Arrival Times:

There is no hard rule on this, but here’s what I do. I usually have teams arrive 1 hour before warm-ups. We gather as a team about 30 minutes before warm-ups. You might want more or less time based on a few factors so consider the following before establishing this: 

More time: 

  1. If you have a team that had recent changes, it can help to walk through the routine in the hallways prior to the event.
  2. If you have a lot of former gymnasts as I do, they need more warm-up time than a competition mat provides. So, we do jumping jacks, and dynamic stretching and some of my gymnasts then do the second round with some static stretching. 
  3. If you have a team that notoriously has to pee every time they’re anxious (this happens with tiny-youth). No matter how many times they go to the bathroom, they always want to go again right before you hit that warm-up mat.
  4. If you have a sister team going right before you hit the warm-up mat. We often do our pre-warm-up in the hallway early so we can go watch another team from our gym and then go straight to warm-ups. This means we need an earlier “gather” time.
  5. Lastly, if we have an out-of-town competition where I know several parents are going to drive down that morning, I usually set an earlier time. For example, Branson is 3 hours from us. If you go to warm-ups at noon and arrive time at 11 a.m., then I’m trusting you can leave your house on a Saturday promptly by 8 a.m. I’ve done this a long time now, and I know better. So, I’d personally set that arrival time closer to 10:30 a.m. Do some parents get annoyed? Sometimes. I just explain that our experience tells us it’s way more stressful to have someone running in as you reach the final warm-up mat. They understand.

Note: I’ve learned not to call this arrival time “show time” over the years. In 2020 I got a lot of kids who came from the dance world and this was extremely confusing for them.

Less time: 

  1. One word: Tinies.
  2. Three words: Really young minis.

How early you arrive is really up to you. Assess what your team needs, and establish that time early on. Provide that time to parents as soon as you possibly can so they can plan ahead (especially if there are younger siblings).