10 year old Black Belts=Bad Judges

[Menjo]

I had a tournament a couple of days ago and signed up for katas, weapons and sparring. For all 3 divisions I had 2 ten or eleven year old black belts as my judge. They had recently got their black belt. Between them was a 2nd Dan Black Belt who was in his thirties. In preperation for the tournament I practiced every day for 2 weeks. When I got on the mat to begin my kata the two kids started snickering. I ignored them and did my form. After I was done they showed me my score. The two kids gave me a 9.3 and a 9.4 while the older judge gave me a 9.7. The lowest score you could recieve was a 9.1 and the highest a 9.9. For weapons my score was two 9.4's from the kids and a 9.8 from the older judge. Needless to say I was a little angry. Both kids gave their friend a 9.8 in both divisions. I think kids shouldn't be allowed as judges-no matter their rank.

Disgusting.

[jaymac]

Not that it matters, but was this just a competition for your school only, or were there other schools attending. I assure you, had there been other schools present, you are probably not the only one complaining. Someone should talk to your head instructor. If he was short on Black Belts for judging, go to the next highest ranked adult. I have seen some tournaments that were quite small and some 1st kyu adult students were needed to judge.

[mtheiss]

What kind of test is this? i think I agree with everyone else here by saying that it is absolutely wrong and pointless to see two kids not yet 11 having such a serious role. I will not be serprised if the sanctioning body would put serious penalties on the organizing comittee for this. If it was a school, I would ask for their affiliation certificate to be revoked!

[mizu]

I'm not sure there's a lot that I can add to what has been said already. In my humble opinion, ten years old is to young to be expected to be impartial and have enough experience to judge others. It is unfair of the senior organisers to place the youngsters in that position, and no real surprise that they did what they did.

If it had of been me, I would have declined to compete.