Scoring formula/ and observations

[BUDDYonRC at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/30/2005 5:31:23 PM Central Daylight Time,  
ehaury at houston.rr.com writes:

The "one  point per 15 degree" metric quantifies many downgrades (no - we 
haven't  always had this) and, in most cases, removes the high and / or low 
judging  standard if followed properly. While overall impression affects 
whether or  not points are deducted for a lack of "smoothness and 
gracefulness", most  everything else is now quantified.

I judged a good number of rollers at  the Nats that didn't roll at all for 
the first 15 - 30 degrees, then  stopped rolling for a similar number of 
degrees in the 2nd quadrant, then  finished 30 to 45 degrees before center, 
that's 4-7 degrees off before any  other elements (roundness, altitude, 
centering, smoothness, etc.) were  considered. Many of these were quite 
smooth. I know that some received 2 -  3 scores from judges using the metric 
and 7 - 8 scores from those only  looking for the impression of smoothness. 
The pilots that did rollers  correctly (rightly) distanced themselves from 
the rest (I saw a few to be  in the 8-9 range). A judge choosing to overlook 
defined downgrades and  judging on impression shouldn't be in the judges 
chair.

_Earl_ (mailto:Earl at nsrca.org) 


Earl
I think you are correct.and would like to share a few points that I think  
are important that seems to be overlooked. From my experience at many local  
contests and observations at the past eight Nat's those who shouldn't be in the  
judges chair have had a significant impact on deciding the order of finish,  
unfortunately many inexperienced judges award higher scores for smoothness and  
gracefulness (impression judges) and overlook obvious  downgrades.
Those effected the most by this fact at the Nat's is the group flying  
Advanced, in most contests FAI pilots judge the Masters class, Masters pilots  judge 
FAI, Advanced pilots judge Intermediate and Advanced is predominately  judged 
by Intermediate pilots, many who have little judging experience. This was  
the case at the Nat's this year. In the prelims. for FAI and Masters only  FAI 
and Masters judges were used to judge each other, Likewise only Advanced  
pilots were used to judge Intermediate. In Advanced, the first two days the  
majority of judges were intermediate pilots, some who had little experience and  on 
the third day all judges were Masters pilots which may explain and point out  
why the order of finish changed so much each day.
As you know I fly advanced and I am aware that there were many  pilots at the 
Nat's this year and in the past that flew much better than me so  please 
understand that my views are not sour grapes when it comes to my  performance or 
placing in the final standings but is an effort to point out  why Advanced has 
come to be known as the Crap shoot class at the Nat's I  for one would be 
willing to judge more to see this situation corrected and  suggest that all pilots 
in all classes should have equal opportunity by adding a  finals format to 
the Advanced and Intermediate classes the same as FAI and  Masters 
Lower classes (Intermediate and Advanced) in our sport should not lead to  
the impression that the people participating in them are in some way inferior to 
 those in the higher classes or are in any way less important to pattern as a 
 whole.
I would think that if all was well there would be many more and increasing  
numbers of participants in Intermediate and Advanced at the Nat's  each year 
but that is not the case, Increased participation in these classes  will spell 
growth in the higher classes in the future and advancing the  image of equality 
across the board would be a big step forward in achieving  that goal.    
Another point, last year a seniors award was initiated to recognize the  high 
scoring senior in each class to encourage participation by seniors in  
pattern at the Nat's obviously the small cost of these awards was not  deemed 
important enough to justify them this year. (yes I am a senior but not  the high 
scoring one in my class) It seems to me that if Increased  participation is what 
we are striving for the small things that could help  increase our numbers are 
being overlooked in favor of the big picture.
>From my point of view the following is true, FAI is the destination class  in 
pattern for those who have the ability, money and desire to reach the top in  
this sport.
 Masters is the destination class for those who have the  money but lack the 
desire or ability to fly FAI and likewise Intermediate  and Advanced is the 
destination class for those who have the desire to compete  but lack the money 
and/or ability to compete at a higher level.
Over all I think pattern should concentrate on those things that seem  
unimportant and are often overlooked as well as Items which are now in effect  that 
in reality possibly hinder growth that may benefit the lower class levels  and 
help to grow pattern. I say start at the bottom and fix the things that  
would yield the most benefit.
Back to the judging Issue, My question is who would have won the Nat's this  
year in FAI and Masters had there been no Finals and who would have won  
Intermediate and Advanced had there been a Finals? Not me for sure.
The largest differences that I observed in round totals posted by  individual 
judges occurred in the Advanced class which in some cases were  around 100 
points. In my case it was only 63 points, but some of my obvious 0  maneuvers 
were scored in error and in another couple of cases I  received a single 0 which 
could not be explained which were scored 8.5  and 7 by the other judges. I 
wish I knew why so I could attempt to fix the  problem. In the round that I 
judged in Intermediate after back checking the  score sheets the totals per judge 
were very close in the five to ten point range  in most cases. I believe that 
the top pilots in Intermediate finished on  top in the correct order but am 
not so sure that they did in Advanced. 
We are getting better in the area of judging accuracy but we are not quite  
up to a totally acceptable level yet in the area of being sure that the  best 
at the Nat's are selected as winners and in the correct order.
We hear all of the reasons and complaints of why people don't want to judge  
more than a half day at the Nat's but it is time to realize that if it takes  
everyone judging everyday to assure that the very best judges are used to  
determine the winners. I think that everyone should be available to the  managers 
of the Nat's in any capacity that they see fit to assure that and  that 
everyone who enters will benefit by being assured that their long days  of 
practice, building and investment in equipment is worth the effort and will  not be 
wasted due to under or unqualified judges.
Into the shelter awaiting the incoming.
Buddy                          
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