SOME POINTERS IN JUDGING

You might not need this, but of course you know someone who does!

Recently, I conducted a judging clinic for parents, coaches and divers involved at the age group and novice levels.  it seems to me that material I presented, reprinted below, is just as relevant for judging at the senior national championship level.

1)Be honest, judge the dive, not the diver.

You may not like the diver and/or the diver’s parents or coach.  Remember, however, that this is an athletic event, not a personality contest, so evaluate the diver based upon its athletic and aesthetic merit.

Most judges have a difficult time giving a good score to a rival diver.  Example:  The contest is close between your son and another boy (whom you don’t like).  It’s down to the last dive.  Your boy goes over and it is only an average dive - give it an average score!  The other boy steps up and does a much better dive (you know it will beat your son with a good score).  Give this dive a good score even though it means defeat for your boy!  Why? Because it is honest!  you have to live with yourself and - believe me - the divers know!  Your son will respect you in the long run.  If you start judging this way, you may turn some other coaches around.

So, Number 1, be honest!

Now, the reverse is also true.  If a prominent diver (you admire) does a poor job, give that dive a poor score.  This doesn’t mean we will always be correct.  We are human, we all miss on a few of our scores.  Let them be honest errors.

2)  Don’t play revenge

Try not to play revenge with another judge (coach or parent) on the panel.  For example:  someone obviously scores your diver low on a dive.  Don’t get back at that judge by scoring that judge’s diver low on his or her next dive.  Why?  It isn’t the divers fault that his or her coach is wrong.  Two wrongs don’t make a right!  If you feel someone as something against one of your divers and you have proof (score sheets) to back it up, then away from the meet, after any anger has subsided, talk calmly with that person in an unaccusing manner.  Don’t start out by verbally attacking him because his immediate response will be to defend himself and attack you right back - so nothing is accomplished.

Poor example:  “Hey, why did you give Mary a 5 1/2 on her reverse dive?”  Good example:  “Have you got a minute?  You are probably not aware of this but you seem to be low on Mary...”

NOTE:  Judges, parents, coaches and divers - don’t get into a blue funk over a 1/2 point.  Further, so many times a diver (coach or parent) only hears and remembers the low score on his or her own dive and only the high score on an opponent’s dive.  Most of the time, that score is thrown out.  Divers, try not to pay attention to the judging.  Look at your score after the dive and then concentrate on your next dive.

3)  Differentiate between a good dive and a poor dive.

Your score should reflect the difference between good and poor dives by 3-4 points or more.  A poor dive gets a 4, the good dive should then get 7-8, not 6-61/2.

4)  Try to be a positive judge

If you are hesitant about giving a 6 1/2 or 7, give it the 7.  The divers do respond to higher judging.  We’ve all seen the 5 1/2-6 syndrome.  Getting all the judges together before the contest to loosen up the scoring is good, but you have to be very aware to loosen up throughout the entire range of scores.  Example:  For a dive that would normally score 5 1/2-6, you score a 7.  That’s fine.  Now the dive that normally scores 7 should go 8-8 1/2, not 7 1/2.  Otherwise, the better dives are penalized while the weaker dives are rewarded.

5)  Don’t play statistical “middle of the road.”

Trying to keep your score neutral so that it is not thrown out doesn’t do anybody any good.  Judge the dive as you see it and don’t worry about what others may think of your score.  If you judge just so you look like you are in line with the others on the panel, then I suggest you don’t judge.  Don’t try to be the odd judge out either.  Just call them as you honestly see them.  If something about a diver really appeals to you, judge it up accordingly and vice versa!

6)  Don’t judge degree of difficulty

The D.D. takes care of itself.  This is difficult to do sometimes, but try not to automatically give a higher score to a high D.D. dive or a lower one to a lesser D.D. dive.  Example:  Divers performing 3 1/2 twisters shouldn’t be getting higher scores than divers only doing 1 1/2 twists who performed equally as well.  Likewise, a male diver only doing 2 1/2 pike front on 3m shouldn’t be limited to a top score of only 7-7 1/2 just because everyone else does  3 1/2.  The 2 1/2 pike, if done well would score up to 10.

7)  If you make a mistake, live with it

Judges, if you are off on your score on a particular diver in round no. 2, don’t try to make up for it on that diver in the next round or any other round.  Also, if you happen to score too high/too low on a dive (you know you blew it), try not to compare each successive dive to your blow score, otherwise, you’ll blow all the dives left in that round.  Rather, just sit there in your private embarrassment and score the next dive on its own merit, not according to the dive you misjudged.  It’s better to take a little “flak” for one dive, rather than a lot of “flak” for a whole round.  Just grin and bear it.  We all make mistakes, that is why we have seven judges.\

8)  Pay attention.

Pay attention to each dive as if it were your own diver on the board.  Know what the dive is supposed to be by listening to the announcer.  It’s okay to talk with other members of the panel, but keep it to a minimum.

9)  Quick decision

Don’t rush, but make up your mind quickly and put up your score as soon as it is called for.  It helps the meet to run faster.  For those few times you are really caught between a whole number and a 1/2, you may take a bit longer since it is best to be fair rather than fast. 

10)  Feet first entry.

In women’s 1 meter dive, some judges will not give a feet first entry any higher than 6-7, no matter how well performed.  That, folks, isn’t fair!

11)  Platform diving.

Because of the rip entry, I feel we have placed to much importance on the entry.  We need to watch the top more closely than we have been.

12)  Platform handstands.

If a diver doesn’t hold a steady handstand, then it should be reflected in the score.  Most of the time, a missed handstand is graded too high.  If a diver does an outstanding handstand, then I try to give him/her 1/2 to 1 point higher than usual

13)  Know the rules.

14)  Who should judge?

a)  Please don’t judge the national championship if that is the only meet you see a year (even if you are a past Olympian).  You need to keep a more practiced eye.

b)  If you are honest and knowledgeable, please judge, we need you!

c)  please keep double panel system because three hours is much too long to keep your concentration during the prelims.