WAG How do meet warm ups work?

[Aero]

So the first meet ever is this weekend, Sunday, with a 9:00 AM report time (could be worse, right?). I got the email from the meet director with all the details. The meet format is modified traditional. What exactly does this look like? How do the warm ups work? What should I have them do during this time? Also, would anyone care to enlighten me on the other types of meet formats? I'd be very grateful.

I'm totally green, I know.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

No worries, get to the meet, have the kids all hang out, they can do splits on beam mats etc... But stay off the equipment. When general stretch begins the kids will all begin to run around on the floor, just have your kids jump in. Hopefully they can lead stretch without you because you will be in a coaches meeting. During the meeting they will go over everything. Wait until the meeting is over and then approach the meet director and ask for help. Or another coach in your rotation! Don't stop the meeting to ask questions....

 

[sevenatenine2]

https://usagym.org/docs/Women/Rules/Rules and Policies/09-10RulesPolicies_39-42.pdf

Here is a link to the different formats.

Modified traditional would be go to an event, warm it up, and compete it.

If they don't address march in during the meeting, I would ask how they are doing it. Every meet I've been to in the last several years had ditched march in for just an introduction of the girls while they stand by their first event.

Do you understand how to warm up? They might give you an option of block warm up, or each individual girl warms up. Block is when you put all the time together and get a chunk of time, and individual is where each girl gets her allotted time. Do the important skills first. Beam warm up goes really quickly. They should know what skills they are doing before they get up there.

 

[dynamicduo]

Aero, I just wanted to say good luck and have fun! It's been exciting to watch you from the beginning and you can tell how passionate you are for the sport! It doesn't seem like long ago you were asking how to go about having your own team, and now you are competing! Please let us know how it goes!!

 

[kandkfunk]

I wanted to wish you a good luck as well.

Our coaches have always had a set "warm-up routine" that the girls know for the open warm-up period. They establish the routine prior to the meet. It goes something like run a couple laps, skip a couple laps, high knees, etc. until their blood flowing. This is followed by some ground stretches like splits, pike, bridges, etc. This is either done in a line or a circle, depending on team size, room on floor and preference. Next, is straight line tumbling. Most teams start to form lines at about the same time and run through their beam and floor tumbling/dance. That usually takes up the open warm up period. Do you have a couple older girls that can possibly lead the team in stretching (they will need to remember what to do)? There are a couple teams in our area that will also use this time to jump on bars for a warm-up.

After general warm-up and march in, you will get warm-up time on each event. You should know the amount of time allotted to your gymnasts, it's probably determined by Xcel level and will be in the rules somewhere. Beam always seems to go the quickest and bars always seems to take the longest (just my observations as a parent).

Let us know how it goes!

 

[MeetDirector]

Do you have a couple older girls that can possibly lead the team in stretching (they will need to remember what to do)? There are a couple teams in our area that will also use this time to jump on bars for a warm-up.

The bolded part is a No-No unless they are doing ONLY for bar settings. There is no individual equipment warm-up allowed under any meet format during general stretch.

You also need to make sure you understand how the rotation from one event to the next will go. Will everyone rotate at once or will you bump-rotate? Bump-rotate means that when your girls are finished they move right to the next event and integrate into the warm-up/compete cycle. It speeds up a meet a bit.

Good Luck.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Wishing you good luck!

 

[beachgirl]

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[ivyagogo]

Good luck Aero. I can't wait to hear how it all goes. Our first meet is December 14.

 

[Ali'sMom]

What did you decide to do about the hair??

 

[kandkfunk]

The bolded part is a No-No unless they are doing ONLY for bar settings. There is no individual equipment warm-up allowed under any meet format during general stretch.

That was always my understanding as well. You know all the rules so I trust what you are saying. Just saying that I've seen it multiple times over the last several years, including at State meets. And not just for bar settings, but full routines including dismounts. I wish someone would put a stop to it because it seems like a slight unfair advantage. I'm not advocating for Aero to do that. Just indicating what I have seen over the many years.

 

[hearts_and_stars]

I agree...DD's gym has a standard meet warm up. They teach the warm up to the girls when they are level 1/2 (yes, we do compete our 1s). By the time they get to L4, they are able to warm themselves up. 1/2 meets have all coaches on deck (these are 4-6 year olds). 3 and up have one coach. 5 and up are expected to warm themselves up. HC will stand back and observe; AC will usually chat with other coaches. Individual event warm ups the girls know to work connections and problem skills (mainly for bars and beam). First half of floor warm up is tumbling, second half is dance elements.

As far as different formats....modified traditional is (I think) the most common. You compete one event at a time and have to wait until the longer events (for us, it is usually beam and sometimes floor) finish then everyone rotates events at the same time. The other meet format we see a lot of is called modified capitol cup. This is usually (in my experience, at least) bigger meets. You have 2 sets of equipment in the competition gym. Flight 1 is on one set of equipment and Flight 2 is on the other set. DD has gone to a couple of meets where it was a continuous rotation, which is still a little weird to me (and I'm not sure I like it as there is a lot of standing around, especially on beam), but I've only seen this done once or twice.