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

[RTT2]

I know the situation continues to evolve and re-openings differ from state to state, but what do you think next season might look like? Will the comp season be delayed by a few months? Could the whole competition season be cancelled and maybe kids will just train, or do you expect/hope the season will run mostly as usual?

 

[GymnastMomX2]

I expect the fall season won’t happen, and states that usually do compulsories in the fall will move to winter/spring. Although I’m not convinced yet that it will be safe soon enough to have a season then.

I’d also expect many gymnasts to repeat a level, especially optional level girls, where it’s impossible to train harder skills right now.

 

[cmg]

It also could be that there will be no travel meets, in state only? I could see meets having more sessions with fewer kids in them and only 1 family member to watch if any at all. For the upper levels this might not be an issue, but for L3 and L4 the meet could take all weekend if you limit the size participating at one time. For L9 and L10's maybe we will see more specialists this first year after quarantine? I know my daughter was hoping to move to L10 but she will probably struggle to get all the necessary skills for an AA L10. So she could repeat L9 or just do the events she can safely compete. Only time will tell. Our gym is not open yet and it will be at least another 2-4 weeks until it does depending on how our State does containing the virus.

 

[duyetanh]

I can’t even think of seasons honestly...we just want her gym to open.

 

[kendo348]

At this point all we really want is for the gym to be open for training. The ability to have small in-house meets next winter for advancement purposes only (the connotation of “scoring out” doesn’t seem to fit here!) would make us feel lucky. Real competitions with heavily limited or no spectators would be icing on the cake. I don’t dare expect more than that!

 

[wandrewsjr]

I think we are looking at 2 very different timelines. One for gyms opening for training and one for competitions like large invitationals and championship meets. Once training resumes(I think will be somewhere between May and July depending on state) it would be possible to hold small in gym competitions this season, like intrasquads, maybe 2 to 4 teams at a time, limited or no spectators, no awards ceremonies. I think this may be what we are looking at for this coming season. Large meets in outside venues(where the expense is not doable without spectators) will likely be on the same timeline as concerts and spectators at professional sporting events. I don’t think we really know when that may resume.

 

[momofsushi]

No meets, training only, even that would be gréât. Repeting level for my daughter.

 

[raenndrops]

More repeating.
Smaller meets with more sessions.
Later starting date.
Fewer overall meets.
More event specialists.
More girls opting to just train.
I could also see more movement from JO into Xcel, at least for the next season.

 

[SMH]

Our state just extended the stay at home order to the end of May. If they can go back and train sometime in June, I still can’t imagine many will be ready to compete by fall. The girls received expected fall levels/evaluations today and there are a lot more expected to repeat. We were also told our gym plans on starting the season later (we usually start in Oct, all levels)
Personally at this point I’d be happy to have my gymnast train for a year with no meets. But I can see with upper level optionals shooting for college scholarships that would be a huge disadvantage. Right now I just want her to be able to get back in the gym.

 

[duyetanh]

Our state just extended the stay at home order to the end of May. If they can go back and train sometime in June, I still can’t imagine many will be ready to compete by fall. The girls received expected fall levels/evaluations today and there are a lot more expected to repeat. We were also told our gym plans on starting the season later (we usually start in Oct, all levels)
Personally at this point I’d be happy to have my gymnast train for a year with no meets. But I can see with upper level optionals shooting for college scholarships that would be a huge disadvantage. Right now I just want her to be able to get back in the gym.

What state are you in?

 

[SMH]

What state are you in?

Illinois. A reporter asked about opening youth sports today and the governor gave a non answer that the ‘should’ be phase 2 but he doesn’t know how kids would play sports and social distance. I’m really concerned/scared gyms won’t open for months and months.

 

[Flicfliclay]

I have heard that our compulsory state meet which usually in November is going to be moved so Spring. I am not sure what I think things will look like, things are so unsettling right now. I think they should limit spectators to one or none. Which i am okay with. My daughter is younger, so i would also be fine with her just training too. She will be going level 10 as she already had the skills. What i worry most about is the poor kids that have worked so long and its either their junior or senior year and trying to get a scholarship. That is what has me unsettled because those poor kids could essentially just quit due to the uncertainty right now. Yes there are more things to life than that, but man its not fair.

 

[kendo348]

A reporter asked about opening youth sports today and the governor gave a non answer that the ‘should’ be phase 2 but he doesn’t know how kids would play sports and social distance. I’m really concerned/scared gyms won’t open for months and months.

This is my fear too. I can see the argument being “if we can’t have school then we are definitely not having sports because school is important while sports are an unnecessary risk.” But there are less people at a team practice than there are in a school. Often less than there are in just a classroom. A group of 10 kids training in a large ventilated gym vs 25 kids in an enclosed classroom and sharing hallways with a few hundred other kids all day? I know some will disagree with me, but... I’d take gym.

Plus, sports are the one thing I cannot provide for my children at home, therefore they are the thing I want reopened first. We (meaning my family; I know not everyone has this flexibility) could figure out ways to keep doing school, church, work, grocery shopping etc. from home for a very long time yet. But I cannot provide them with team sports. I don’t even care about competitions/games... just let them get back to practice!

 

[Aussie_coach]

The notion that school is important and sports are less so seems crazy to me. Physical activity is essential to for health and well being. And as you say, adequate physical development is very hard to facilitate in many homes.

 

[SMH]

The notion that school is important and sports are less so seems crazy to me. Physical activity is essential to for health and well being. And as you say, adequate physical development is very hard to facilitate in many homes.

I have a friend who works in education, placing teachers and she was told several states schools that are putting plans in place to continue ‘elearning’ into the fall. In one of the states at least (Ohio) this has been partially verified by friends who have received communication from their school district saying the same thing.
How will high school sports proceed? If you can’t attend in house schooling, then certainly things like high school football teams will be unable to continue. How far will ‘keeping the kids safe’ roll down?
I can say without a doubt that my kids mental health is improved with sports, not just their physical health. I don’t know what will happen but I’m very nervous....

 

[FlippinPrincess]

We had our stay home extended to May 15. I can't even think about the possibility of my daughter's gym not opening by June. It's too much. We've watched her experience a roller coaster of emotions throughout all of this and getting her back to the place she loves is starting to feel like more of a necessity than a privilege.

 

[merritt]

I feel like a lot of folks are missing the bigger picture. My daughter misses gymnastics terribly, but if her gym reopened next week, I would not send her back. I cannot even hazard a guess as to when I would feel okay to do so.

I have very little concern for *her* safety as children are very low risk. But given the evidence for asymptomatic spread, it seems to fly in the face of social distancing recommendations to re-open something as non-essential as gymnastics anytime soon.

 

[Tigtimes]

Realistically Not one. Who would even feel up to taking a risk to schedule anything at this point and what insurance would even extend coverage to an event. What gym would risk bringing others into their space for a meet when they don’t know how to deal with their own safety.

I’m concerned my kids college will not open in the fall, that his summer job at a camp will be gone. Can’t see our gym, if it survives, opening before end of June best case where we are. It is quite bleak where we are, my friend lost their father to it yesterday.....life will go on at some point but feel it will be a long time coming.

 

[cp13]

I have been assuming the gym could be closed for months and months. I just hope that the gyms can weather the storm and still be there after all of this. It would be heartbreaking to see the gyms close. My daughter is going to high school next year. If they have an extended break, I just don't know that she will go back. It will probably depend on how many of her teammates stick with it. She loves gym and misses it terribly. I would love for her to be able to go back. It's such a good outlet for her.

 

[Sparkylicious]

I am from BC, Canada. Right now our club is doing virtual workouts via Zoom 5 days per week at 2 hr. sessions (My child participates 3x per week). I am not sure what will be happening here but my speculation is that they will continue with the virtual workouts and stagger by group gymnasts coming in to use apparatus on particular days for set times.