Parents First out of state meet

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Daughter had her first out of state meet in the Big Apple this past weekend. I am really proud of her and her team-mate not because they got great scores (they did well judging was tough and some really good teams). They we there with just the two of them(9 and 10- level 5's) most of the the other teams had a large amout of girls. One of the other teams competeing againest them had 2 of the girls who used to be on their team 2 years ago. These girls were really close when they were on the same team. My daughter and her teammate approached them to say Hi and the other girls just smugly looked away, when my daughter was getting a medal for beam the one girl was next to her (she placed just above my daughter) and my daughter said to her good job she just looked away. I did say Hi to their moms who were friendly toward me and nice. I just do not get why they have to act this way. Then my daughter gets a 8.475 on floor and comes up to me happy saying her floor is really improving ( I love how she is trying to improve her scores instead of comparing them to the others which were much higher). Daughter ends up getting 2 medals for beam and vault but her friend who is younger has a better vault score walks away with nothing. Well this just aggravates me about the sport but her friend accepts this and is fine meanwhile I see other gymnasts who look older crying and having meltdowns. They both handled themselves so well at such a big meet, I just think they both have such good attitudes.

As for the out of state meet experience it was alright but I would be happy just to stay in PA and compete. I think at their age and level it is really unnecessary. I am looking forward to the day when my daughter is older and her coach can just take her to the meets ot of state.

 

[cathiann]

Sounds like they both did great--at gymnastics and character-wise . And I'm with you--I don't see the need for out of state meets for level 5s.

 

[mariposa]

Congrats to her on a good meet! I agree that out of state meets should be for optional levels and up. The sport is expensive enough.

And yuck on her old teammates. That is sad. We have seen (not competed with though) her old teammates and it has always been a positive experience for her. We are even going to see them compete this weekend at their home meet.

I don't think coaches will be taking my kid to meets though. They don't do that at her gym, but I wouldn't go for that anyway.

 

[Megley]

My daughter just went to her first out of state meet as an L6 and I think it was a good experience for her. She was the only L6 from our gym competing so she was completely on her own with her coaches. I thought she handled it all extremely well, including the strange warm-up (capital cup so you warm up on separate equipment) and had a pretty good meet for only her second
L6 meet. I guess there really isn't a need to go out of state at the compulsory level, but it was good to see different judges and different teams.

Anyway, sounds like your daughter did well. Sorry to hear about the rude ex-teammates. That's not very nice. It's great that your daughter and her teammate showed such great sportsmanship!