This is something I've always wondered about and was hoping that I could hear the point of view of some judges out there. Over the years I know that our coaches and coaches of other organizations have judged competitions their gyms are not attending. But if you're sitting there judging a gym that your gym typically competes against, can you really be completely objective and unbiased? We're all human, and putting myself in their place, it would be hard to set that aside knowing these are all businesses competing for members. So how do you set that aside, and also are there any checks/balances in our sport to prevent any conflicts of interest (besides people scratching their heads wondering why the scoring was so off)?
This isn't a post to complain about the scoring, just to get an explanation and/or point of view because I've always wondered about it ...
Sorry Abs, I'm not a judge. Judgemental at times, but not a judge.
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OC Mom, Mom of 5 great kids! A cheerleader/softball player, a RETIRED cheerleader, a football/baseball player, 1 Airman and future Police Officer and one college student!
I've judged a little bit, but I'm planning on doing more. The times that I have judged, there have been teams competing whose coaches are good friends. I can tell you in my circumstances that the friendship had nothing to do with the scores I gave. The same would have been true if it was a fierce competitor.
Also, with 4-7 judges on any given panel, if my scores are out of line with the rest, I'm going to have to justify them.
I truly don't see the opportunity for a major impact or conspiracy. Doesn't mean that it can't happen, I just think it would be difficult.
ACEDAD wrote: I've judged a little bit, but I'm planning on doing more. The times that I have judged, there have been teams competing whose coaches are good friends. I can tell you in my circumstances that the friendship had nothing to do with the scores I gave. The same would have been true if it was a fierce competitor.
Also, with 4-7 judges on any given panel, if my scores are out of line with the rest, I'm going to have to justify them.
I truly don't see the opportunity for a major impact or conspiracy. Doesn't mean that it can't happen, I just think it would be difficult.
Agreed, after juding many events, you can't really favor or hate anyone because your scores be somewhere in the range of other judges. If not, then you can tell something is going on. Most companies tell you to have professionalism and to keep friendships from your judging during an event.
Thanks for the feedback. I thought of that too, with more than just a few judges on the panel the experiences should be varied and spread out enough where even if one judge showed some type of bias or favoritism, it would stand out or be overshadowed by the other decisions. One would certainly hope so anyway!
