Parents Two travel meets

[Tmacs]

I just found out that there will be two travel meets for level 3 and up next year. I don’t know if my daughter will be level 3 or 4 but I feel like two travel meets (out of state...) for level 3 is questionable. Do I say something? Or just opt out of one of them? I love travel and we can afford it but I just don’t know what is communicating to her and to my other kids.

 

[twinmomma]

Travel for level 3, 4, and 5 is ridiculous unless there's very few options locally.

 

[gymgal]

Travel as in flight required? If so, I would agree that seems extreme for that level. If it isdriving 4+ hours, then it is more iffy. We generally had one long distance (driving) meet each season in the lower levels and the rest were within 3 hours. For the longer distance meets we tried to make a mini-vacation out of it. We also did the same for my DS who played travel baseball.

As long as your gym allows you to opt out of meets, I see nothing wrong with just choosing 1 travel meet for the season. This past year, our gym allowed all levels to go to all the travel meets (including 2 flight meets) because they were tourist attraction areas but they were not required. The parents were allowed to choose which meets and a lot of the lower level gymnasts did not go.

 

[Akl597]

Travel meets are super fun but I think it’s pretty crazy at the lower levels. Our gym does only local meets for levels 3-4, travel starts at level 6. I guess it’s up to you if you want to go or opt out (if that’s an option).

 

[doublestrike]

I love the travel meets, but we didn't travel until the gymnasts were optionals and we are at a very well known CA gym. Agree, at level 3 that's a bit much.

 

[OrchidZ]

What are you afraid it will communicate? And are we talking a long drive or a flight? How old is your child? If you don't want to do 2 because you think it's too much, too fast, or your kid is very young, I can understand that. And no matter what, of course, do what you think is best for your situation. For me, it would depend. In the northeast, out of state could mean a few hour drive. In a big state, it could mean a 6+ hour drive vs flight. I personally wouldn't sweat it. If it's at least 2 weeks apart, I'd go for it (2 trips in 2 weeks is tiring, so I'd avoid that). I teach my kids to take opportunities when they come because you never know when they will come around again. These are opportunities to see different parts of the country. Learning how to prepare for and compete when traveling is important. I'd take it as a learning opportunity, both culturally and in the sport, and embrace it. Either way, good luck and have fun

 

[Madden3]

I love travel and we can afford it but I just don’t know what is communicating to her and to my other kids.

This is interesting. What do you fear travel meets is communicating?

One thing I regret about my kid's time in gymnastics (so far) is we never have been able to afford to make any of our travel meets into a mini family vacation. Even so, we often try to fit in a museum visit or quick side trip to something interesting for the traveling gymnast(s) and accompanying parent to make the trip not entirely about competing in gymnastics. If, in your case, money is not the issue and you love to travel, maybe one or both of these meets would be a good opportunity to arrange short vacations with the whole family?

 

[mommyof1]

Assuming finances were not an issue, my worries in this situation would be (1) missing school and (2) equity for the other kids. If I had kids the same age or older and they were also able to take advantage of travel opportunities related to their activities and interests, or if the other kids were younger, I wouldn’t worry too much about equity. Equitable and equal are not the same thing. Maybe the gymnast gets to travel for meets and the musician gets to go on the choir trip and the kid whose extracurriculars do not involve travel gets to go to summer camp.

I would be more worried about taking a low-level gymnast out of school for meets. I have pulled my daughter out of school for gymnastics exactly once per season over her four competitive seasons: twice for one hour each, once for a full day, and once for half a day. I had a hard time even agreeing to that much time out of school. I would not be comfortable pulling a compulsory gymnast from school multiple times a season, especially for a travel meet where I had to book flights before the meet schedule was out. Our school district has a draconian attendance policy, and even excused absences count towards the maximum permitted. I would not want to use up absences on gymnastics and then have my kid get sick and go over the limit. In middle school, we have also found that it isn’t always easy to make up for missed instructional time.

For the vast majority of JO athletes, I just don’t think skipping school for gymnastics makes sense. One travel meet without parents per year for upper optionals in high school seems somewhat logical to me just for the travel experience, and travel for post-season competition at the upper levels seems appropriate. Other than that, I am not in favor of prioritizing sports over academics for average JO gymnasts like my kid who may be incredibly devoted to the sport but are not ever going to compete at L10 nationals.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

Our furthest level 3 meet was a 2.5 hour drive (that was out of state.) Our gym does 1 flyaway meet but it is 100% optional for all girls at every level. One level 3 went but her sister is level 9. I personally would not do a flyaway meet with my level 3.

 

[Madden3]

For the vast majority of JO athletes, I just don’t think skipping school for gymnastics makes sense.

I think most gymnasts miss relatively very little school for gym meets. My experience is with MAG so maybe WAG is different, but in a given season there just are not that many meets overall, and only a couple at most result in missed school days. And it is not always a travel meet that causes missed school- sometimes large meets have sessions on Fridays or even Thursdays.

I have no idea if this is typical, but my 9th grade son who is on the high school track team will end up missing 8 or more (depending how far he advances) half days of school just this one semester. They hold most meets on weekdays, and the whole team is dismissed from school in the middle of the school day in order to travel to a meet. I think it is weird, but that is how they do it. So it is not just gymnastics where kids miss school due to sports. Of course in that case, the kids are in school in the morning, so the school is still funded for that kid for the day. So, unlike an absence for a gym meet, it does not hurt the school financially so they do not care. But my son misses two to three classes on meet days and has to make sure he makes up any missed work.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I just don’t know what is communicating to her and to my other kids.

You should be communicating that life is about choices whatever you decide. And fair is not equal but giving everyone what they need to succeed.

You make the list of your pros and cons. And you make the best decision for the whole family one meet at a time.

We typically don't have to travel for meets. We live in the NE there are many meets near us that don't require travel. States might. Even regionals for us could be done in a day. I can't imagine any meet before L9 I would consider flying too. Unless it was a destination that we would like to turn into a vacation.

But there have been meets we have opted out of and travel meets we have opted in for. There are meets where we chose to stay over and have some fun doing other things or visiting friends, even when we could make it home. There are meets most folks would stay over for and we haul it home, because of other obligations. And meets we wouldn't consider opting out of, states for example. But even states could take a back seat to say a religious obligation. There are priorities, other obligations for her, and our family. We take them all into consideration and make our decisions. Its a life lesson thing.

 

[Tmacs]

Thanks. By "what it's communicating," I meant the whole entitlement that we will pay for travel for an 8 year old to a meet. It seems too early in her sports career to do that. I was a collegiate swimmer and didn't travel far for meets until I was in high school. While the meets are essentially required, I think I will communicate that we will not fly to one at this age/stage of her career. If she continues, we can do it next year or the year after. It seems like it should be reserved for Level 6 or higher. I do understand why the coaches want travel... to get higher level of competition.

 

[amiandjim]

Thanks. By "what it's communicating," I meant the whole entitlement that we will pay for travel for an 8 year old to a meet. It seems too early in her sports career to do that. I was a collegiate swimmer and didn't travel far for meets until I was in high school. While the meets are essentially required, I think I will communicate that we will not fly to one at this age/stage of her career. If she continues, we can do it next year or the year after. It seems like it should be reserved for Level 6 or higher. I do understand why the coaches want travel... to get higher level of competition.

I definitely wouldn’t want to fly to a meet for level 3...just seems silly. This sport is expensive enough without adding that in at such an early age/level. Our gym doesn’t do fly away meets until level 7, and even then, some girls don’t go if they cannot afford it. We do often have meets that are 4-5 hours away because we live in a separate state from our gym and it’s 45-60 min just to get there. If the meet is in the northern part of the state, that’s an additional 3-4 hours.

 

[Sandpapertongue]

I just found out that there will be two travel meets for level 3 and up next year. I don’t know if my daughter will be level 3 or 4 but I feel like two travel meets (out of state...) for level 3 is questionable. Do I say something? Or just opt out of one of them? I love travel and we can afford it but I just don’t know what is communicating to her and to my other kids.

 

[Sandpapertongue]

Yes, I find it crazy too. Our gym has a out of state travel meet every year, for levels 3-8. Levels 9-10 have 2 or 3 travel meets. (And then there are additional meets that are a 3-5 hr drive away.) My gymnast is only level 2, but when I talked to level 3 parents, I asked if that travel meet was optional. They all said it definitely wasn't presented as being optional! Plus, there is a big pep rally right before travel meet so if anyone doesn't go, they would feel so left out. That's a lot isn't it? I feel like our gym has more than average. It's very costly.

Edit: sorry for the double post. Didn't realize the first quote had posted when I wrote the second.

 

[Tmacs]

What are you afraid it will communicate? And are we talking a long drive or a flight? How old is your child? If you don't want to do 2 because you think it's too much, too fast, or your kid is very young, I can understand that. And no matter what, of course, do what you think is best for your situation. For me, it would depend. In the northeast, out of state could mean a few hour drive. In a big state, it could mean a 6+ hour drive vs flight. I personally wouldn't sweat it. If it's at least 2 weeks apart, I'd go for it (2 trips in 2 weeks is tiring, so I'd avoid that). I teach my kids to take opportunities when they come because you never know when they will come around again. These are opportunities to see different parts of the country. Learning how to prepare for and compete when traveling is important. I'd take it as a learning opportunity, both culturally and in the sport, and embrace it. Either way, good luck and have fun

Yes. Too much, too fast. And the meet we don’t want to go to is in CA, a place we’ve been to many times. I’m opting for the Idaho one because it’s new!

 

[gymyogimom]

Travel meets are fun, especially if you can swing an extra day or two to sight see..most girls do not make it to the upper levels so why wait?

 

[Tmacs]

Travel meets are fun, especially if you can swing an extra day or two to sight see..most girls do not make it to the upper levels so why wait?

Yes. Definitely doing one in Idaho but we have no desire to go to So. Cali again...been so many times... doesn’t seem like a good use of money and unfair to our other kids. They would rather do many other things besides a gym meet and Disney... we are the abnormal family who doesn’t care for theme parks.

 

[sce]

Yes. Definitely doing one in Idaho but we have no desire to go to So. Cali again...been so many times... doesn’t seem like a good use of money and unfair to our other kids. They would rather do many other things besides a gym meet and Disney... we are the abnormal family who doesn’t care for theme parks.

There are so many othe things to do in Calfornia. You don't ahev to go to Disney if you go to the meet.

 

[skschlag]

There are so many othe things to do in Calfornia. You don't ahev to go to Disney if you go to the meet.

We had 2 meets in So Cal last year and did not go to Disney at all. But we had a blast at both of them!!