Back on the Judging Circuit

I got my judging assignments back in August, as I might have mentioned sometime back then but since I'm too lazy to check and can't remember so few people read this anyway, I'm reiterating it. (Sorry. Thank you for reading, really!)

Combined with family events, holidays, massage events, adding judging to my weekends means that I don't have a free weekend between Labor Day until the first weekend after Thanksgiving.

Actually, this is a good thing, because it means there will be (slightly) more cash flow in the budget. Maybe even enough for a new bed frame.

So today was my first (paid) day judging. I judged last weekend, but it was a volunteer event that earns me the cost of my judging membership dues, so while I benefit, it's not really money I can spend.

I'm going to be repetitive for a moment. This is the start of the judging season. Which should logically follow that it's the start of the competitive season. Meaning some athletes (those who competed last year or who have exceptional talent) are, um, "more prepared" than others.

Yes, coaching comes into play for this, but as a former coach, I'm not going to slam coaches who have lousy teams, nor am I going to put on a pedestal coaches with exceptional teams. In my 18 years of coaching experience, I've seen athletes who excel under (in my opinion) lousy coaches, and likewise, phenomenal coaches who have athletes who are never going to be on the awards stand. Some of it is gym policy, some of it is the program (or lack thereof) that is built around those coaches (for example, the strength/weakness of the recreational and developmental coaches who feed athletes into the competitive program), some of it is luck, some of it is gym reputation, and yes, the good majority is what a coach can do with the kids they get. I've seen any number of these combinations. Today was no exception.

There were kids--and this is compulsories (quick review: everyone does the same routine and it means hearing the floor music 60some times over a period of about three hours), which is the beginning levels of competition--who were nearly flawless. I think we handed out a couple of 9.775s. Yay, girls!

I also had to give out the lowest score I've ever given. Which actually made me really sad. I wanted to go offer her and her coach advice, but that's one of the things we really aren't supposed to do as judges. If a coach comes up and asks the right question in the right context and you're in a state (I am) where the coach/judge relationship is pretty good and you're not at any kind of a championship meet (we weren't), then factual information can be given.

For example, "if she hadn't left out that one skill, it would add up to 1.6 to her score."

And then, although still the lowest score we handed out yesterday, it wouldn't have been the lowest score I ever gave.

I'd still feel badly for her, though.

Perhaps because I have delusions of grandeur I had some levels of success of a coach, it's times like these that I think, Gosh, I wish I could go to that gym and coach for them and help those poor girls.

But I'm done coaching. And, like I said before, I can't see what goes on in that gym or judge the coach (at least, not entirely) by his athletes, and I could end up just as trapped by circumstance anyway.

We saw a few other routines that were in the low zone. Usually odd mishaps that the penalties happen to be severe for (and it was the beginning of the season--live and learn), but just none that were so low. What's worse is that when I reviewed my calculations for that score--I missed a couple of things and it should have been even lower.

And because it was one of the last routines of the day, it stuck with me. I hope that kid doesn't quit. I hope that she has a good support system around her. I hope that she stays active.

In the meanwhile, and hoping the rest of the season will not have a repeat of such an event, I'm looking forward to it. Because today's paycheck was about half of the bed frame I want.