Defensive judging to avoid retaliation. Are you guilty?

[Gene Maurice]

So be it. I judge what I see. As long as I’m consistent and within the rules
as specified, no one SHOULD bitch. If they do and wish to “do me”, so be it.
In my case, this is where there is an advantage to normally placing at the
bottom of the pack, I can’t be hurt. 

If I don’t see a snap, it’s a zero, if it rotates before a break it’s a big
downgrade. As long as I’m consistent and within the rules! I could care less
who’s at the sticks, if he earned a zero he’s going to get it.

In the judge’s chair, it is your job to find errors. EVERY maneuver starts
as a 10, you can’t earn anymore; you can only give up points. There is no
doubt that snaps are the most controversial and the hardest to judge. YOU
ARE BOUND BY THE JUDGING ETHICS TO JUDGE EXACTLY WHAT YOU SEE. 

For everyone’s information:
     RC AEROBATICS     
     JUDGE'S CODE OF ETHICS 
1. Approach your job with enthusiasm.  
2. Be prepared.  
3. Treat all flyers with equal respect and courtesy.  
4. Do not fraternize with individual, or groups, of flyers.  
5. Do not preconceive the performance of anyone.  
6. Score any maneuver without observed downgrades a 10 for anyone.  
7. Score every maneuver with consideration for all observed downgrades.  
8. Judgement calls come with the job, maintain consistency with your
decisions.  
9. Score maneuvers you missed observing with NO (not observed); do not
assign arbitrary scores.  
10. Be independent; do not concern yourself with the judging methods of
others.  
11. Do not discuss any flyer's performance or scoring while judging.  
12. Avoid looking at the scores of anyone while judging.  


Gene Maurice
gene.maurice at comcast.net
Plano, TX
NSRCA 877
AMA 3408


________________________________________
From: discussion-request at nsrca.org [mailto:discussion-request at nsrca.org] On
Behalf Of mike mueller
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 11:39 AM
To: discussion at nsrca.org
Subject: Defensive judging to avoid retaliation. Are you guilty? 

Ok, this is the worst part of the problem with judging snaps, if you take a
stand and decide to be the "snap policeman" then you run the risk of judges
retaliation. Say your Bob the relatively new Advanced flyer and your judging
Joe superstar FAI guy. He executes a snap that's thought by most to be
pretty good because Joe performed it. You know better and think it didn't
show a proper break in pitch, so you 0 the maneuver. Dude are you kidding
me? Word get's out that you gave Joe superstar a 0 and you have a bullseye
on your back that may effect how others are going to judge you. Your stuck
in the middle of a tough competition with your arch rival and can't afford
the inevitable results. Who wants a reputation as a so called jerky judge
especially one that can't fly nearly as well as "Joe"?
 Don't think for a second that this doesn't happen and happen all the time.
Thus you get the guys that take the "SAFE" route and scores 7 and 8's on
everything even though you know better. Then there's the guy that's
competing against you judging in a defensive manner. Very few guys are
willing to step on toes because they are worried about the consequences. 
 I hate contestant judging because it's vanilla. Back when pattern was King
we didn't allow it. When you held a contest you provided judges that didn't
fly. In so many ways it was better. Given all that were stuck with it and it
ain't changing anytime soon because we lack the numbers that we used to
have. 
 Houston we have a problem!!!!!!!!
 PS: This is not meant to hurt Joe's feelings, so don't take it too
personally please. This is what makes judging snaps too hard for most of us.
 Oh ya am I guilty? In the past I would admit that it has played in to my
thinking process. I wonder how many of you would admit to this fault.
                                    Have a nice day!! Mike
 
________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Tax Center - File online by April 15th


==================# To be removed from this list, go to http://www.nsrca.org/discussionA.htm
and follow the instructions.