Judge Feedback

[Bob Richards]

A long time ago, I was at a local contest where a USPJA judge was judging my class. After the round was over, I asked him to give me some pointers since I had received a few low scores from him. I was careful how I approached him, I made sure he understood that I was not upset with the scores, I just wanted to know how to improve my flying. I wanted to know everything he was looking for.
 
He was not able to recall my flight, saying he does not think about the maneuvers after he scores them. Instead, the two of us started watching one of the other classes fly, and he started telling me how he would score each maneuver and why. He spent probably an hour of his own time talking with me, explaining the the judging criteria for each maneuver. I started to see what I had been doing wrong -- which was a lot! I was VERY grateful to him, and I think he was grateful to me for how I had approached him.
 
In retrospect, I think it was a good thing he did not remember my flight (whether he actually did or not). The fact we were not talking about MY scores made the whole episode non-confrontational and low key. I don't think anyone would think it was unethical. I believe he would have talked with anyone that would have approached him, since he did not know me at all to begin with.
 
I do think there should be preferred ways that a flyer can get advice from judges -- and ways that they should not. There should not be any communication between a contestant and a judge during a round, nor should there be communication between judges. I personally don't think the contestants should see the scores until after the round is over.

Bob Richards
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