Wildcard Gymnastics Team News

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

The TOPs practice schedule for the summer will begin on June 19th. 

All TOPs (new and old) will practice Tuesdays from 4:30 -6:30 p.m. Fridays in June from 10:30 –noon/ Thursdays in July from 10:30 –noon and Saturdays from 9:00 -11:00 for new TOPs gymnasts and 10:30 -1:00 for our veteran TOPs members . (There will be no practice 6/28 or 6/29. Additional changes in the schedule will be communicated by the TOPs coach.)  We do realize that this may overlap with your gymnast’s practice schedule and that will be okay because some of the skills will be repeated during TOPs or the TOPs skills will make learning new skills easier.  

New TOPs parents and gymnasts please feel free to come and observe and/or try  a TOPs practice on Tuesdays from 4:40 -6:30 or Saturdays from 9-noon until June 18.

2013 Girls’ Summer Team Schedule

AAU NATIONALS: For those of you planning on competing at AAU Nationals, we need to have your payment for registration in by May 4. The deadline for registering for the AAU Nationals meet is the following week and late entering this meet is very difficult due to its competition size. If you plan on attending AAU Nationals, please let us know ASAP. The cost for AAU Nationals is $85.

AAU has updated its competition schedule, which is slightly different than what they previously announced. The following is its overview schedule (the daily schedule runs from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.):

• Wednesday, June 12: Check-in (available every day)
• Thursday, June 13: Girls’ Level 3, 4; Opening Ceremonies/Athlete Dance Party 8-9:30 p.m.
• Friday, June 14: Girls’ Level 3, 4, 5
• Saturday, June 15: Girls’ Level 5, 7; Boys’ Level 3, 4
• Sunday, June 16: Girls’ Level 7, 8, Open; Boys Level 3, 4

A session-by-session schedule will be available later in May.

For hotel arrangements and Disney theme park options through AAU’s travel provider, click here. You do not need to book your hotels or theme park tickets through this link, but there are some savings offered on Disney-owned and other Disney-area hotels. There are also some savings on Disney World tickets. These savings are unavailable through any other means. For example, an adult 7-day, park hopper ticket is regularly $367 and through this link its $306. Not all tickets  are discounted, however. A night at Disney’s All-Star Sports will normally run $150 per night before tax. Booking through this link, a night in All-Star Sports will be $95 per night before tax.

Ordinarily, we would be arranging a practice for those planning on competing at AAU Nationals, however, given the proximity of the end of school, we will not be arranging a practice.

SOKOL NATIONALS: The 2013 National Sokol Festival will be held in West Allis and Wauwatosa this summer and local area gyms have been given the opportunity to compete. Sokol is a national social and athletic organization with local chapters and they hold a national sports festival with competition in multiple sports. They have graciously allowed us to participate with their organization without becoming members. They use USA Gymnastics routines and will have competition for both boys and girls. The festival will be held June 25-29 with the gymnastics competition taking place at Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis. The cost of this meet is $45. We need to have payment and your child’s intent to participate by May 10 to meet their deadline. If you wish to register after the deadline, the cost is $90. We recommend that all of our boys’ and girls’ team members in all levels (including optionals) participate in this meet.

The schedule for the competition is as follows (the descriptions are from the Sokol organization):

• Thursday June 27: Male & Female Gymnastics, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Friday, June 28: Male and Female Gymnastics, 8 a.m.-noon
• Saturday, June 29: Children’s Lower Level Gymnastics, 8:30 a.m.-noon