A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards"

[Lance Van Nostrand]

More open communication will help the sport, in my opinion.  I have invited friends and family to contests to watch.  I have talked to news stations that come to contests to report.  I have been part of contests where we get a bunch of local club volunteers to help out.  the comments by all these groups of people is exactly the same: viewers have no idea what is going on or what they are watching and they get bored very quickly and never want to return.  When is a particular flight significant?  All the manuvers look great to the uninitiated, so showing them scores along the way will develop their appreciation.Watching golf is boring to most people, even golfers - but at least they play a different hole each time.  We fly the same thing over and over.  Posting manuver scores and announcing pilots is the only way to connect with any spectator.

Internally, within our own secret society, the value stems from improved communications.  We'll all get better practice at judging, even if we only watch an occasional manuver, judge it, and then compare our score to the real judges.  If the real judge is a person we respect, we might identify something to talk over a beer later.

--Lance

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Rcmaster199 at aol.com 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 2:05 PM
  Subject: Re: A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards"


  Mike Im not sure why everyone "needs" to see the scores each judge gives. The spectator sport is to watch the flying, not kill the judge if the spectator does not agree with the judge's scoring habits

  Years ago we used to employ a chief judge at many local meets. One of the jobs of the chief judge was to review the judges' scoring habits, and sort of look over their shoulder. He would often discuss issues with the judges after a round. I know I did, and so did my judging mentor. This was never intended to alter the judges' standards and seldom did. The reviews simply would touch on specific issues observed.

  Now only the large meets employ a chief judge and that's good, but isn't enough in my opinion. I wouldn't mind at all if we started to employ chief judges again. It is of particular importance now, with contestant judging the norm, and new blood entering the arena all the time

  Although discussion with the contestant after his round is done, is discouraged in the present methodology of running the contests, I tend to give some constructive criticism to some contestants when I feel they are making the same mistakes often . Sportsman and Intermediate pilots are particularly vulnerable to misinterpretation of the geometries or rules, but others have also been informed of what I see. Not everyone is open to this so I am careful and discrete. I see many seasoned judges do this and I feel is a far better approach than showing all one's scores. 

  The seasoned pilot usually already knows what he has done wrong so talking with him or her, other than praising him or her for a well flown round, is counterproductive. But the folks in the lower classes, particularly the new ones with possibly little real exposure to other Pattern pilots back home, would benefit the most.

  MattK



    Subj:Re: A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards" 
    Date:4/17/2004 9:50:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time
    From:mups1953 at yahoo.com
    Reply-to:discussion at nsrca.org
    To:discussion at nsrca.org
    Sent from the Internet 



    Everyone needs to see the scores as they are happening. How else do we catch guys scoring snaps that should be a 0? How are we going to coach? The way were doing it now has more holes in it than swiss cheese. My proposed system allows for improvement and a better understanding of how to judge as well as what judges are looking for in maneuvers. It's educational and adds more life to the contests. Could you explain to me how this adds a distraction to the pilots? I don't remember that being a problem in the 70's. Also this system works as well as telling the scribe your score but actually adds far less of a distraction than having the pilot hear a load judge verbally telling the scribes the score. Really what's wrong with it?
    I'd really like a concrete reasons why our present system is better. If I seem passionate about the argument than you'd have an accurate assessment of how I feel. Status quo ain't cutting it for me. Thanks,  Mike

    Don Ramsey <drams at cox-internet.com> wrote:


      Maybe I'm missing the point here.  I don't think anyone needs to see the scores until the round is complete.  There are enough distractions for the pilots and judges from the spectators now.  

      Don





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.f3a.us/pipermail/nsrca-discussion/attachments/20040417/96c378d5/attachment.html