What You Should Bring to a Rhythmic Gymnastics Meet

What You Should Bring to the Meet

• Apparatus. Make sure your athlete has everything she needs to perform her routines.
• Cash. Everyone, who is accompanying an athlete to the meet, has to pay admission to the gymnastics facility. It’s typically $12 – $15. You might also want to buy a program ($5 – $10), souvenirs, printed T-shirts and hoodies or even rhythmic gymnastics apparatus items, which are usually for sale in the gym during the meet.
• Camera. Make memorable pictures of your athlete, team and coaches to capture one of the most important events in your daughter’s life – her first rhythmic gymnastics meet. Please remember that no flash photography is allowed during the competition. By the way, many professional photographers have permissions to shoot during rhythmic competitions, and they offer their services to parents of athletes. The photographer should be paid in advance. Your rhythmic gymnastics school will let you know if professional photo shooting is available at the meet.
• Hairbrush, hairpins, hairspray, make-up kit… everything you need to make your gymnast groomed and ready for the competition. And, of course, you should try yourself as your daughter’s personal makeup artist and to learn how to make a perfect gymnastics hairbun before the competition. You still have a lot of time to do this!
• Additional pair of half-shoes – If you daughter’s half-shoes become even slightly wet, which often happens when girls forget to change shoes when going to the gym’s bathroom, she will unlikely to be able to perform nice turns and spins on the carpet. Besides, a half-shoe can rip at any moment so it’s better to have an extra pair.
• Tracksuit to keep your gymnast warm after she’s done with routines. It can take long time to wait for the awards and most of the gyms are pretty cool, especially in winter.
• Water and healthy snack for gymnast – Gymnastics competitions usually last for a couple of hours and your daughter will be very thankful if she can eat something nutritious right after the competition. Check out our Gymnast’s Nutrition Guide to find the healthiest snacks for your athlete and to learn which food can help her maximize performance.
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Providing children of Miami with an opportunity to participate in rhythmic gymnastics competitions is a top priority for IK School of Gymnastics in Miami. To reach this goal we offer gymnasts of Miami our award-winning competitive Rhythmic Gymnastics Program and recruit elite gymnastics coaches from throughout the world.

Here, at IK School of Gymnastics in Miami, we know how confusing may be the first gymnastics meet. If your daughter is getting ready to her first gymnastics meet this year, take your time to prepare to being the best gymnastics parent for her during rhythmic competitive season 2016. To help parents of our gymnast get extremely positive competitive experience and be a fantastic gymnastics parent at the meets, IK School of Gymnastics in Miami prepared A Parent’s Guide to Gymnastics Meet.

The first part of the Guide, published in our previous blog post addresses the following issues:

• Being familiar with rhythmic gymnastics calendar
• Paying competition entry fees
• Getting detailed information on the meet
• Planning your visit to the meet
• Understanding meet schedule

The second part of AParent's Guide to Gymnastics Meets is about issues listed below:

• What you should bring to the meet
• Things to do after you arrive at the gym
• How to cheer up your gymnast during the meet
• Meet etiquette for parents and gymnasts

All of this together is meant as a general guideline to help you and your athlete with the most frequently asked questions about rhythmic gymnastics competitions in the USA. If you’ll have any questions after reading the guide, please don’t hesitate to contact IK School of Gymnastics in Miami. We’ll do our best to make your competitive experience be as far positive and rewarding as possible.

IK School of Gymnastics in Miami hopes this can be a good guide for parents of competitive gymnasts to make first meet gymnastics competition exciting for your athlete. You can be sure, when your gymnast enters her next competitive season, you will be already an experienced parent, who can distribute tips for having the best competitive experience. If you have any questions about your daughter’s first gymnastics competition, please, do not hesitate to contact us.

www.ikgymnastics.com

Phone: (786) 350-6655

info@ikgymnastics.com

A Parent's Guide to Gymnastics Meets: Part 1

IK School of Gymnastics in Miami sets a high priority on rewarding the accomplishments of our athletes and the effort of their parents by providing them with an opportunity to participate in rhythmic gymnastics competitions.

Here, at IK School of Gymnastics in Miami, we know that the first gymnastics meet can be confusing. It is our sincere wish that you get extremely positive competitive experience. To help parents of young gymnasts get ready to their first gymnastics meet, IK School of Gymnastics in Miami prepared a guidebook to being a fantastic gymnastics parent at the meet. Hope this helps!

• Being familiar with rhythmic gymnastics calendar. A meet schedule for rhythmic gymnasts is usually developed by the USA Gymnastics by October/November. Here you can find the information on upcoming rhythmic gymnastics events across the USA. As a parent of a gymnast you are required to indicate, which meets your daughter is going to attend, so your rhythmic gymnastics school can register her for events.  
• Paying entry fees. The hosting gym establishes a deadline entry date that is typically can be up to six weeks to ten days prior to the event. All entry fees should be paid prior to this date; otherwise there is a late athlete fee. Rhythmic gymnastics competition entry fees may vary, depending on the hosting gym and a gymnast’s level (from $60 – $80/Level 3 up to $140 – $160/Levels 9&10).  To get more information about competitions expenses, read How Much Does it Cost to Raise a Competitive Gymnast.
• Getting detailed information on the meet. In most cases the hosting club do not establish sessions and times until the registration is closed. This all takes time so be ready that you won’t know the exact day/time your gymnast is competing until typically a week prior to the meet. This means that if a meet is scheduled for 3 days you have to keep the entire period clear for the meet. Do not call the hosting gym for information – they are really busy getting ready for the meet. Ask your coach instead – this is her responsibility to furnish you with this information.
• Planning your visit to the meet. Your coaches or the meet website will give you important information on the meet location and schedule. It’s your responsibility to buy airplane tickets, book the hotel and plan everything else to bring your athlete to the meet on time. Don’t hesitate to ask the coach anything you need to know about the locations, including the best way to find it. If the meet is in an unfamiliar place, do not rely on Google Maps or your navigator only – ask for detailed instructions to ensure you’ll be able to quickly find the gym.
• Understanding the Meet Schedule. The meet schedule is divided into levels and groups. The essential information you need to know is what group your athlete belongs to (mostly is determined by the age). Typically, lower level teams get earlier sessions, so when attending your first meet, be ready to get up and get going early in the morning. Allow at least 7 hours for the meet.

The schedule gives you important information regarding the gym opening, warm-up, competition itself, and awards. Your athlete’s coach will probably tell you when you are supposed to check-in, but it’s useful to understand what the meet schedule means to better plan your day.

• Gym opening time is the earliest time your gymnast can check-in.
• Timed warm-ups usually take 15 – 20 minutes. Coaches typically ask their athletes to arrive long before the warm-ups, but they won’t start competing before the March-In. So, you can drop your athlete off, check her in for the meet, notify the coach, and go get some coffee nearby. If you have any relatives or friends attending the meet to cheer your gymnasts, tell them to arrive 10-15 minutes before the competition time.
• March-In precedes the competition to introduce the participants.
• Competition itself for each level usually takes 2 – 4 hours depending on the number of participants.
• Awards are given right after the competition in separate area. This means that Level 3 gymnasts will be awarded as soon as they finish their routines, while the athletes of other levels may be in the middle of the competition.

The second part of our Parent's Guide to Gymnastics Meets comes in our next blog post and covers the following issues:

• What you should bring to the meet
• Things to do after you arrive at the gym
• How to cheer up your gymnast
• Meet etiquette for parents and gymnasts

Stay tuned!

www.ikgymnastics.com

Gymnastics in Miami

IK School of Rhythmic Gymnastics Dance Recital in Miami, June, 2015.

Today, rhythmic gymnastics in the USA is witnessing a rapid development. Every year new rhythmic gymnastics schools open in Miami area and the number of rhythmic events across the USA is constantly growing. Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport a sport developed and popularized by Russia, so the best gymnastics coaches in the USA speak the Russian language. The other dominant teams in rhythmic gymnastics come from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Spain, Italy, and Israel.

IK School of Gymnastics is a place, where competitive Russian athletes come to practice during their vacations in Miami. They choose IK because they know that we have the best coaches in Miami, who help gymnasts to develop to their fullest potential.

We invite you to visit our rhythmic gymnastics school facility in sunny and vibrant Miami! Our rhythmic gymnastics school is conveniently located in North Miami, a 10-minute drive from Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour. Bring your kids to our rhythmic gymnastics school and we’ll do everything possible to develop their skills and reveal potential. Every child, regardless of skill level, will feel the warmth of participation and support, from the very beginning. Please, contact us for schedule and details

Phone number (786) 350-6655

Email: info@ikgymnastics.com, ikgymnasticsmiami@gmail.com

www.ikgymnastics.com