Judging...

[ShaolinWolf]

Well, I think there have probably been plenty of threads on this subject, but I wanted to open another. LOL

Anyways, I just started Judging at Tournaments recently and I enjoy it alot. I was just wondering everyone's opinions on Judging. How do YOU Judge?
What is your style of Judging.
Do you have a corner judge that looks at kicks and stances, a corner judge who looks at punchs, hand techniques, and such, and a center judge that looks at the whole form?
Or do you have more than 3 judges?
Do you like being a corner or center judge?
What is your favorite thing to judge? Sparring or Forms?
How do you score? What do you like to see in forms that will affect the outcome of the overall score?

 

[MJS]

Well, I think there have probably been plenty of threads on this subject, but I wanted to open another. LOL

Anyways, I just started Judging at Tournaments recently and I enjoy it alot. I was just wondering everyone's opinions on Judging.

How do YOU Judge?

When I did compete actively as well as judge, I would always be consistant with my judging. I had no favorites. I was fair to all the students.

What is your style of Judging.

See above.

Do you have a corner judge that looks at kicks and stances, a corner judge who looks at punchs, hand techniques, and such, and a center judge that looks at the whole form?

If you're talking about kata here, then all the judges usually sit IFO the person doing the kata. I look at everything. How well are the punches and kicks? Are they crisp or sloppy? How are the stances? And the list goes on.

Or do you have more than 3 judges?

Depends. If your sparring there is usually 5. One on each corner and then the center judge. For kata---depends. Usually at least 5

Do you like being a corner or center judge?

I dont care

What is your favorite thing to judge? Sparring or Forms?

Either one. Doesnt matter to me

How do you score? What do you like to see in forms that will affect the outcome of the overall score?

See the above regarding being crisp, having good stances, etc.

Mike

 

[Old Fat Kenpoka]

How do YOU Judge?
Fairly

What is your style of Judging.
When I am center ref, I make sure to explain the rules to everyone before the ring starts. I make sure to remind people of the rules (during sparring) and to make sure competitors understand why I make my calls.

Do you have a corner judge that looks at kicks and stances, a corner judge who looks at punchs, hand techniques, and such, and a center judge that looks at the whole form?
No. Judges are usually from different schools. Each has to judge the entire form.

Or do you have more than 3 judges?
Usually 5 for Kata. 3 or 5 for sparring depending on the tournament, the competitors' ranks, whether it is a finals match, the general mood of the mob (I mean the audience).

Do you like being a corner or center judge?
I am a control freak. I like being a center judge. Except in Black Belt competition where I prefer to let a higher ranking individual be center judge.

What is your favorite thing to judge? Sparring or Forms?
I prefer smaller divisions. Large divisions are tiring. It is hard to keep up the intensity for more than about a dozen matches. It is hard to be consistent with more than a dozen kata competitors.

How do you score? What do you like to see in forms that will affect the outcome of the overall score?
Other judges disagree with my style...I like to score the first competitors in the middle range and then score everyone else relative. If you score the first competitors really high (even if they are good) and then somebody else does better, you run out of scoring room.
I like movements to be focused, finished, committed, and well-formed. I prefer traditional forms where I can judge execution and dislike creative forms where I am forced to judge gymnastics.

 

[loki09789]

I have only done this a few times, once for competition and once for a BB test, a lot more for class training and just skill evaluation.

Fairness obviously, but I think that it is hard to really 'judge' unless the host of the event really lays down a criteria or list of categories that they would like you to consider and maybe even give examples of things that exemplify each point value. Without this, the subjectivity is open to 'political' agendas, unintended favoratism (ex. a soft stylist being judged by a panel of hard stylists only).

Forms: What is the form trying to demonstrate/accomplish within the art? Does it demonstrate an accomplishment of the goals at the appropriate level of skill for the performer? Does this performer accomplish this goal as well or better/worse than other performers have accomplished their goals.

Fighting: Points system is not my speciallty so I can't say. Timed rounds: similiar to boxing type of scoring in spirit. Who 'dominated' the round or controlled the tempo of the fight - even if it was purely in a defensive fashion and also scored on 'power' or 'vital' shots. Basically, I try and answer the question "If the engagement of the first 15/30 seconds were real/street/Self Defense, who would have dominated?" The rest of the round is the opportunity for the other person to win it back and retake control.

 

[Maltair]

It seams to me that their should be some kind of training to be a judge. I know that as a black belt you have done lots of training but that doesn't necessaraly mean you can judge.
The last tourny I was at I watched a lot of judges, some I saw were not paying attention, some where looking at the score they were going to show before the form was done. Some of the center judges were being coached by the side judges. And I remember somebody saying the got a low score from a TKD judge becuase they should hiss during the form
I'm new to all this but it I haven't seen any consistancey in the judgeing.
Am I out to lunch on this subject?

 

[Nightingale]

because of the issues with judging, especially in small tournaments, victories really don't mean much.

Sometimes judges will score a kata from another style lower simply because they didn't understand it, or weren't aware that the style had different foot positions or hand movements, especially if its an obscure style.

Sparring can be a bit easier to judge. Either the person got hit or they didn't. There can still be a lot of problems, though. I've fought with judges from Korean styles, who were only calling Korean points (straight punches to the chest, kicks, etc) rather than open sparring points.

 

[clapping_tiger]

I have only done this a few times, once for competition and once for a BB test, a lot more for class training and just skill evaluation.

Fairness obviously, but I think that it is hard to really 'judge' unless the host of the event really lays down a criteria or list of categories that they would like you to consider and maybe even give examples of things that exemplify each point value. Without this, the subjectivity is open to 'political' agendas, unintended favoratism (ex. a soft stylist being judged by a panel of hard stylists only).

Forms: What is the form trying to demonstrate/accomplish within the art? Does it demonstrate an accomplishment of the goals at the appropriate level of skill for the performer? Does this performer accomplish this goal as well or better/worse than other performers have accomplished their goals.

Fighting: Points system is not my speciallty so I can't say. Timed rounds: similiar to boxing type of scoring in spirit. Who 'dominated' the round or controlled the tempo of the fight - even if it was purely in a defensive fashion and also scored on 'power' or 'vital' shots. Basically, I try and answer the question "If the engagement of the first 15/30 seconds were real/street/Self Defense, who would have dominated?" The rest of the round is the opportunity for the other person to win it back and retake control.

One of the tournament associations in my area has put together a decent package for the judges. They have training to train every judge, Center or otherwise, in the same manner. The center judge usually has more experience though. But the thing I like the most that they have done is put together a nice set of guidelines for the different styles so a judge who is a Kenpo practitioner can get a general Idea of what a Korean stylest's form will generally look like. And the other way around. All the judges are educated in the differences between hard styles, soft styles, Chinese, Korean, and Kenpo or Polyneasion arts. It has worked well so far, it is nice when everyone is on the same page, and judging off the right criteria.

 

[ShaolinWolf]

We have judging clinics in my area, considering there are 3 schools owned by my chief instructor. One every week before our tournaments...like 3 weeks before the tournament.