Wildcard Gymnastics Team News

CHILI’N — This is just a reminder that Wildcard will be performing at Chili’N on the Avenue on North Avenue today at 3:30-4:30 p.m.  The kids area is between 67th & 68th Street.  There will be lots of chili to taste and enjoy as well as other activities.  Team gymnasts should be wearing exhibition leotards or the Wildcard tank top.  Boys should have a Wildcard T-shirt.  The performance will be relatively quick giving you lots of time to enjoy the festivities.  Please arrive on time.  We’ll see you there! (All Saturday practices will still run as scheduled.)

FUNDRAISER — Please remember that all fund-raising orders are due on Oct. 8.

SUCCESS WALL — Success wall additions from the Racine Homecoming Invitational are:

Level 3
Jordyn H. — 9.100 on bars, 9.075 on floor
Kayla B. — 9.500 on vault (1st)

Level 4
Essence B. — 1st on vault
Sarah S. — 9.025 on floor
Taylor T. — 9.025 on beam

CSA Fall Challenge
October 10, 2015
Williams Center, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
800 W. Main St., Whitewater | MAP | 51.19 mi., 59 min.

PARENT MEETING — There will be an important parent meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21 at Wildcard Gymnastics. Team parents and gymnasts are welcome to attend. It should be brief. If we are done with the meeting prior to the regularly scheduled end of practice, gymnasts will have the opportunity to continue with practice. Thank you in advance for your attendance.

Swiss Cup
October 3-4, 2015
Swiss Turners
2214 S. 116th St., West Allis | MAP | 7.64 mi., 11 min.

FIRST MEET OF THE SEASON & PRACTICE CHANGES —Hooray! This weekend is the first meet of the compulsory season. Please be sure that gymnasts are coming and staying for their entire practice this week.  We would like to have the Level 3s come to practice Friday night from 4:30 -8:30 p.m. in order to get them practice before the meet.  Also, please note, we ask that Level 3 & 4s do not stay for open gym so that they can be rested and ready for the competition.

As a reminder, here is the schedule for the first meet of the season.

In order to have the Level 3s come in and due to some staffing issues for Friday and Saturday, the Optional gymnasts (Level 6-9) will have Friday night off. They are welcome to come to open gym at 8:30 p.m. Additionally, there will be no Xcel Gold on Saturday this week. We will offer a makeup practice soon.

CHILI FEST — On Saturday, Sept. 26, Wildcard Gymnastics will be performing at 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. at ChiliFest in Wauwatosa. Chili Fest will be along 65-68th Streets & North Avenue. The Family area, where we will be performing will be on the West end.  We’d like Level 2-9 Girls’, Xcel Gold, and Boys’ teams to attend. This will be our last show of the season!

MENTAL TRAINING HOMEWORK — Since the meet season is upon us, we will once again be posting mental training homework for all of the team gymnasts to complete. We will discuss the topic during the week and we expect that the gymnasts to do the assignment at home.  Mental training is very important in gymnastics and it reinforces important ideas and behaviors that the gymnasts can rely upon in competition.

This week’s assignment is “Creating a Gymnastics Vision Board”.  A vision board is an amazing way to direct thoughts, desires and goals.  Please encourage your gymnast to take the time to think about his/her vision board and create something to be proud of.

Click  here for a pdf of this week’s assignment.

PRE-SEASON MEET — We want to thank everyone for being at the team picture and pre-season meet. In Level 2, 3 and 4 we had perfect attendance! That’s the first time ever that everyone from those levels attended the pre-season meet. In all, only 11 gymnasts weren’t at the team photo, by far and away our best turnout. Thank you to everyone who was in attendance!

MEET FEES — Thank you to everyone who has paid their compulsory level meet fees. The final installment was run on Aug. 30 for those who hadn’t already paid. If your charge didn’t go through, you should have received an e-mail stating as such, so please pay those promptly.

Boys’, Girls’ Optional and Xcel have meet fees due starting in September, payable in four installments.

The following are the meet fees and installments and updated schedules as there have been some changes (due to conflicts and meet fee costs):

Xcel (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum & Diamond)
$100 (Installments of $100 due Sept. 30, Oct. 30, Nov. 30, Jan. 15)
Oct. 24-25 — Wild Wild West Classic (Brookfield, Serves as Mock Meet)
Dec. 12-13 — Clash of the Titans (Oshkosh)
Jan. 9-10 — M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 29-31 — Altius Pink Ribbon (Franklin … includes leotard)
Feb. 20-21 — Wildcard Cruise Classic (Brookfield)
March 12-13 — State Championships (Waukesha)

Girls’ Level 6, 7, 8/9
$875 (Installments of $220 due Sept. 30, Oct. 30, Nov. 30, Jan. 15)
Oct. 24-25 — Wild Wild West Classic (Brookfield, Serves as Mock Meet)
Dec. 12-13 — Clash of the Titans (Oshkosh)
Jan. 1-3 — Cancun Classic (Cancun, Mexico)
Jan. 9-10 — M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 29-31 — Altius Pink Ribbon Invitational (Franklin … includes leotard)
Feb. 20-21 — Wildcard Cruise Classic (Brookfield, AAU)
March 5-6 — Mississippi River Vacation Classic (Dubuque, Iowa)
March 19-20 — State Championships (Madison)

Boys’ Level 4
$480 (Installments of $120 due Sept. 30, Oct. 30, Nov. 30, Jan. 15)
Oct. 24-25 — Sheboygan YMCA (Sheboygan, Serves as Mock Meet)
Dec. 5 — Judges Invitational (Racine)
Jan. 9-10 — M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 17-18 — Strongman Invitational (Altius)
Feb. 5-7 — Sheboygan YMCA (Sheboygan)
Feb. 27-28 — Scamps Invitational (Kenosha)
March 19-20 — State Championships (Madison)

Boys’ Level 5/8
$720 (Installments of $180 due Sept. 30, Oct. 30, Nov. 30, Jan. 15)
Oct. 24-25 — Sheboygan YMCA (Sheboygan, Serves as Mock Meet)
Jan. 9-10 — M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 16-17 — Strongman Invitational (Altius)
Jan. 29-31 — Iceburg Open (Minneapolis)
Feb. 12-14 — Midwest Twisters Invitational (Milwaukee)
Feb. 27-28 — Scamps Invitational (Kenosha)
March 4-6 — Salto National Invitational (West Allis)
March 19-20 — State Championships (Madison)

Note that regionals is not included for any boys’, girls’ or Xcel level.

COMPETITION SEASON REMINDERS — This is the transcript of the information that was given out over the PA system after last Friday’s mock meet.

At the Meet: Be on time. Early is always better (however, for the benefit of meet organizers, try not to show up any earlier than 7:30 a.m. for an 8 a.m. session)! Have hair and make up already done (there are bows available for purchase in the front lobby). Be prepared with a bag for warm-ups, shoes, closed water bottles, & grips, etc.

Please remember that parents should be cheering for all Wildcard team members. Please have appropriate conversations in the stands. Speak positively about judges, coaches, other teams, and members of own team. (You never know who is listening!)

At a competition, parents and gymnasts are representing Wildcard so please be respectful and be a role model.

Sit with other Wildcard families and dress in team colors. You don’t have to wear Wildcard apparel, but let’s have some purple power!

Please understand that gymnasts are not allowed to go to their parents during the meet. Parents may not enter the competition area for any reason.

Gymnasts need to be cheering for their teammates and watching the competition. It’s okay to have a little fun with your teammates but remember that everyone has a different way to focus during a meet. While some kids might need to release a little nervous energy, others need a little quiet time to prepare.

After the Meet / At Awards: Never approach the judges!

Please stay for everyone’s awards.

Please don’t correct the PA announcer if your child’s name is mispronounced. The announcer is doing his/her best and are often volunteers. It can be very nerve wracking to try to read all of the awards while having people yell at you. So to keep the awards moving, please just accept the occasional mispronunciation. We do our best to let the announcers know how to pronounce each gymnast’s name ahead of time.

Remember that our competition is against gymnasts from other clubs, not with our own teammates. So if one of Wildcard’s gymnasts takes 1^st and another takes 2^nd, be happy for both gymnasts’ accomplishments and not be mad that your kid didn’t take first. In an ideal world, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd would be populated by Wildcard kids.

If possible, please stay for someone’s session if she is by herself. Next time, it could be your child by herself at a meet. It’s nice to know teammates are there cheering. Also, it is very unlikely that teammates not competing will be allowed on the gym floor with competing teammates, but the lone individual will know that she is supported (and we will make certain of it).

Remember find something positive to say your child and leave corrections to the coaches. Your job as a parent is to be supportive and champion their accomplishments. Make them feel special no matter what!

Other Important Points: Please know that we try to get everyone’s scores on Facebook almost immediately. There will be mistakes. Sometimes we read a score wrong. Sometimes we add wrong. We are trying to do this quickly. Also, we try to get the more accurate scores on the blog/website and success wall right away. Most of the time we are doing this late at night after a long weekend of competition, often without official results from the host club. Sometimes we make a mistake or accidentally forget someone. It’s not intentional or a big deal. We always acknowledge them during our Monday meet debrief.

If you have questions or concerns, please consider the “24 hour rule” with both your gymnast and coaches. Sometimes 24 hours gives you time to find out the answer, calm down, or think of a better way to approach a difficult situation. We don’t adhere to a strict 24 hour rule, but understand that the coaches are parents too. The coaches want to have time to talk to their kids as parents as well.

If possible, out of courtesy please give advance notice if you aren’t attending a meet. Also, please understand that there are no refunds for missed meets. (Severe injury is an exception.)

Please note: It is a team rule that you must attend your scheduled practice before the day of a competition. This is to be certain that your child is mentally prepared, focused, and physically ready. We have the right to not allow your child to compete.

Please do not expect your child to be on the medal stand if they aren’t coming to their specific level’s practices. Missed practices are definitely reflected in the scores or performances.

It is imperative that your gymnast attend her correct practice in order to be properly prepared. As we mentioned on the blog, with close to 100 kids on team, we don’t have the ability to accommodate makeups for every kid who misses (every gymnast missed at least one practice this summer).

We do not get meet schedules usually until 2 weeks in advance. Please do not call the host gym or ask our coaches if they know when your child competes. We post the schedule the minute that we have it. Also, we can not change the day your child competes, the session, or the award divisions. That is all determined by the meet director.

State Qualifying Scores:

Level 2 – No qualifying score (must compete in two meets)
Level 3 – 33.0
Level 4 – 32.0

WARM-UPS FOR XCEL — Xcel gymnasts should place their order for warm-up jackets by the end of September. Warm-ups are $95 for the jacket only. Xcel only needs to purchase the jacket. Pants are optional for the Xcel gymnasts. On the order form, there is no size information. We will size the gymnasts.

Xcel bronze, silver and gold should purchase the compulsory warm-ups. Xcel platinum and diamond should purchase the optional warm-ups.

Also, if your Xcel gymnast has not purchased a leotard or ordered one, please do that by the end of September as well.

Visit this site to place your order if you have not already:
wildcardgymnastics.tictail.com

PASTA FUNDRAISER — By now most of the team gymnasts have received their pasta fundraiser envelope.  We are once again partnering with Fun Pasta to raise money for new equipment at Wildcard.  Please understand that unlike other gymnastics clubs, Wildcard does not have a Booster Club, we do not charge you extra for coaching fees at meet, we do not assess an annual registration fee, and we go out of our way to try to keep your tuition costs low.  Fundraising is a way to bring in extra money to be able to replace worn out equipment, send coaches to training, offer additional practice times in the summer, etc.  Please help support Wildcard by participating in the fundraiser.

These items make fantastic gifts items for the holidays.  We do expect that everyone is participating in the fundraiser in some way.  If you prefer to just make a donation, you are welcome to do so for $150.  Brochure Pasta orders are due to Wildcard by October 8th and we expect them to be delivered by October 15th. If you have friends or family place an online order, those will be shipped almost immediately at the time of order.  While we don’t receive as much of a profit from the online orders, it is a convenient way to reach out-of-state family.

Here’s the link to the online pasta orders.  https://www.funpastafundraising.com/shop/wildcard-gymnastics-1

PRACTICE TIMES — We are having a huge issue with kids coming late (or not coming at all) to their scheduled practice times, particularly in the Optional groups. This is making it really difficult to manage group sizes as we don’t know how many kids will be showing up late.  (For example, one night we combined two groups because at the start of practice there were only 7 total kids.  By the end of the night 5 more had trickled in. Now we have a group of 12 that could have been split and gotten more individual attention.)  We want to continue to allow the gymnasts the opportunity to participate in school activities but we need them to arrive promptly so that the groups can be coached appropriately. Please remember that the practice times are designed to benefit the gymnasts.  If you are missing practice, it’s hard to get prepared for competition season.  If you are taking full advantage of the practice hours we provide, the competitive season will yield success.

Homecoming Invitational
September 19, 2015
Racine Gymnastics Center
2501 Golf Ave. Racine | MAP | 35.2 mi., 42 min.

PRESEASON MEET CLARIFICATION — The pre-season meet is only for girls’ Level 2, 3, 4 and 5. Boys will have their pre-season meet in October in Sheboygan. Girls’ Level 6, 7, 8/9 and Xcel will have their preseason meet as part of the Wild Wild West Classic in October. Tumbling and Trampoline will have their pre-season meet in November. The team picture is prior to the preseason meet on Friday at 4:30 p.m., so we expect on all of our levels of team can attend, but the competition is just for Girls’ Level 2-5. Optionals are encouraged to stay and help. Fast Track is encouraged to come watch so that they can learn how the process works for their upcoming meet season.

LEOTARD EXCHANGE — We have heard from a couple of individuals now that their long-sleeve leotard is too snug (Payton D., Level 2; Vanesa K., Level 4; and Angela B., Level 4). If you have tried your competition leotard on your gymnast and you don’t think it fits well, we will try to gather gymnasts after the team picture for a leotard exchange. We do not have any larger leotards at this time, so we would need to order for the largest of sizes.

SHORT-SLEEVE EXHIBITION LEOTARD — If gymnasts that have both the long-sleeve and short-sleeve leotard could bring both leotards to the team picture, that would be appreciated. We will have a few gymnasts who do not have the short-sleeve leotard yet on Xcel that will need to borrow for the team picture. Those take quite a long time to produce, so we are still waiting on them from the distributor.

WARM-UPS — Compulsory level warm-ups have arrived if you ordered by the original deadline. We will distribute those on Friday after the team picture. There were some who ordered late and those are not be available yet. We are still waiting on optional-level warm-ups.

FALL SCHEDULE BEGINS MONDAY — As a reminder, the Fall schedule begins on Monday. Please see previous blog posts for the most updated schedule. There are a few groups who changed times and dates, so double check the blog.

LABOR DAY PRACTICES — We will not have any team practice on Saturday, September 5. This includes Girls’ Level 2 and 3, TOPs/HOPES, Boys’ Level 8 and Xcel Gold. The mock meet will serve as the extra practice for Girls’ Level 2 and Level 3. Xcel Gold will have their practice made up closer to meet season.

Additionally, there will be no T&T practice on Friday, September 4. Please have all T&T athletes come to practice on Wednesday, September 2 from 7:15-8:30 p.m.

PRACTICE MAKE-UPS — Parents, please understand that we have a difficult time with allowing make-ups for missed team practices. If your child misses a practice, it is difficult for us to have them make up with a different level. What if, for instance, the whole of our Level 3 team decided to miss and want to make up with Level 4 the next day? We couldn’t accommodate the additional 15 gymnasts during that practice. Even adding one gymnast to a Level 4 group which is already bulging at 12 gymnasts is difficult, taking time away from the 12 currently on that team. While we appreciate the desire to attend practice, it’s just not feasible to schedule everyone who misses practice at a different time. If you miss a practice, come to Friday Night Open Gym or set up a private lesson.

Also understand that we have a very generous summer practice schedule. We offer every level (except Xcel Bronze and Silver) additional time without an additional charge. Our Level 9s/XDs had 72 extra practice hours offered this summer at no additional charge. Even Fast Track has been offered 24 extra practice hours this summer. Some gymnasts have made almost all extra practices, some next to none. But this is our way of offering you makeups over the course of the year. This should cover vacations, illnesses and the occasional shut down of practice during instructional, holiday or weather-related times.

COMPETITIVE SCHEDULE CHANGE — There have been some dates that have changed to some of our meets based on original information that we received. All final meet schedules will be on wildcard-gymnastics.com under the team tab (along with all historical meet results).

The following meets have had changes, thus necessitating a change in schedule for us:

Buffalo Grove Hawaiian Pineapple has been scheduled for Dec. 19-20 instead of Dec. 12-13. Boys Level 5 & 8 and Girls’ Level 6-up were scheduled to attend. We would like to replace this meet with either the Justin Spring Invitational (at the University of Illinois-Champaign) for both boys and girls or the UW-Oshhosh Invitational (at UW-Oshkosh) for girls and and find a different meet for the boys (likely Salto in March). Both Justin Spring and UW-Oshkosh are on Dec. 12-13. Parents of boys’ Level 5-up and girls’ Level 6-up, please let us know your preference.

There has been some concern over the girls’ meet scheduled in Minneapolis on Jan. 29-31. Honestly, this was done to keep our boys’ and girls’ team together as the boys are scheduled to compete in Minneapolis at a different meet that same weekend. If the Minnesota competition is too much of a bother, we can replace that on the girls’ side with the Altius Pink Ribbon Meet in Franklin, Wis., that same weekend if there is concern over going to Minnesota. Parents of girls’ Level 6-up, please let us know your preference.

The Wildcard Cruise Classic is looking more and more like its not going to be an off-site meet this season. It is looking like it will be a USAG-sanctioned Xcel meet and an AAU-sanctioned all levels meet with no boys or T&T competition. As a result, we will replace this meet on the boys schedule with another meet TBD and the T&T meet will be replaced by another meet as well once we get a full T&T meet schedule from the clubs in Wisconsin and the clubs in Illinois. Even if the meet is to go off site with boys, it will definitely not have T&T as we haven’t come to an acceptable agreement with M&M Gymnastics who was going to provide the equipment. The T&T meet will be replaced by a meet at Gymfinity (Fitchburg) and we’re still waiting on one more meet to add to the schedule.

OLYMPIC COACH FACES CHARGES — We wanted to discuss this before it became a “hotbed” topic. Olympic coach and gym owner Marvin Sharp — coach of Olympians Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan — has been arrested on a charge of child molestation. For those of you who follow gymnastics, this will be in your news feed. For those of you who don’t, this still may be in your news feed. We want to address it because it will be a topic for discussion, and we don’t want to turn a blind eye toward this. Click here for the story.

USA Gymnastics provides resources to clubs to prevent this type of thing from happening. They provide educational resources (which we have passed on to the gymnasts). USAG provides a list of individuals ineligible for hire that are no longer allowed to be associated with USA Gymnastics. USAG also requires background checks for coaches and staff through an independent organization to safeguard this from happening.

The shocking thing about this case is that it did happen despite USAG’s safeguards. It happened to one of USA Gymnastics national team coaches. It happened down the street from USA Gymnastics headquarters (Marvin Sharp’s gym is located in Indianapolis as is USA Gymnastics headquarters). It happened to someone who is embedded with USA Gymnastics (Samantha Peszek’s mother, LuAnn is one of the top officials in USA Gymnastics, serving as vice president of the women’s artistic program for many years until being moved to vice president of tumbling & trampoline this year).

Some of us have met Marvin Sharp. He comes off as an “everyday” guy, a hard worker, willing to share his expertise. He is the typical, “he doesn’t look like he would … ” kind of person.

The point is, despite all safeguards, this did happen. We want to address this to encourage parents to speak to your children about what to do if something were to happen to them (no matter where it occurred, be it school, on the bus, at home, or at sports activity). Children need to have a voice if something inappropriate happens to them. Please let your children know that they can come to any of us at any time if they have a concern or feel like something inappropriate happened. Children know when something isn’t right.  They know if it made them feel uncomfortable and should have someone to talk with about those feelings.

The corollary to this is that we must remember that Marvin Sharp was just arrested at this point and has not been found guilty. This very thing happened to a club owner in Wisconsin. He was accused and arrested of inappropriate relations with a minor. It went to trial and he was found not guilty because it was a false accusation. Even the accusation had an adverse affect on this individual.

Remember, that most people are good, hard-working, trustworthy individuals.  At Wildcard, we strive to hire qualified, safe, family-oriented coaches.  We don’t want this situation to scare the gymnasts, parents, or potential customers.  We simply promote a safe and friendly environment with open communication.

FALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE — With much anticipation, we are finally ready to release our Fall Practice schedule. We try to stay as close to the same as possible, but it’s difficult given coach availability and trying to give our groups a fair amount of practice times. The Fall training schedule will begin Aug. 31.

Girls’ Level 2
Wednesdays 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Saturdays 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Girls’ Level 3
Tuesdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Saturdays 9 a.m.-noon

Girls’ Level 4
Mondays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Wednesdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Fridays 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Girls’ Level 6
Mondays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Wednesdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Fridays 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Girls’ Level 7
Mondays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Tuesdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Wednesdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Fridays 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Girls’ Level 9/Xcel Diamond
Mondays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Tuesdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-8:30 p.m.
Fridays 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Girls’ Xcel Bronze
Mondays 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Girls’ Xcel Silver
Tuesdays 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Thursdays 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Girls’ Xcel Gold/Platinum
Wednesdays 5:30-8 p.m.
Saturdays 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
* Platinum can come one additional time with Level 6 or 7

Girls’ Fast Track
Tuesdays 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Thursdays 6:30-8:30 p.m.

TOPS/HOPES
Mondays 4-5:30 p.m.
Saturdays 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Boys’ Level 4
Tuesdays 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-6:30 p.m.

Boys’ Level 5-8
Tuesdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Wednesdays 4:30-8 p.m.
Thursdays 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Alternating Saturdays 9 a.m.-noon

Tumbling & Trampoline (come to one of the two, trying to split the group into two even groups)
Wednesdays 7:15-8:30 p.m.
Fridays 4:30-5:45 p.m.

PRACTICE NEXT WEEK — This is the final full week of morning practice. The summer schedule will continue through the end of next week (Aug. 28) for evening practices.

The Level 7 &  9/XDs will have practice on Monday morning, Aug. 24, 9 a.m.-noon as the final full morning practice. Level 6s may come to this practice as well. There will be no morning practice for any levels on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week. On Friday, Aug. 28, there will be morning practice for Levels 6, 7 and 9/XD from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The optional levels will not have practice in the evening on Aug. 28 due to the pre-season meet. There will be no open gym of any kind on August 28.

NO LABOR DAY PRACTICE — There will be no practice on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7.

TEAM PICTURE — We will have the team photo and pre-season meet on Friday, Aug. 28. All gymnasts or tumbling and trampoline team members who plan on competing in the fall or winter/spring seasons should plan on attending. (Fast Track is included.)

Girls’ gymnasts should wear their current long sleeve leotard for the picture. If your gymnast doesn’t have that leotard, she should wear the short-sleeve exhibition leotard with the  Wildcard Gymnastics logo on the back. If your gymnast doesn’t have the short sleeve leotard, we will have some to borrow. Some of you have ordered the leotard and they are on their way, but will not be here by the team picture.

Boys’ will be provided a t-shirt in which to borrow for the picture. They should wear black shorts in addition.

Coaches will be provided with a t-shirt to wear. They should wear black pants in addition. Any coach who will be working with a team group in September and beyond should plan on attending.

Please have your gymnast to the gym and ready (with leotard on and hair done nicely) for the picture by 4:30 p.m. on Friday. We will not wait for anyone as the pre-season meet is scheduled to follow.

All levels listed above in the fall team schedule are expected to participate in the team photo: Girls Level 2-9, All Xcel Levels, Boys, Tumbling & Trampoline and Fast Track. Individual and level-specific pictures will be taken in November.

PRE-SEASON MEET — Warm-ups for the pre-season meet will begin around 5:15 p.m., immediately after the team picture. We’d like the floor to be available for general stretch at 5 p.m. with timed warm-ups beginning at 5:15 p.m. We will stick to that schedule as close as possible but the team photo may push it back some.

We anticipate march in beginning at 6:15 p.m. and the meet concluding around 7:45 p.m.

Gymnasts may wear either the long-sleeve or the short sleeve leotard for this meet.

LEOTARDS — We have been notified by some parents that their child’s competition leotard doesn’t fit or is a little snug. Please have your child try on their competition leotard before the team picture. If it is too tight, we might be able to swap with some gymnasts for larger sizes. If we have to place an order for a leotard that doesn’t fit, we will need to do that by the end of the month to have any chance to have these in house by the second meet of the season.

OPEN GYM — The final summer afternoon open gym is this Friday, Aug. 21. We will resume with evening open gyms on Friday, Sept. 4, 8:30-10 p.m.

MEET FEES & WARM-UPS — The final installment for Level 2, 3, 4 & 5 meet fees is due on Aug. 30. We have a small handful of gymnasts who have not paid any meet fees. Please see the front desk to make arrangements, otherwise your gymnast will not be able to compete this season. You should have received a bill after the second installment of meet fees were due if you were in the arrears on these fees.

We also have a few compulsory level gymnasts who haven’t ordered the warm-ups for this season. Your child will not be allowed to compete if you have not purchased the warm-up. The compulsory warm-ups should arrive at the gym in the next couple of days. If you were late in ordering or just joined team, those will not be delivered with this first batch of warm-ups. If your gymnast doesn’t receive her warm-up when they arrive, please check with Blain on your order.

The first installment of meet fees for Xcel, Girls’ Level 6-up, Boys’ and T&T will be due in September. Xcel will be ordering warm-ups if they haven’t already done so in September.

NON-PRACTICE TIMES — This is a firm reminder that gymnasts aren’t allowed on equipment before and after their practice times. If your gymnasts’ practice is concluded and other levels are still going on, that does not mean your child can continue to “play” on equipment. Please take your gymnast off the floor after his or her practice.

Even more important, parents who are not employees of Wildcard Gymnastics are not allowed to instruct their child or other children at the gym on the gym’s equipment before or after practice time. We had a situation last week where a parent was in the gym when practices were not held instructing their child on equipment on a skill that the child is not ready for. This was repeated again on Wednesday night. This is dangerous and unacceptable.

All of our employees are trained both in house and out of house. That is the reason we didn’t have practice last week, so our staff could attend the national convention for training purposes. They know what they are doing and have been trained appropriately for every level that they instruct.  Please respect that your Wildcard staff is knowledgeable, exceedingly capable, and well-equipped to teach the classes or levels they are assigned.

NO SUMMER SPECTACULAR — We had the Summer Spectacular on the schedule at the beginning of the summer. As expected, we are not going to hold it this year. We apologize for any disruption this may cause.  The Spectacular will likely be rescheduled to later in the year.

LOCKERS — We are trying to reassign lockers next week for all of the levels.  While we hope to keep the same lockers, please remove all items from your locker/cubby on by Friday, this week so that we can rearrange lockers, if needed.  Also, this is a reminder that no food is to be kept in the locker rooms.  We have also added a water bottle shelf in the gym for gymnasts to put their water bottle during practice.  This will eliminate kids going into the locker room to eat or socialize.

THANK YOU TO BELLA AND HEIDI — It is with great pride and sadness that we wish much future success to both Bella and Heidi as they conclude their time with Wildcard Gymnastics. Both Bella and Heidi competed for Wildcard and became recreational instructors. This year, we handed the Xcel Gold program to the two and it flourished.

Bella still has a couple of days before heading off to college at the University of Wisconsin. Heidi has already left for college, attending Martin Luther in Minnesota. We wish them the best and offer a huge thank you.

SUCCESS WALL — We were amiss in saluting our success wall additions after AAU Junior Olympic Games (the photos have not made it up on the wall either). We had a great amount of success at this AAU national event with three all-around champions and one All-American.

The following are additions to our success wall:

Level 3
Caelyr G. — 9.125 on floor
Rhianna R. — 9.000 on bars
Taylor W. — 9.025 on floor

Level 6
Emily G. — 9.150 on bars (1st), 1st on beam, 9.000 on floor (1st), 1st AA

Level 7
Bradyn F. — 9.000 on bars
Delaney H. — 9.350 on vault (1st), 9.000 on bars, 9.200 on beam (1st), 9.500 on floor (1st), 1st AA
Camille P. — 9.275 on vault, 9.050 on bars (1st)
Maria R. – 9.000 on beam, 9.050 on floor

Level 8
Rose D. — 9.125 on floor
Ava G. — 9.000 on floor

Open (Level 10)
Hallie F. — 1st on bars, 9.400 on beam (1st), 9.375 on floor (1st), 1st AA, All-American award for highest All-Around in Level

PRACTICE CHANGES — Due to a couple of events coming up, there will be some practice changes in the next few weeks. Please observe the following changes (note, if it’s not listed, it hasn’t changed):

Monday, Aug. 3
Tumbling & Trampoline 4-5:30 p.m. (From Friday, Aug. 7)

Wednesday, Aug. 5
NO MORNING TEAM PRACTICES (Includes Level 3, Level 4, Xcel Silver and Boys)

Thursday, Aug. 6
NO MORNING TEAM PRACTICES (Includes Level 3, Level 4, Xcel Silver and Boys)

Friday, Aug. 7
NO BOYS PRACTICE
NO TUMBLING & TRAMPOLINE TEAM (moved to Monday, Aug. 3)
NO OPEN GYM

Saturday, Aug. 8
Xcel Bronze moves to 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
Xcel Gold/Platinum moves to 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 10
Tumbling & Trampoline 4-5:30 p.m. (From Friday, Aug. 14)

Wednesday, Aug. 12
NO EVENING TEAM PRACTICES (Includes Girls’ Level 2, Level 4, Level 6-9, Boys, Xcel), Morning Practices are the Same

Thursday, Aug. 13
NO MORNING TEAM PRACTICES (Includes Girls’ Level 6, 7, 9)
NO EVENING TEAM PRACTICES (Includes Boys’ Level 4, Girls’ Level 2, 3, 7 & 9, Girl’s Xcel)

Friday, Aug. 14
NO MORNING PRACTICES (Includes Boys’, Girls’ & T&T)
NO OPEN GYM

Saturday, Aug. 15
NO MORNING PRACTICES (Includes Girls’ Level 3 and Xcel)

There is no team practice from Wednesday evening through Saturday morning due to the national coaches convention, where we’re taking most of our coaches for education and learning. For those levels that haven’t received increased practice time during the summer (Xcel Bronze and Silver), these hours will be made up closer to the meet season. All other Levels have had increased summer hours with no increase in tuition to accommodate for missed practices.

Summer morning practices will continue through the week of August 17-21. There will be no daytime practices Aug. 24-28. The team photo and pre-season meet will be Aug. 28.
More details will follow as we get closer.

FALL PRACTICE SCHEDULE — We don’t have the fall practice schedule set yet, but we do have an idea of some changes that will occur. Starting Aug. 31, we will switch to the school-year practice schedule but until then the summer schedule will still stay in effect, with morning practices being discontinued at some point.  We will have that schedule available shortly.

MEET FEES – Please note that the second set of meet fees for the Level 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s will be posted to the accounts and charged on July 30. We still have some people who haven’t paid the first installment of meet fees, due to credit card issues. If you haven’t paid the first set of meet fees, please do so immediately.

Gymnasts who have not paid for meet fees will not be placed on rosters for the competitions. The meet fees for the September competitions will be due in a few weeks, so we might not get your child in if you haven’t paid for meet fees.

Level 2 Fees: $225 ($75 per installment due June 30, July 30, Aug. 30)
Level 3 Fees: $450 ($150 per installment due June 30, July 30, Aug. 30)
Level 4 Fees: $480 ($160 per installment due June 30, July 30, Aug. 30)
Level 5 Fees: $150 ($50 per installment due June 30, July 30, Aug 30)

MEET SCHEDULES — At this point, we are pretty confident with our meet schedules. They are the following:

GIRLS’ LEVEL 2
Aug. 28 at Preseason Meet (Brookfield)
Oct. 10-11 at CSA Kids (at UW-Whitewater)
Oct. 24-25 at Wildcard (Brookfield)
Nov. 14-15 at M&M (New Berlin)
Nov. 21-22 at Salto (Waukesha)
Dec. 5-6 at Level 2 State (Madison)

GIRLS’ LEVEL 3 & 4 
Aug. 28 at Preseason Meet (Brookfield)
Sept. 19-20 at Racine (Racine)
Oct. 3-4 at Swiss Turners (West Allis)
Oct. 10-11 at CSA Kids (at UW-Whitewater)
Oct. 24-25 at Wildcard (Brookfield)
Nov. 7-8 at Starz (Green Bay)
Nov. 14-15 at M&M (New Berlin)
Nov. 21-22 at Salto (Waukesha)
Dec. 5-6 at Level 3-5 State (Madison)

GIRLS’ LEVEL 6, 7, & 8/9
Oct. 25 at Preseason Meet (Brookfield)
Nov. 14-15 at M&M (New Berlin)
Dec. 12-13 at Hawaiian Pineapple (Schaumburg, Ill.) *
Jan. 1-3 at Cancun Classic (Cancun, Mexico)
Jan. 9-10 at M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 29-31 at Legacy Luau (Eden Praire, Minn.)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy) *
March 5-6 at AAU Midwest Regionals (Dubuque, Iowa) *
March 19-20 at State Championships (Madison) *
April 8-10 at Region 4 Championships (St. Louis, Mo.)
* short season Level 6s (coming from Level 4) will compete these meets

GIRLS’ XCEL BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD
Oct. 25 at Preseason Meet (Brookfield)
Jan. 9-10 at M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 29-31 at Altius Pink Ribbon Invitational (Franklin)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy)
March 5-6 at AAU Midwest Regionals (Dubuque, Iowa)
March 12-13 at State Championships (Waukesha)

BOYS’ LEVEL 4
Dec. 5 at Judges Invitational (Racine)
Jan. 9-10 at M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 16-17 at Strongman Invitational (Franklin)
Feb. 5 at Snowflake Invitational (Sheboygan)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy)
Feb. 27-28 at Scamps Boys’ Invitational (Kenosha)
March 19-20 at State Championships (Waukesha)

BOYS’ LEVEL 5-8
Jan. 9-10 at M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Jan. 16-17 at Strongman Invitational (Franklin)
Jan. 29-31 at Iceberg Classic (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Feb. 13-14 at Midwest Twisters Invitational (Milwaukee)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy)
Feb. 27-28 at Scamps Boys’ Invitational (Kenosha)
March 19-20 at State Championships (Waukesha)
April 9-10 at Region 4 Championships (Lincoln, Neb.)

TUMBLING & TRAMPOLINE
Nov TBD Preseason Meet
Dec. 20 at Frozen Challenge (New Berlin, Wis.)
Jan. 9-10 at M&M Challenge (West Allis)
Early Feb at Gymfinity Meet (Fitchburg)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy)
April TBD at State Championships (TBD)

OFFSEASON COMPULSORY & SPRING GIRLS’ LEVEL 2
Feb. 6-7 at GymTastics (Watertown)
Feb. 20-21 Wildcard Cruise Classic (Cudahy)
March 5-6 at AAU Midwest Regionals (Dubuque, Iowa)

OFFSEASON CHAMPIONSHIP MEETS (Additional Costs)
Late June TBD at Badger State Games (Weston, Wis.)
June 30-July 3 at AAU Age Group Nationals (Disney Resort, Fla.)
July 27-Aug. 6 at AAU Junior Olympics (Houston, Texas)

Meet fees will start in October for Boys, Girls Optional, Xcel and T&T. And as usual, all of this is subject to change.

CANCUN CLASSIC – The Cancun Classic trip is officially on our schedule. We should be able to compete in this with very limited time missed from school. The meet schedule for this competition is as follows:

Jan. 1 — Compulsories (evening only)
Jan. 2 — Optionals and College Meet
Jan. 3 — Optionals

There is no competition scheduled for Jan. 4. Optional level families can plan on flying home on Monday, Jan. 4, missing just that day of school. Compulsory families could leave earlier to make it home in time for returning to school on Jan. 4.

At this point, we’re not planning on traveling as a group. A few group travel requests were denied as group travel isn’t allowed on some airlines during this time and on other airlines they were just too pricy.

Also at this point, we don’t have a hotel planned. That could change. The meet hotel is very expensive (it’s nice and it’s all-inclusive), but at $595 per night,  you can find better priced accommodations. There are several other hotels in the area. The recommendations for those hotels are:

Royal Resorts Cancun (royalresorts.com). Next hotel to Iberostar. $220+ per night, but the villas are suites with full kitchens.

Flamingo Resorts (www.flamingocancun.com/index_en.html). Right around $200 per night. Would require transportation as the meet site isn’t overly close.

Holiday Inn Cancun (www.ihg.com/holidayinn/hotels/us/en/cancun/cunmx/hoteldetail).  Right around $200 per night. Would require transportation as the meet site isn’t overly close.

There are other hotels which are cheaper and others which are more expensive. If we get a deal, we will let you know. Essentially, any hotel in the Hotel Zone will be safer and as nice as any hotel you will ever visit. Obviously, the more you pay, the more you will get. Some hotels range upwards of $700/night. If you want to make a grand vacation of it, please do so.

The meet fee is $130 and is due by Oct. 1. This is non-refundable. Optional level girls, this will be included in your meet fees. We expect participation from the optionals. For non-optional levels, we will need it in advance.

GOODBYE, JASON — In the coming days, we’re going to have to say good bye to Jason Trow, our Fast Track and Boys’ Level 4 team coach. He has accepted a teaching position in the northern part of the state. It is an unfortunate loss for Wildcard. We wish Jason the best. In the mean time, Blain will be taking over the boys Level 4 teams in the mean time. Fast Track’s instructors will be determined at a later time.