of spectator seating and density
-- no higher risk to vulnerable coaches and judges through exposure beyond what they would normally experience
-- reduced risk by eliminating long-distance driving, possibly during inclement weather

I saw on Facebook that some company was offering virtual state meets. It wasn't USAG sanctioned and looked like it was mostly just for fun, but seems like it would be doable.

 

[wandrewsjr]

And gyms could be grouped into geographic districts or counties, so smaller gyms that don't have the space/equipment setup to allow competition could be group with bigger gyms. So maybe only 3 or 4 gyms total physically interact with each other during the season.

And the kids wouldn't have to all be there at the same time. The bigger gyms would just "host" the smaller gyms for competition.

 

[cmg]

Doing it by video is a good idea, if each gym has equally quality recording equipment and sufficient lighting. I think that could be especially useful for the upper levels who need to compete on more of a national level!

I heard our state is considering organizing meets with only one team coming in at a time, everyone getting their routines done in less than an hour or so, and then vacate the gym for cleaning and to rotate the next team through. I think that might work for local meets. It would be difficult to help really young girls to grow in the area of competition experience without ever doing their routines somewhere that’s not their home gym, so I like the idea of still letting them compete in new environments in front of judges (even if there are no spectators or other teams.)

I was also thinking that you could do it by age group. Especially the higher levels where sometimes there are only 10-15 kids if that in a certain age group. This would be harder for compulsory Levels, and it spreads the meet out possible over the entire weekend, but it is doable. If each age group say had 12 girls, there could be 12 coaches = 24 plus one parent/family member for each gymnasts = 36, plus judges two per event plus head judge = 45, plus maybe 5 or less host team members, that is 50 people spread out through out the meet space. Now you could only have one judge, and you could not let parents watch which would really reduce the numbers. I think there are a lot ways to skin this cat and hopefully meet organizers will be creative with their safety measures.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

I was also thinking that you could do it by age group. Especially the higher levels where sometimes there are only 10-15 kids if that in a certain age group. This would be harder for compulsory Levels, and it spreads the meet out possible over the entire weekend, but it is doable. If each age group say had 12 girls, there could be 12 coaches = 24 plus one parent/family member for each gymnasts = 36, plus judges two per event plus head judge = 45, plus maybe 5 or less host team members, that is 50 people spread out through out the meet space. Now you could only have one judge, and you could not let parents watch which would really reduce the numbers. I think there are a lot ways to skin this cat and hopefully meet organizers will be creative with their safety measures.

Can they not just test judges and as long as they test negative, can they not sit together? I know a lot of professional sports teams are requiring testing.

 

[gymmomtotwo]

I like the idea of dual meets with another club. Maybe do one level at a time, clean in between, and live stream it for the parents. Could be fun and exciting for the kids.

 

[RTT2]

I like the idea of dual meets with another club. Maybe do one level at a time, clean in between, and live stream it for the parents. Could be fun and exciting for the kids.

This is what I think is the most likely scenario at this point for our area. I’m guessing we’ll start with just in-house meets, then have several meets just against another local gym. I suspect they will bring in judges for those meets to make it feel like a real season.

 

[Flicfliclay]

Why not still have meets, but add a day or two in order to have less sessions in a day. Obviously it would cost more, but at least the kids could still compete in a venue that is larger. There would be plenty of room for parents to spread out too. I feel more comfortable i a larger venue with room to spread out.

 

[mommyof1]

Why not still have meets, but add a day or two in order to have less sessions in a day. Obviously it would cost more, but at least the kids could still compete in a venue that is larger. There would be plenty of room for parents to spread out too. I feel more comfortable i a larger venue with room to spread out.

I wouldn’t want meets to add sessions—I already resent being expected to take off of work and pull my kid out of school to compete on a Friday, or having her compete on a Sunday evening when she has school the next day. I would rather just see smaller meets, which will probably happen naturally anyway.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

Texas is going ahead with a fall season. I will be so curious to see what it looks like. Because I could always be wrong, but I don't see anyone rolling out any special methods here, unless things get so very bad that our Governer bans gatherings...

I do agree that much smaller, local meets will probably happen naturally.

 

[Flicfliclay]

I wouldn’t want meets to add sessions—I already resent being expected to take off of work and pull my kid out of school to compete on a Friday, or having her compete on a Sunday evening when she has school the next day. I would rather just see smaller meets, which will probably happen naturally anyway.

I can understand that, i guess we have been to plenty of meets that already have Thursday and Mondays added into the mix, so that doesn't really bother me. I also don't mind mine missing a few extra days here and there as she is able to keep up just fine. Even more so now because i see how long it took her to do all the work ( from school shutting down during the pandemic ) and it wasn't that difficult. I found that there is a ton of wasted time at brick and mortar school.

 

[mommyof1]

I can understand that, i guess we have been to plenty of meets that already have Thursday and Mondays added into the mix, so that doesn't really bother me. I also don't mind mine missing a few extra days here and there as she is able to keep up just fine. Even more so now because i see how long it took her to do all the work ( from school shutting down during the pandemic ) and it wasn't that difficult. I found that there is a ton of wasted time at brick and mortar school.

My kid is entering ninth grade in a school with block scheduling. This means that one day of missed school equals nearly two hours' missed instruction in half of her subjects. Even factoring in wasted class time, that's a lot of material to catch up on in a high school class, especially in a subject like math (precalculus this year) where each lesson builds on what was learned in the previous lesson.

Our district also has a draconian attendance policy. Five missed class sessions in a semester or ten in a year leads to automatic failure of the course. Excused absences count against the limit. So if a kid is out sick for a week and then has a couple of weekday meets, she's at risk of failing some or all of her courses that semester.

Add to that the fact that if she goes back to gym this year, she will be a ninth-grader competing L6 (or platinum thanks to missing summer training). Her college future is in academics, not gymnastics. It just doesn't seem worth pulling her out of school for meets. Maybe once or twice a year for a well-run meet if she's having a strong season and is enjoying meets, but definitely not for a meet that's poorly run or if she's having a bad season and is not having fun at meets.

 

[Flicfliclay]

My kid is entering ninth grade in a school with block scheduling. This means that one day of missed school equals nearly two hours' missed instruction in half of her subjects. Even factoring in wasted class time, that's a lot of material to catch up on in a high school class, especially in a subject like math (precalculus this year) where each lesson builds on what was learned in the previous lesson.

Our district also has a draconian attendance policy. Five missed class sessions in a semester or ten in a year leads to automatic failure of the course. Excused absences count against the limit. So if a kid is out sick for a week and then has a couple of weekday meets, she's at risk of failing some or all of her courses that semester.

Add to that the fact that if she goes back to gym this year, she will be a ninth-grader competing L6 (or platinum thanks to missing summer training). Her college future is in academics, not gymnastics. It just doesn't seem worth pulling her out of school for meets. Maybe once or twice a year for a well-run meet if she's having a strong season and is enjoying meets, but definitely not for a meet that's poorly run or if she's having a bad season and is not having fun at meets.

That makes sense for you for sure! My daughter is going into 7th grade, but as a 6th grader was taking advanced grade level course work. She has been going to gym for 20+ hours since she was in 2nd grade and so does really well with making sure homework etc is done. School is first in our house. She is a level 10 training elite and i still feel the same way with school coming first, no matter what.

I do have a high schooler as well and he takes all AP courses and was able to keep up with LOTS of extra time during quarantine, so i know that even for him there was a ton of wasted time at school.
With that being said i can understand your reasoning and also i guess you wouldn't have to do all the meets in order to keep your daughter compliant with school.

This will certainly be interesting to see what happens, i can just say i am so glad my gymnast isn't a junior or senior for some time!

 

[mommyof1]

That makes sense for you for sure! My daughter is going into 7th grade, but as a 6th grader was taking advanced grade level course work. She has been going to gym for 20+ hours since she was in 2nd grade and so does really well with making sure homework etc is done. School is first in our house. She is a level 10 training elite and i still feel the same way with school coming first, no matter what.

With an L10 seventh-grader, the cost-benefit calculation is totally different!

 

[Kegler]

I can understand that, i guess we have been to plenty of meets that already have Thursday and Mondays added into the mix, so that doesn't really bother me. I also don't mind mine missing a few extra days here and there as she is able to keep up just fine. Even more so now because i see how long it took her to do all the work ( from school shutting down during the pandemic ) and it wasn't that difficult. I found that there is a ton of wasted time at brick and mortar school.

My observation during the pandemic distance learning was that my seventh grader was asked to cover a lot less material than he would have had he been at school. I wouldn't assume that just because your child spent less time at home that there is wasted time at school. It seemed clear to me that my son was spending less time because less was being asked of him and he was clearly learning less.