Bad Judges

[Pogo]

What have been your experiences with bad judges?

Post your story here.

[pineapple]

I fought in a tournament where two of my opponents were from the same school as two of the judges. Even when I knocked my opponents backwards with my strikes, the two judges claimed that they never saw it. On the other hand, my opponents were scoring points with strikes that were on my arm. Oh, by the way, this tournament was put on by the same school. I never went back to any of their tournaments again.

[karatekid1975]

I've seen bad judging. It was in a TSD tourny. It was similar to pineapple's situation. Two BB's (one from our school) were sparring and the one kid kicked the our guy in the ... umm groin area, and got a point for it. Our guy was obviously kicked there. He went down. That should have been, at least, a warning there. But no point.

The one who got the point was from the same school as two of the judges, so they favored him. So, our BB lost the match. Not because he didn't fight well, because he was getting in some good clean shots that he should have recieved points for.

[Aodhan]

Any tournament you go to will have its share of bad judges. I know of a judge that scores his own students higher at regional competitions, and then scores his region's students higher at national competitions.

sometimes you benefit, sometimes you don't. It all evens out in the end.

Aodhan

[TangSooGuy]

I've seen this kind of bias, too...and it's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of tournaments.

I always tell my students who choose to compete that they don't want to get me as a judge.

I know what they are capable of, and if they don't perform adequately, I'll score them lower on forms.

I don't care one way or another in aprring competitition. I try to give the point to whoever desrves it. If that means my student loses, that's just the way it goes....

[White Warlock]

Ages ago, right around the time Fred Flintstone was getting his baby teeth, I entered a point contact tourney. It was my first point contact, and a far cry from my earlier boxing/wrestling competitions. Anyway, the guy performed a backfist, which i countered with an open palm and forearm, thrust between my head and his backfist, while i simultaneously came in with a straight punch. It infuriated me that they gave him the point, and not me, even though the power in his strike would have been totally diffused if such were a real strike, while mine would have seriously injured the guy since i moved in at the same time he moved in. I.e., my strike had not only my striking energy, but my momentum complemented by his opposing momentum.

After a few more experiences i came to the conclusion these guys were either being biased or they truly didn't know what worked in real life, as opposed to what looked cool (and yes, a backfist looks cool in comparison to a straight punch... ah well). And since i wasn't about to resort to 'dancing' to get points, i opted out of participating in any future 'point' sparring competitions.

[karatekid1975]

I always tell my students who choose to compete that they don't want to get me as a judge.

I know what they are capable of, and if they don't perform adequately, I'll score them lower on forms.

I can see your point. I competed a few months back, and the judges I had were BB's from my school. The one BB KNEW that I could have done better (she told me why later), so she gave me a low score. But I wasn't upset about it. Part of it was nerves and I messed up on the second half of the form (stances). But I still managed 3rd place.

But as far as sparring, I don't spar in tournies just for the fact of unfair judging that I have seen in the past. I know if I mess up on forms or breaking, I deserve a low score. But if I had sparred well (making "scoring shots"), and still lost, I would be very upset. So I just avoid it all together.

[MasterH]

I think we need to make the comparison between "Bad Judges" and "Bad Calls".

Bad Judge - purposefull act that compromises the event. IE - All of his students seem to score high on forms while everyone else scores low. Or not paying attention to what is happening in a ring.

Bad Call - an accidental call that can not be taken back. I raise the wrong color flag, or give 2 points instead of 1, or make an incorect judgement call on wether or not a kick or punch scores.

I've made numerous bad calls, and I have a horrible poker face - so you can tell. Bad Judges I've met a couple but normaly we put them in a position where they can do no harm, time keeping, score keeping, trophey runner - whatever.

It's funny how everyone who looses a match seems to have had a "Bad Judge". I don't think I've ever had a bad judge. I guess I've been lucky.

Edited November 4, 2005 by MasterH

[Aodhan]

I think we need to make the comparison between "Bad Judges" and "Bad Calls".

Bad Judge - purposefull act that compromises the event. IE - All of his students seem to score high on forms while everyone else scores low. Or not paying attention to wht is happening in a rig.

Bad Call - an accidental call that can not be taken back. I raise the wrong color flag, or give 2 points instead of 1, or make an incorect judgement call on wether or not a kick or punch scores.

I've made numerous bad calls, and I have a horrible poker face - so you can tell. Bad Judges I've met a couple but normaly we put them in a position where they can do no harm, time keeping, score keeping, trophey runner - whatever.

It's funny how everyone who looses a match seems to have had a "Bad Judge". I don't think I've ever had a bad judge. I guess I've been lucky.

Good point, sir. I unfortunately (and fortunately) have had an experience with a bad judge.

He was center judge in my ring at a regional competition this year, which means he judges overall form, presentation, etc. He scored me 9.5, which is the lowest score I've gotten in 2 years on that. His two students scored a 9.8 and 9.9.

1 week later (Yes, ONE week), he was my center judge at nationals, and no other competitors from our region in the ring. My center score? 9.9, for a form that was not appreciably any different (I actually thought my nationals form was not one of my better ones, I wobbled a bit on the two sets of triple round kicks.)

Bias for his students first, region second.

Aodhan

[Aodhan]

I've seen this kind of bias, too...and it's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of tournaments.

I always tell my students who choose to compete that they don't want to get me as a judge.

I know what they are capable of, and if they don't perform adequately, I'll score them lower on forms.

I don't care one way or another in aprring competitition. I try to give the point to whoever desrves it. If that means my student loses, that's just the way it goes....

Hate to tell you, but that is poor judging. Say one day in class they absolutely are in the zone and nail a form. Are you forever going to hold them to that standard? Say everyone in the ring falls twice except for your student, who falls once. Are you still going to grade him down because he did it in class without falling?

Judging should be done in comparison to how everyone else in their ring does that day. Not how they did last week, or last year, but how they measure up against their opponents that day. If they perform their worst form ever, and it's still better than the opponents they are going against, it should win. Period.

Aodhan