Wildcard Gymnastics Team News

Due to the weather, the Sokol Sports Festival Opening Ceremonies will take place at the West Allis Central Field House, located at 8516 W Lincoln Ave. in West Allis. The schedule will remain the same. Please drop off your children by 5 p.m. for rehearsal. We will supervise your children until the end of the ceremonies, which will be around 8:30 p.m.

There may be concessions, so you might want to send your child with a few dollars, but you don’t need to. We don’t know the exact schedule of when we will perform. The kids should be free to go once we are done with our show. Please text Alison (414-737-1457), Blain (414-737-1458) or Amy (414-303-5195) when you are ready to pick up your child.

Admission is $16, so we recommend that you not stay. You are certainly welcome to stay, but be aware of the cost.

During our recent trip to Florida to learn the new compulsory routines, we were able to collaborate with coaches from CSA in Whitewater and J.E.T.S. in Minnesota.  We have arranged for their gymnasts and coaches to join us in learning/teaching the new routines to our gymnasts.

The girls will have the opportunity to focus on the new floor and beam routines and have multiple coaches working on the specific positions and shapes designated in the routines.  After seeing these presented, we can tell you that they are much harder than the previous routines. There is a significant emphasis on the artistry which is going to be very challenging for the younger gymnasts!

This compulsory clinic will be held Thursday, June 20^th and Friday, June 21^st at Wildcard.  The clinic will start at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday and go through until 2:00 p.m. Friday.  The gymnasts attending the clinic will be spending the night at the gym for some team bonding, fun, and wind-down time.  The other gymnasts who are coming from CSA and J.E.T.S will be spending the night too.

Due to the complexity of the new routines we are strongly recommending that each compulsory gymnast attend this camp because this is really the only time that we will be teaching the routines in full.  After that, a private lesson will need to be scheduled to learn the routine.  The cost will be $50 for Wildcard gymnasts (the out-of-town teams are paying $100 per gymnast) and will cover all gym fees, coaches’ fees for the guest coaches, lodging and food for each gymnast.  Wildcard will be covering 100% of the actual clinic fee.

The Optionals are also being extended the invitation to work with the J.E.T.S. coaches and work with other Optionals.  This is a great opportunity for them to have some team bonding and a chance to train with some new gymnasts/coaches. The cost for Optionals will be $25.

Again we want to reiterate that this clinic will be extremely important for your gymnast to attend.

Please feel free to contact Amy or Alie with any further questions.  Please make sure to register for the clinic in advance.

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

Parade Date:            Monday, May 27^th, 2013 

Reporting Time:        Please arrive between 10:00-10:15 a.m.    Most people will be arriving earlier, but since we will have small kids, I think we can stall a bit. Last year we waited an hour after start time!!!

Parade Start Time:  10:30 a.m.

Reporting Location:  Elm Grove Village Park  (last year we were at the far end of the parking lot)

Drop Off Location:  The Footbridge on Legion Drive  (Legion Drive is between North Ave and Juneau), just West of 124^th street.  (The end of the route is the Elm Grove Village area).

*  Park entrances will be closed to ALL except parade vehicles.   Please drop off parade participants at the Footbridge on Legion Drive that will be demarcated by a large, yellow ‘Drop Off Here’ sign.  This is the shortest distance to the parade staging area. 

** There is NO parking or prolonged stopping near the footbridge.   Please drop off quickly and continue moving. 

As in the past, the 1.2 mile parade route will begin at the Village Park and end at Wall Street off of Elm Grove Road.   Unless your vehicle is part of your act, there will be NO PARKING available at Village Park.   There will be parking available at the end of the parade route in the lots behind the Park and Shop.  This leaves your vehicle at the end of the parade route for an easy exit.   You may want to carpool and have people park near the end of the route.

The route is:  North on Legion, East on Elmhurst Pkwy, South on Church St, West on Watertown Plank, South on Elm Grove Rd, East on Wall St ending at Park n Shop.   We will gather the kids near the parking lot of the M&I Bank/BMO Harris Bank (hopefully!) right at the end of the route.  Please pick up your gymnast there!! 

Link to the parade route map and area:  

http://www.elmgrovewi.org/DocumentCenter/View/741

–       Wear your 4^th of July leotard and have your hair/makeup done nicely.  (PS – the Dollar Store has some really cute sparkly headbands and bows in red,white, & blue).  Boys can wear a Blue or Red Wildcard shirt with navy shorts.  Don’t forget sunscreen, tennis shoes and socks, and your stretchy magic gloves for tumbling. 

–       We will need 3-4 wagons for carrying water and 4-6 parents to pass out brochures, hold the sign, help with water.  Please sign up with Amy or Alie.  If you do walk in the parade, you must have on a Wildcard t-shirt.

–       The only kids that may ride in a wagon if too tired will be the JR Gold Bugs.  One parent per JR Gold Bug may walk in the parade but you must wear a Wildcard T-shirt.  Please purchase one for $15.00.  We would like to discourage the use of strollers during the parade unless absolutely necessary. 

–       Each gymnast should bring a water bottle to share.  You may want to freeze part of it to keep it cold during the parade.  These will be community water bottles.  There will not be time during the parade for gymnasts to look for their own personal water bottles.

–       Please wear your leotard and gloves, shoes.  Do NOT bring extra supplies with you.  There will be no one to carry/hold them for you.

–    All Team to attend: Jr Gold Bugs, Gold Bugs I & II, Fast Track, Boys Team, Level 2-10 Girls