When levels have to split at a competition

[cloud9]

Hello
I am new to this site and wanted to ask a question. My DD is 7 and she's on level 3 competitive team. This will be her second meet this weekend! At this meet coming up, her level 3 team is split up. Do you know how this works at the end of the meet regarding awards? She is the youngest one on her team of 10 girls. She competes in the first session, then her other teammates compete at the later session.
If one session is early and the other is later for her team, are all the girls suppose to be there at the very beginning of the meet no matter what time they compete for that session time. If their team places at the end, shouldn't they all be there together for that award? I hope I made sense in my rambling on.. lol
Thanks so much!

 

[wallinbl]

Not all the girls will show up to watch the first session, and not all girls will stay through team awards. With two sessions, it's more likely all will stay for awards, but often you'll find there are 4 or more sessions over multiple days, so only the girls in the last session will still be around for the team award.

 

[cloud9]

Thanks for your reply. They do all compete the same day, but at there is a 4 hour time difference between the two. Her being there from 2:00 p.m. till almost 9:30 p.m. (the end of her teammates session) is a bit much. I know her scores would contribute to the teams overall score, and it would be sad for her to miss out on that.

 

[MeetDirector]

Individually, she competes against only the other girls in her same level and age division in that specific session. Individual scoring does not cross session boundaries.

For team scores, it can cross session boundaries. Frankly, you won't know whether or not her scores would contribute to the team score because it depends on how many scores they use per event to calculate the team score (usually only 3 or 4 scores count) and an individual athlete would not know if thier score counted or didn't count until well after the meet and you happen to see the meet results printout.

 

[wallinbl]

Thanks for your reply. They do all compete the same day, but at there is a 4 hour time difference between the two. Her being there from 2:00 p.m. till almost 9:30 p.m. (the end of her teammates session) is a bit much. I know her scores would contribute to the teams overall score, and it would be sad for her to miss out on that.

The more she goes to meets, the more this will happen. Some meets keep teams together within a session. Some meets break sessions up by age, so teams wind up split. Some will give out team awards per session (if they keep teams together), and some will only give them out by level, combining all sessions.

 

[Aussie_coach]

For our comps it means that the kids who compete in the first session have to come back after the second session for awards.

 

[twinmomma]

Interesting. Our meets give out team awards at each session. So if half our team was in one session, and won a team award, it would be based on the girls in that session ONLY. Then if the other half were in a later session (due to age, let's say) and won a team award, it would only be based on the girls in THAT session. It seems odd to me to split them at all, but having had a large team it did happen once this season and this is how it was handled.

 

[wallinbl]

Interesting. Our meets give out team awards at each session. So if half our team was in one session, and won a team award, it would be based on the girls in that session ONLY. Then if the other half were in a later session (due to age, let's say) and won a team award, it would only be based on the girls in THAT session. It seems odd to me to split them at all, but having had a large team it did happen once this season and this is how it was handled.

In a meet with 5+ sessions per level, teams wind up split when they divide sessions by age group. This is especially true at the state meets here, where there can be 8 sessions for one level.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Interesting. Our meets give out team awards at each session. So if half our team was in one session, and won a team award, it would be based on the girls in that session ONLY. Then if the other half were in a later session (due to age, let's say) and won a team award, it would only be based on the girls in THAT session. It seems odd to me to split them at all, but having had a large team it did happen once this season and this is how it was handled.

For us it's not just team awards but also individual awards that are done after the second session. They don't break the kids up into seperate divisions.

 

[2G1B]

In my experience, this often happens with boys. For them they do individual awards after each session and team after the last session for a level. For girls they seem to always try to keep the teams together, so while there might be multiple sessions of level 3, normally a team is all in one session. It seems 50/50 then in if team awards are given for each session or only at the end. The exception is state, the girls are always in multiple sessions. Team awards are given at the end, individual after each session. I have never heard of a meet that split the team across multiple sessions and did team awards per session.

 

[wallinbl]

I have never heard of a meet that split the team across multiple sessions and did team awards per session.

It generally only happens around here with one gym, when they go to meets where team awards are per session. That gym can send 30-40 at the compulsory levels. They usually get split at those meets. Their optional teams are also huge, but not enough to get split.

 

[profmom]

I have never heard of a meet that split the team across multiple sessions and did team awards per session.

It happens. We're going to a girls' meet like that this month. Teams are together for most of it, but the upper level optionals are split up across sessions. Not sure if it's age based or something else.

 

[2G1B]

It happens. We're going to a girls' meet like that this month. Teams are together for most of it, but the upper level optionals are split up across sessions. Not sure if it's age based or something else.

But when the teams are split across levels, do they still do team awards at each session rather than at the end (so ONE 1st place per level)? I honestly was shocked at the first girls' meet that we went to that had team awards after each session rather than one set of team awards per level. I can't imagine slitting a team up across multiple sessions and then possibly having that team place differently at multiple sessions. It seems that especially if they are splitting the team, that there should be only one set of team awards done at the end.

 

[profmom]

I think there will be one team award per session at this meet. Just the way it works at some big meets if the teams aren't divided up by age. *shrug*

 

[TxGymMom1]

My DD is also 7 and competes L3 -- she is the youngest on the team as well. We only had one meet the entire season where the whole team was together - at ALL the others, my DD was in the first session - with both coaches - by herself. Awards were always given at the last session of the weekend -- with the oldest girls on our team. We didn't like it because my DD's scores always contributed to the team award/placement, but she was in NONE of the award pictures! She also did not like not having her team mates around to cheer her on. Good luck!

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd just finished her first competitive season as a level 2. Most of her meets, the team was split between 2 sessions. There were 12 girls at her level and usually it was about half and half, although one meet the 2 oldest girls had to miss and the third oldest ended up in the second session by herself. When it was split, we only attended the session my dd was in. Individual awards were by age group so they always had awards at the end of each session. But the team award was for the entire level, so they were always announced at the awards for the last session of that level.

 

[MILgymFAM]

It seems DDs level on team has been split at every meet she has had. We have never gone to extra sessions because we can't afford to- even though DD wanted to cheer her teammates on. Her old coach never entered them in the team competition though.

 

[cloud9]

My DD is also 7 and competes L3 -- she is the youngest on the team as well. We only had one meet the entire season where the whole team was together - at ALL the others, my DD was in the first session - with both coaches - by herself. Awards were always given at the last session of the weekend -- with the oldest girls on our team. We didn't like it because my DD's scores always contributed to the team award/placement, but she was in NONE of the award pictures! She also did not like not having her team mates around to cheer her on. Good luck!

This sounds like my DD and her team, except so far they have been together for the meets. Thank goodness it's all in one day and not an overall weekend thing where we have to wait till the end of the whole weekend for awards! Her coach did mention that she would like for all the girls to be at each session if possible to show team support/team comradery, which I totally understand! Good luck to you as well!

 

[cloud9]

Thanks so much for all the input! I appreciate it!

 

[TxGymMom1]

This sounds like my DD and her team, except so far they have been together for the meets. Thank goodness it's all in one day and not an overall weekend thing where we have to wait till the end of the whole weekend for awards! Her coach did mention that she would like for all the girls to be at each session if possible to show team support/team comradery, which I totally understand! Good luck to you as well!

Wow - I can't imagine trying to be at all the sessions our girls are spread throughout -- that would be about 16 hours... over two days!