All-Star Judges Mistake Rant

[JessikaLOVE]

So i went to a competion in canada today and something happen to me and my team that really upset me and i was just wondering if this had happen to you or if you had ever seen it happen and what was done about it.
Today we only had 1 other team in our division and they had a pretty bad stunt fall, our routines are pretty similar in difficulty as well. We hit a cleann and amazing routine. it was the best we have performed it yet. Even other paerents stopped us to tell us how amazing we were. we thought we had it in the bag.
WE went to awards and were announced as first. Obviously, we were very excited and happy.
Just after we recieved our banner and they were moving onto the next divison our coaches were called to the judges table.
When my coach came back she told us that there had been a mistake. One of the judges when entering a score had put a comma in sted of a period (1,25 not 1.25) so the decimal places aftrer the coma were not added into the final score so we had actually taken second.
I just think that all of this had been checked BEFORE they gave us the award. I am not upset that we got second, i am just mad we got first and then had it taken away.

 

[AllstarObsession]

That's definitely heart breaking! I would be really upset too. I thought in times that that happened they didn't take it away from the team original announced, but just recognized the other team and gave banner/trophy, etc?

 

[JessikaLOVE]

That's definitely heart breaking! I would be really upset too. I thought in times that that happened they didn't take it away from the team original announced, but just recognized the other team and gave banner/trophy, etc?

nope, they made us give it all to the other team.

 

[JessikaLOVE]

we got second by not even a full point.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

That happened to my high schools JV team once, except they had accidentally gotten 1st not 2nd. It also happened to our varsity at our star qualifier this year. They were called in 2nd and then on the bus ride home the coach got a phone call saying they actually got 3rd

 

[tumbleyoda]

I am so sorry that happened to you and your program. Math errors are what I am finding to be the most common mistake across the board of the reasons why placements are wrong. Remember we can only count to 8. We have had two events this year where math errors robbed our athletes of the moment in the arena as being announced as having won their division. One made it right by shipping banners and hoodies, immediately without taking them from the other team. The other just said oops, your right, sorry.

In the rush to get the scores out, there must also be a concern to make sure they are right. Whether we like to admit it or not there is prestige attached to winning certain events and is a definite marketing plus for gyms in their home market. If you want to keep your clients returning you need to make sure that you get the scores right the first time. And if by chance you make a mistake, own up to it. Don't make a gym look like bad sports by saying they really won, when you won't confirm publicly what you acknowledged privately. Announce it both at the event, and on the website with the rest of the results.

In your case, once they publicly acknowledged their error they should of let you guys keep what they already given you, and coughed up the extra for the other gym.

ETA: I don't think this is the only issue with scoring. Not properly trained judges, not giving proper credit for difficultly, performance errors given instead of legality deductions that seem to favor larger, more connected and powerful gyms, collusion, alleged favoritism of certain programs/teams are all issues. But knowing how to properly tally scoresheets seems to be #1.

 

[AllstarErin]

Cheer Alliance made that mistake with my team back in 2008. Only it was the other way around. My girls got called as second (only two teams in the division) at Nationals (biggest comp of the year in Canada), which we were fine with but a bit suspicious of as we had full team tumble, at level stunts etc. and the other team was behind on that. But we accepted it as one of those things and went on with our day. I then noticed that the judges had miscalculated when I got our scoresheets and brought the issue to the attention of the EP. They realized their mistake but said there wasn't much they could do as they didn't want to devastate the other kids by snatching their trophy away and giving it to another team, which I could understand. On the flip side, my kids were devastated because they didn't get their moment, trophy or jackets. So in these situations both teams loose! That being said humans make errors and sometimes these things are no ones fault.

Its awesome that the teams in your division were so close together because it shows how Canadian cheerleading is evolving and getting better every year. Feel proud of yourself for putting on the best performance of your season! The year isn't over yet and I'm sure your team will get ahold of that trophy at your next comp!

 

[Valvalmom]

We were at one competition this year where team placements were announced in reverse. So the team that was announced as last place had actually been ranked first and vice versa. This went on for the entire first session awards. It was especially sad to watch because many of the divisions affected were tiny/mini age.

If varsity/us finals mandated that awards/prizes etc be given to both (all in some cases) teams in competitions that award their bids, there may be more attention to detail.

Are accountants used for cheer competitions? I know they are used in every figure skating Even in the lowest levels, there is always an accountant listed on the score sheets.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

The same happened to us this weekend. Scores were mixed all over the place, deductions not counted for some teams with obvious falls, etc. I've found scores missing of our score sheets, and even scores subtracted rather than added together. I've found it to be pretty common in the past.

I disagree with taking the medal and such from you at the competition. It's the judges/CP job to own their mistake and award both teams instead of penalizing your team for their mistake. Mistakes happen, but it sucks when your team is effected negatively like that because of those mistakes.

 

[newcheerdad]

Our gym runs its own decent-sized competition every year. In our tabulation room, we have one person add up the scores, another person double check them, and then the scores are entered into the computer by a third person. If something doesn't add up, we know about it right away.

I'm not saying we've never had an issue in the time I've worked in the scoring room, but if we have I'm not aware of it and we take extra care to make sure it doesn't happen.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Ren]

At a comp I went to last weekend they announced the results in reverse order, like usual, and called XYZ allstars as 4th place, then built up the tension for the top 3, then announed that actually they'd made a mistake and we'd placed 4th instead. While I guess it was good that they noticed that quickly, it was frustrating because we thought we'd placed top 3, when if we'd been annouced 4th originally we'd have been so happy...

 

[scottish_cheerleader]

i was at a comp last year where the awards were read out in the order that we compete. There were some very talented teams in the division which did not get the placings they deserved. it never really got resolved!!

 

[mommadonna]

we got second by not even a full point.

Man, that stinks! So sorry!

 

[mia4life06]

this happened to us at Jamfest Nationals last year in Large Junior 3 we got 3rd at awards but really got 2nd

 

[FierceIsTheName]

At a small competition, there were 10 people in our division. They called 5th and better. It wasn't us. Then my coach looked at the scoresheets and we got 3rd, but they messed up and didn't call it right.