Parents "Practice" leotard?

[IreneKa]

Talking about leotards, I have a question. I received email from out new gym about what we'll need to buy. Here is what it says: "She will need a practice leotard, competition leotard, warm up pants and jacket".
I'm okay with comp leotard and warm ups, but why do we need to buy a practice leotard from them? Is this common?

 

[gymmomtotwo]

Ours have a practice leotard they wear on one practice a week to promote team spirit and unity. I don't mind the leo but we have to buy a team tshirt that is never used.

 

[wandrewsjr]

Many teams have "practice" leotards. They are usually a less expensive, tank version of a leotard in the team colors. Some gyms may have the team girls wear these if they do demonstrations at gym events, or intrasquad/practice meets so the girls don't have to wear their comp leo for these. Some gyms may also have the girls wear them on Fridays during a competition weeks to promote team spirit/unity.

 

[2G1B]

I don't really get the point of them; but our old gym had "spirit leos" that the girls were supposed to wear once per week. I don't know what our new team calls them; but all of the girls got a leo at the team camp and now they are supposed to wear them on Fridays. I think it is somewhat common...

 

[lhmom]

DD's team have them. They started this a few years ago to encourage team unity and they wear them every Friday. DD's group also wore them for their test-out meet last month (much cooler than wearing their long sleeved competition leos). I bought DD's last year in a bit bigger size so she is still comfortably wearing hers now. Should get another year out of it.

 

[IreneKa]

I guess the "spirit" thing makes sense. We didn't have anything like that at our old gym. And even in this new gym I never see all girls wearing the same leo at practice. But maybe they'll start doing that closer to the competitions.

 

[MaryA]

Yeah, we have them too. HC does try to keep them reasonably affordable...

They wear them for any event where the public is invited and "team spirit" type practices.

 

[armbmom]

Our gym has them too, but they are optional. They wear them to practice, practice meets and if GK takes forever like they usually do, they may have to wear them for their first meet if the comp Leo's don't make it in time.

 

[Aussie_coach]

A lot of our clubs have the, for girls in level 4-10, they use it for practice at competitions. For our bigger competitions like states etc the girls have an apparatus warm up prior to the competition which lasts about an hour and they rotate the various apparatus similar to what is done in international competitions to allow gymnasts to get used to the particular equipment and set up. This stops that good long sleeved competition leotard from getting to smelly even before they start.

the girls would also wear it for special training sessions like state squad training sessions.

 

[gymmom1974]

We don't have a team practice leotard, but our team is small and our coach is really good about trying to keep the costs down for the parents.

 

[cbifoja]

We have a practice leotard and I love it. It's not very expensive and it's a different color scheme than our usual team colors. We don't have prescribed days to wear them but if we do an in-house meet, the girls wear the leo for those type things.

 

[gymnastmom38]

I wish our gym did this...

 

[IreneKa]

Seems like most gyms do have those. Oh well, I hope they won't be too expensive. They did say that they might have some used leos from previous years, so that could be an option too.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Our gym has then and the girls wear them for demos, training at away competitions, and they were supposed to wear them on a certain day of the week, but they seem to have stopped that.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

Our former gym required team members to wear a specific practice leo 3 days out of the week. Thankfully they were not expensive (all 3 for $75). They were all solid black. Friday's were "free dress". Not sure of the purpose...but in the lobby you could hear the itty bitties talk about how they wanted to grow up and be a "black leo". New gym has no practice leo.

 

[JMACAZ]

Girls just got their "practice" leos. They are pink with the breast cancer symbol. They are thrilled. So was I, they were only $40 each They will wear them to practice and to camp at the local University this week.

 

[sewgood]

Many teams have "practice" leotards. They are usually a less expensive, tank version of a leotard in the team colors. Some gyms may have the team girls wear these if they do demonstrations at gym events, or intrasquad/practice meets so the girls don't have to wear their comp leo for these. Some gyms may also have the girls wear them on Fridays during a competition weeks to promote team spirit/unity.

This is exactly what are gym does, except they where their team tank leo on every Friday, not just competition weeks. So, basically, the tank leo is for demos and intrasquads, and every Friday. They use it at least once a week, sometimes more, so I really don't mind paying for it. It gets used a lot.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We don't have practice leos. But we do have an end of year "Olympics". The kids get an opportunity to show off their new uptraining skills without being judged, they have a banquet with dressy party clothes. The need a summer leo and shorts for this (it also gets used at the local Independence Day parade and for mock meets). These are different each year. The kids do wear them to practice, they love them. But there is no set day to wear them.

 

[IreneKa]

Oh wow, this is my post from almost two years ago.
Turned out the practice leo was exactly the same as our Xcel competition leo from the old gym, so DD used that one for a year. This year she grew out of it, so we had to buy a new one. She does wear it every Friday, and before each meet. But it still annoys me that i had to buy a leo for $60 just for practices.

 

[Mrs. Puma]

I wish our gym did this...

Yea, I kind of like this idea!