Judges

Next year is better because it will be good for 2 years.

 

Or so they say now! That was initially said in 2009 when tests were taken as well. Fingers crossed it's legit this time!

 

I looked into getting my judging certification. I would have to say that I respectfully disagree with the people saying that its easy and that they will let anyone judge. I was not planning on actually judging at all, I wanted to do it more because my daughter is so young and has so many years left in the sport and I thought it would help to understand the judging process more. The few certifications I looked into were pretty straight forward, you attend a training for a day or a few days and take a test. If you pass, you are certified, but not to actually go right out and judge. My information said that you were more like an "apprentice" and that you would have to "log" so many hours at Pop Warner and HS comps and work your way up and basically prove that you were qualified. It made sense to me and sounded legitimate. Whether it really works like that is another story. I never went forward with it so I am not really sure.

 

at a comp we had one of our senior teams score 4 & 5's in tumbling according to their scoresheet, that's walk overs and cartwheels rest assured they did not have even one. They had tucks, layouts and fulls. when questioned the judges said we'll review your tape they did and said, scores stand as is. A team who had a missing flyer, spotted all her stunts and her side of the pyramid scored higher than us, even though we had no mistakes- ridiculous and this was a worlds bid comp. also brought to their attention was the fact that, that same team had an illegal pyramid and their response was, we're not changing their score, this was while the comp was still running. So I say some of these comps just do what they want because no one can make them follow rules. they also have the same judge, judge all the elements of the routine, which is impossible. Their judges go through who knows what process and yes one of them is judging at a big comp that's coming up.

 

JAMbrands also has a judge certification course. It's very thorough and ensure the judges understand the rules and how to use the rubric for scoring.

I agree, I know most of the rules, but when they are flying quickly in the air, it's difficult to catch everything. I try to write down everything I saw and then after while scoring, make sure they are in the level, didn't do anything they shouldn't have and make sure they did everything they should have.

Also to a note made earlier. Not every judge as cheered as an all-star or even coached. Many have been dance instructors, dance judges, pop-warner cheerleaders. But if they go through the certification they know what they are looking for. And trust me, if they are not good, the event producers knows and will not ask them back. You have to have a resume and be able to have references that you are a good judge. If you don't have that, all the certifications in the world won't allow you to be a judge.

 

You have to wonder though how they keep all the teams they see in Day 1 straight and figure out who is who on Day 2, not to mention remembering everything all the teams did on Day 1 vs. Day 2.

 

Notes! Lots and lots of notes!

 

They actually have time to take notes? I have never been to a BIG competition like that and don't really know how many judges and what not they use. Or how much time they have between teams. Do they have more than one set of judges?

 

Majority of events have at least two panels, some even use three. Then the judges alterate teams (but keep the same division). Many judges take notes as well as write directly on the scoresheet during a routine.

 

So if they have 3 panels of judges do they make sure they judge the same teams on both days?

 

But some companies have you with panel A on Day 1 and Panel B on Day2.... there's really no "standard" in the industry (does this surprise you?)

 

Why would this be critical?

 

ACEDAD- I was just asking because some Coaches are complaining about their teams scores from one day to the next. So I was just trying to figure out if the Judges seen the same teams both days. Cause my thoughts are how are the judges suppose to know what each teams did each day, if there are three panels of judges for how many teams there are. I was just wondering if the Coaches expected all the Judges to be able to remember each team seperately from one day to the next. Cause I find that would be hard to do. But like I have stated I have never been to a big Comp. so I am just stating my thoughts.

 

Didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a reasonable question.

I think it's likely that some people would believe it to be critical because if they are scored low on day one, then they can make adjustments in the routine to improve on day two. Switching panels probably eliminates that ability.

However, if the scores are given fairly and consistently each day, then which panel does which day should be irrelevant.

 

But scores are never consistent, atleast not that I have seen. I have had scores from the 3 judges at our local comp be over 10-15 pts different. What? You just want to ask if they seen the same routine, LOL.