Travel meet suggestions...

[eryes]

Our team did their first big travel meet this past season to Florida. Our head coach would like to do one each year - as it seems many of you guys do. So the booster club is taking suggestions on new meets to try. The Pink Invitational has already been thrown out there... What other good meets are out there? They are looking for a good mixture of fun, competition, and location (as many families will call this their vacation).

Note: Anything too competitive the head coach will poo-poo as she wants the team to enjoy this meet. Since we are in New England we can usually drive to some pretty tough meets. ;-)

Thanks!

 

[pt coach]

Atlantis Crown in the Bahamas. Great place to combine a meet with a vacation!

 

[jsfofec]

Great West Gymfest in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. It's a huge meet, with good competition, but it's also a lot of fun. Lot's of former Olympians there. They have the regular meet on Friday and Saturday, then the top finishers of each event and each session qualify for the "Big Show", which is held Saturday night, where each gymnast performs their event by themselves in a darkened room with a spot light on you. There is also live music during the big show. After the regular competition there is an Ice cream social on the lake. I also heard there is a dance party. This is all held at a resort.

 

[GymBee97]

Chicago Style meet is good and so is the Capitial cup in Washington DC,. The Excalibur Cup in Virgina Beach was awsome this year.
Ocean State Classic is great and at one of the Indian Casinos in RI - if you want to do vacation its not too far from Boston.

 

[eryes]

We have done the ocean state classic pretty regularly, I believe. It's within easy driving distance to us.

But I like the idea of Chicago! I'll forward along all these great suggestions. Thanks ladies (and gents) - keep the ideas coming.

 

[ALgymMom]

We went to the Smoky Mountain Gymnastics Vacation Classic this Feb. in Sevierville, TN. The host resort, Wilderness at the Smokies, has a large indoor water park! This is also a big tourist area, Gatlinburg is nearby, you can ski, snow tube & the mountains are gorgeous!

 

[gymmomof1]

Dds club over the years has done Classic Rock(Az), Atlantis Crown(Bahamas), Christmas on the Chesapeake(Md) and World Class ivite(Va). All were really fun and dd had a great time. Her gym tries to do 1 a year.

 

[gymnasticsfreak]

Nadia Comaneci Invitational in Oklahoma City is great! My club went there this year and it was one the friendliest and best comps I have ever been to.

 

[J&A's mom]

Along the lines of the Smoky Mountain meet, CSA in Janesville hosts a meet in the WI Dells, the Waterpark Capital of the World! Its at the end of Jan, at least it was this year. Its called the Wisconsin Dells Vacation Classic.

 

[Empowered]

Well if you really want to go far there are a couple fun meets on the West Coast. Spirit of the Flame (you can google their website) is generally huge and gives you a chance to see the San Francisco Bay Area. There are a couple large water parks close by and a huge amusement park. There is also the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk within 45 minutes which is always fun for visitors. It is usually held in the end of February so if you're lucky and the Sharks are home, you could drop in on an awesome hockey game as well. This event is held in a convention center with a hotel connected for easy accommodations.

My daughter's gym also travelled to Vegas for the Lady Luck Invitational year before last and the girls all loved it. Plus side of that competition... VEGAS BABY!

Just a quick edit here... Spirit of the Flame can have some pretty tough sessions as Region 1 has some great local gyms that attend, but especially for compulsories, it's usually a pretty high scoring meet. The awards though are stunning. The medals are custom made artwork, not those normal cheapy medals and first place in each AA division gets a really cool trophy, a gift card and they get to sign the banner which is kind of neat. I think the website has pictures of the medals and trophies.

The Lady Luck one had INSANELY high scores. Most of the girls from my daughter's gym were up .5 to 1.0 from their normal score.

 

[jsfofec]

Well if you really want to go far there are a couple fun meets on the West Coast. Spirit of the Flame (you can google their website) is generally huge and gives you a chance to see the San Francisco Bay Area.

I can vouch for Spirit of the Flame, our gym is in the Bay Area and we go to this meet every couple of years. It's a huge meet, double sessions Friday to Sunday. The awards are very nice and they really do run a good meet. It's held in a huge convention center. The host hotel is connected to the convention center, so you never have to go outside.

 

[bribri514]

To throw in a few from my home state there's the Denver Winterfest hosted by the Colorado Gymnastics Institute and it's held at the University of Denver facilities which are really great. Also there's the Pikes Peak Cup held by Colorado Aeriels in Colorado Springs and it's held at the Broadmore hotel which is a gorgeous famous building right near the mountains in the Springs. When we competed a lot of out of state teams would come and spend a few days in the mountains. Both are pretty well organized and fun with good competition too.

 

[Sunobo]

My daughters favorite travel meet was the Beach Break held by Gymnastics and More in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. All the participants get a plaque and they give placement plates you put on the plaque to 75% out. It's always held President's Day weekend and there are some great hotels and since it's in February, it's off season. We spent lots of our off time at the beach (the water was too cold to get in though) and at Broadway at the Beach for fun, shopping and dining. The kids fell in love with MagiQuest there.