directors:? grouping teams in meets?

[gymgal]

I was just wondering how meet directors choose which teams to group together when their meet has more than one session for a level - for instance 3 sessions of just level 5s competing. Is there a rhyme/reason to it, as in grouping the traditionally higher scoring teams together, or is more just a numbers game based on how many gymnasts each team has?

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[wandrewsjr]

It is mostly just a number balancing game, but also consider keeping teams with multiple levels competing in the meet as close together as possible (so coaches don't have multiple down sessions between coaching sessions). And I also will try, if possible, to put large teams in a session together and small teams in a session together.

[sglemon]

Individual clubs also make requests, for example, I have x number if kids that can not compete on certain day or at a certain time.

[catou]

Here we don't have our word to say. It's the federation that organizes the schedule. Last competition I had 9 girls competing, all in the same category, we were split in two sessions. Next week-end, I have 11 girls, all in the same session, but split on two events... For the total number of gymnast par session, I think they try two split them in an equal number.

[bogwoppit]

Here we don't have our word to say. It's the federation that organizes the schedule. Last competition I had 9 girls competing, all in the same category, we were split in two sessions. Next week-end, I have 11 girls, all in the same session, but split on two events... For the total number of gymnast par session, I think they try two split them in an equal number.

Are they in different age categories?? Here they tend to put girls of the same level and age category together. Though the argos are usually a huge group and they split them in two, but keeping the gym girls together.

[catou]

Yes, they are all argos. There are about 60 girls competing in this category in our region. So it was a pretty long day last time, about 6 hours of coaching non-stop with excited girls competing for the first time telling them about half of the time: your salute! Do your salute! I think this time, it's another club that get split in two sessions.

[MeetDirector]

As wandrewsjr said, my first consideration is all about the numbers. USAG specifies the max number of athletes I can put in a session. Next, if I can keep a session "level pure" I will. It is always better for coaches and judges to focus on one level at a time. I will try to never ever mix compulsories and optionals; it is a recipe for confusion and delay. I do usually combine at least the level 8-9-10s as there usually isn't a large enough number ofeither of those for a whole session. Speaking of delay, I adjust my session numbers to try and keep a session to about 4 hours; I have a spreadsheet tool that I use to predict times based on the type of meet (capital cup, etc). Once I figure out my numbers I then plug in teams. I do give consideration to not splitting teams if at all possible. There is a lot more that goes into building a meet, but this is the gist.

Good Luck.

[flipper's fan]

First- follow USAG rules for numbers. Second- try to make it easy on coaches/teams. Third- don't group teams with bad blood on the same squad whenever possible. Fourth- keep your sanity.

[gymmomtoo]

What everyone else said--balancing the numbers, taking team requests into consideration and we also look at who is coming in from out of town and trying to get all their levels on the same day, if possible. We have never looked at pitting best teams against each other, but our meets aren't huge with "premier" level 10 sessions either.

[cbone]

HIJACK ALERT!

Why do large teams get split up at meets? At a recent meet, there were four large teams (10-12 athletes) and six or so smaller teams (1-5 athletes). The larger teams were split up rather than keeping them together. What's the practical purpose there?