WAG Why choose smaller meets?

[AlexsGymmyMom]

We recently changed gyms and I have just now realized that our old gym would always goes to smaller out of town meets that do not have much competition instead of going to the large meets here in our hometown. I am curious why a gym would choose meets without much competition over larger meets that would give a gymnast more exposure, especially in the upper levels. There are at least 3 very large meets here in the St Louis area that we will be attending for the first time ever with the new gym, but we will only see the old gym at states this year.

 

[wallinbl]

Our old gym would start with a small meet or two before going to the bigger meets to ease girls into the season and give them some confidence. Avoiding them altogether seems risky, as the bigger gyms will be at states/regionals, so you may as well see where you stand.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Is your old gym really good? Or average? I know some gyms that aren't powerhouses like smaller meets because the girls can place well and not end up 15th with a 9.5 because the big, hugely successful gyms are there. I know another gym in our area doesn't attend local meets because they don't want people here knowing how their girls do--surprise them at State, I guess.

 

[htimcj]

We like to mix it up. We like the smaller meets so that our girls can have a feel good meet or two. Then we go to larger out of state meets to see what the competition is really like. W get a lot of annoyed parents at the bigger meets becuase their kids are quite as successful at them. Some won't even take them to larger meets becuase they ate afraid their dd won't place well. By the way our gym though small holds it own at most of these larger meets.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Ideally your gym wants to look for competitions against gymnasts who train a similar number of hours. If the big meets are full of gymnasts who train very high hours and your gym trains moderate or low hours then this is not the ideal Comp situation.

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

I agree with Aussie_coach about ideally competing with gyms that train about the same hours as your own. However, I think it is important to compete in both smaller and larger meets, the larger meets give you a sense of what competitions like Provincials, etc will be like (States). The smaller meets are usually good confidence boosters where you can do and place well even if you don't do as well as you do at bigger meets. As well you can try new skills in the smaller meets without as much pressure.

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

gymmomtoo...DD's old gym is average to above average. Some girls score very well but most are middle of the road. I remember the last 2 seasons we went to meets and some age groups competed against themselves. I imagine that being able to win at most of the meets you go to can really build up a gymnasts confidence but I guess I am excited to see how my DD really compares to all the other gyms in our hometown since in the past she has only competed against them at state.

 

[Muddlethru]

My daughter's former gym did smaller meets as well. The reasons I think is two fold. First, the girls have more chances of placing and go home with a confidence boost and second, I think our former coaches did not like the stress of going to large meets. My daughter's current gym is going to all big meets. So, we are at the opposite end of the spectrum. I will say however, in my experience, scores don't change much whether you are in a small or big meet, but placing is indeed different. I also find judges at smaller meets to be more stringent with scores and larger meets more generous. That is just my own observation.

 

[Bajanswife]

We have been to 1 very large meet (Presidential Classic) and it wasn't as nice as some of the smaller ones, I think because the logistics were a bit overwhelming and it seemed impersonal. I prefer a more medium sized meet where there is plenty of competition, but it's not overwhelming. Unfortunately we only manage to get to one meet like this per year (our favourite out of all the meets we have ever been to - Crown of the Carolinas) - the rest of the time we have to go to the much smaller meets in our region. We also love Crown because our coaches know the hosts and it's a way more personal experience for us. It's also a very manageable meet in terms of logistics.

 

[wallinbl]

One other thought: large meets often take your 12 girl level 4 team and spread them over 4 sessions, where a smaller meet will have them all in 1 session. Large meets could mean your coaches working 12 hour days all weekend, if your gym is not blessed with a large number of coaches.