Need help on how to host gymnastics meet

[jlafrain]

Hi all, I am the president of the booster club at my daughters gym. I am looking for some advice on how to go about hosting a gymnastics meet. Our gym has never done this and we are very interested in doing it for the next season.

If anyone has any advice on what we need to do or how to get started I would be very greatful.

Thanks in advance,
Jo

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yikes...you gotta start talking with those meet directors that have held meets before. and are you aware that you must pass a meet directors course thru USAG 1st before you can host a meet?

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

At my daughters gym we set up committees such as decorating food scoring and everybody signs up for something. The gymnasts also get assigned jobs such as flashers runners and selling 50 50. As for the meet director our head coach handles all that stuff.

 

[flipper's fan]

You need a meet director- usually someone at your gym would have this qualification like a coach or owner. We paid for a coach to take the test the first time we hosted a meet. Then, there is a page on the usag website that outlines the process, although it is more than you need for an invitational, it still covers a lot of stuff. Third, check your region's website for info- ours has a page in their handbook called " Hosting Local Meets" which covers most of what you need to do.

 

[gym law mom]

Is this meet going to be hosted by the gym with the booster club helping out and getting a cut of the profit or is the gym going to keep 100%? You have to work this out in advance. What levels are you looking at? Compulsory meet only? Compulsory and optional or prep opt(if your state does this).

I would suggest you get a core group---gym and parents to decide what you want to do and best way to do it. When you go to meets, look around and see what you like and don't like about each meet. Don't be reluctant to contact other gyms and talk with the parents there that do meets. Most will let you know about things that have worked and things that bombed.

Don't know how many parents you have, but you need to have ALL of them working on this. Lots to do on committees to pre-plan, but then you'll need alot of people on the day of the meet. Make sure your parents understand that up front.

Last thing I can think of is to contact your state association and see if they have any guidelines etc. for hosting a meet.

GL--its fun, but lots of work.

 

[MeetDirector]

jlafrain -

Everything Gym Law Mom said is spot on.

I am going on my 4th big meet being the coordinator. We have an official meet director that takes care of the USAG stuff, and then I coordinate everything else. Believe it or not, its actually easier to run an optional meet than it is to run a cumpulsory meet due to the numbers of gymnasts. The biggest thing you need to do is advance plan EVERYTHING!

Definitely take cues from your own attendance at meets and keep what you like and throw away what you don't. For example, over the years I have come to really dislike kids flashing scores on the little hold-up things. I looked for a different way to do that function. We now use a scoring system that will send the scores to a video projector and we project that on a large wall. Yes, we could have used the electronic scoreboards, but we didn't have that kind of money to invest. We matured the idea over a couple of years and are now happy with the process.

Parent invlovement will either make the meet or sink it. You need parents to set-up equipment, chairs, to make score cards, sort awards, you name there is a ton to do. We start the planning about 6 months out from our meet date.

Good Luck.

 

[Gymdad2]

Did your gym post or send out a 2010-11 meet schedule this past summer? If you got one, this means that your gym has already selected the meets to be attended this coming season. I don't know where you are located, but here in the Midwest there are multiple meets on any given weekend and the decision as to which to go to is made by most gyms by the end of Summer, so it is very important that you start the promotion for your meet early next Spring. Chances are you are going to be competing for entries with other established meets, so you will need to find a way to create interest in your meet. You might want to directly contact some gyms and invite them to try your meet. (Don't overlook a little quid pro quo here - we will come to your meet if you will come to ours).

All of the advice above is excellent, and you do need to find ways to make your meet stand out to those gyms that attend so that they will want to come back next year. Our boosters get together with coaches and owner every year after meet season and we review all of the meets from that year. We evaluate them and make a decision about each one; "Was this a meet that we want to go back to again?" Things we look at are Venue, (was it a pleasant environment, good viewing, lighting, music, decorations)Organization; (Was the meet well organized, did it stay on schedule, how long did we wait for awards, was the awards ceremony well done?). Also, concessions, programs, admission costs, and flashing. Once upon a time hand held flashing was usual, but now electronic score display is pretty much expected.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[taximom]

Our gym hopes to host a meet next season as well. I'm taking the Ontario Meet director's course this weekend!