Parents Friday Meets

[headoverheels]

We've had that happen once or twice a season. It's not a big deal for us. My gymmie usually gets good grades anyway.

 

[wnl256]

I wouldn't like it, but I could probably deal with it if it were only once or twice a season. The school starts sending us nasty letters once the kids get to 3 unexcused absences.

I have a very special place next to my desk for those letters. It is shaped like a cylinder, open at the top and closed at the bottom. And it gets emptied once a week.

 

[wgymmom]

Most of ours have been Saturday meets, with States usually on Sunday. We have our first Friday meet this year. It's not a big deal since we homeschool and usually have Fridays off anyway.

 

[wnl256]

Most of ours have been Saturday meets, with States usually on Sunday. We have our first Friday meet this year. It's not a big deal since we homeschool and usually have Fridays off anyway.

Our last state meet was on a Monday! The meet originally planned for sessions on Saturday and Sunday, but there were so many entries that they needed to add a third day. Fortunately it was the beginning of spring break for most of the schools, and they chose Monday knowing that many of the girls would not be in school. But I still had to take a vacation day from work to attend.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Same thing happened to us....Friday 8AM in a city 3 hours away. It really sucked because it was the meet that we do our "girls weekend" and have little traditions we do for that meet. Totally anti-climactic.

The positive side was that "meet weekend" was pretty relaxing on Saturday and Sunday.

I'm used to the nasty school letters referenced above. I get one every year since DD joined team. They can deal. I work in a school so I know that they've got much bigger fish to fry than my honor roll kid who is missing because of gymnastics meet with the goal of earning a college scholarships (after she wins the Olympics). I honestly believe a truancy hearing judge would find dragging me in a ridiculous waste of his or her time.

We got the nasty school letter once--because she was sick that year quite a bit and had several absences due to gymnastics (made Westerns that year!). I called about it and they said it was automatic and they were required by state law to send it out. I ignored it and nothing ever happened.

 

[htimcj]

Interesting...vast majority of meets in our area are Saturday and Sunday. May add a Friday night session if too many kids. Only the handful of very large Invitationals(the kind that teams from allover would travel to) have sessions all day Friday.

Competing on Sunday around my area is a HUGE no go. Even more so than skipping school. We have MANY people not go to State or regionals or larger meets because they compete on Sunday.

 

[gwenmom]

Had a travel meet last year in a time zone an hour ahead with a 7:45 am march on a Friday morning. Two missed days of school and one grumpy gymnast who was not happy with a march in that was at 6:45 am according to her body clock.

 

[thefellowsmom]

I think the worst are the 6:30pm Sunday night march-ins. Nothing like getting home at midnight and up at dawn for school the next day.

My dd prefers the first thing in the morning session. She loves getting up early, all excited with the house quiet and just me and her doing her hair and getting ready, having it be dark when we get in the car, her playlist going. She says it is peaceful and doesn't give her time to think about anything. I agree, even though I am NOT a morning person. It's exciting, kinda like going on vacation and having to fly out early.

I can't say that 6:45 would be fun though. Time changes are tough. Even more time off so they have time to adjust.

 

[Amber]

Less common at the compulsory levels, but very common for optionals. So, you better get used to it. Last season we had an 8 AM Friday session in a city that was 2 1/2 hours away. We've got two out of state meets this year and I'm expecting at least one of them to be on a Friday.

In our area, lower compulsory levels get Fridays the most. I asked a judge and meet director about it, and the reasoning is: lower compulsory levels are usually made up of younger girls, where missing school may not be as important (here you don't even get grades until 3rd grade). Optionals are almost always Sat/Sun. So the girls in middle school and above don't miss class. It's much harder on them to miss school.

I have had meets almost every day of the week, except Monday and Tuesday! The most annoying schedule was Wednesday morning for one dd and Friday morning for the other dd! And that meet was 5 hours away! So we left on Tuesday and came home Friday night! Ugh!

 

[aerials]

Last year our level 4s and 5s had most of the Friday time slots.