So I guess I'm competing and Judging on November 25th!

[darksoul]

So there's a competition in Laval on November 25th and most of our dojo will be entering. I wasn't really considering competing, but was basically told I'm competing... sooooo... yeah... I'm competing. The one thing that I'm nervous about isn't the competition, but the fact that I will also be reffing and judging this time around.

Have any of the other Dans here ever judged at a competition? If so, can you give me any tips?

Thanks all!

[Evil Dave]

Welcome to the next level of competition... Be fare and honest. One thing that makes a good judge / referee is the fact that after the competition you can tell a competitor why you gave them the mark they received. If they are asking respectfully that usually means they are looking for ways to improve upon their performance. Since you maybe seeing kata that you are not used to it can be hard to compare. I try to focus on the general flow and cleanliness of the kata plus one technical item: blocks, kick, punch, trunk/head position, etc. You can't see everything.

Good luck and have fun.

[darksoul]

Welcome to the next level of competition... Be fare and honest. One thing that makes a good judge / referee is the fact that after the competition you can tell a competitor why you gave them the mark they received. If they are asking respectfully that usually means they are looking for ways to improve upon their performance. Since you maybe seeing kata that you are not used to it can be hard to compare. I try to focus on the general flow and cleanliness of the kata plus one technical item: blocks, kick, punch, trunk/head position, etc. You can't see everything.

Good luck and have fun.

Great tips! Thank you!

Monday we had a "trial run" as the other Shodan and I judged the Kyu's Katas. Basically a little kata competition within the group. We didn't seperate by rank, but just an all around. Ended up between a 3rd Kyu and a 8th kyu. There was a split decision between myself and the other shodan and they did a tie-breaker. The 8th kyu won. I was approached by the 3rd kyu asking why I went with the 8th kyu both times. I explained that while his techniques were good, he was too stiff on the first kata. On the 2nd kata he had hesitations and was again too stiff. Since his 2nd kata was Stature of the Crane (one that is meant to be light, springy, and balanced like the crane) the stiffness was a big issue for him. Taking that, and both their ranks into consideration, we felt that the 8th kyu performed better.

I think I'll be ok, but I am always up to hearing the experiences of people that have judged before.

[bushido_man96]

Evil Dave gave good advise. Like anything, practice and experience will help you there. The main thing is to be consistent. And remember, its not like a testing where you basically judge a student against themselves; you are judging the best out of a group. Its just a different mindset than a testing setting.

[darksoul]

Oh absolutely. I definitely judge one against the other, not one against himself.

As I said, this will be my first competition as a Dan and I am super excited at being one of the judges. I feel like I've made it in a sense

[wayneshin]

Simple advice. Know the rules.

Good luck!

[darksoul]

Thanks! I got the rules from my master and have been memorizing them

[DWx]

Good luck for both competing and judging

Evil Dave's advice is great.

What kind of method are you competing under? Two competitors do their kata side by side and you pick a winner or they go up individually and you give scores?

For the former, I think it's more difficult as you have to keep switching your attention; particularly bad if they're doing different kata! Sometimes you'll have a clear winner straight off so that should be simple enough but for when two people's rhythm, power etc. are close, I count faults on my fingers Things like positioning or the techniques themselves might count as a fault and whoever has the less fingers I'll usually award it to. Otherwise I tend to lose track... Is it a mixed styles tournament? Because then you have to kind of pay less attention to techniques and award more based on flow and power as you might not know what they are doing.

For a points system, it depends on how it's done. The way we do it is to mark out of 10 (or something like that) for technical content, power, speed, balance etc. then take an average score taking into account weightings. Or the other method is to start from a base score and mark up or down depending on the performance. For this, check with your sensei or the tournament organisers just to make sure you're on the same page with regards to how much to mark things.

You scoring sparring too?

[darksoul]

Good luck for both competing and judging

Evil Dave's advice is great.

What kind of method are you competing under? Two competitors do their kata side by side and you pick a winner or they go up individually and you give scores?

For the former, I think it's more difficult as you have to keep switching your attention; particularly bad if they're doing different kata! Sometimes you'll have a clear winner straight off so that should be simple enough but for when two people's rhythm, power etc. are close, I count faults on my fingers Things like positioning or the techniques themselves might count as a fault and whoever has the less fingers I'll usually award it to. Otherwise I tend to lose track... Is it a mixed styles tournament? Because then you have to kind of pay less attention to techniques and award more based on flow and power as you might not know what they are doing.

For a points system, it depends on how it's done. The way we do it is to mark out of 10 (or something like that) for technical content, power, speed, balance etc. then take an average score taking into account weightings. Or the other method is to start from a base score and mark up or down depending on the performance. For this, check with your sensei or the tournament organisers just to make sure you're on the same page with regards to how much to mark things.

You scoring sparring too?

Well we practiced both techniques for kata judging - the side by side and the points. The tournament itself, I don't know yet. I've been checking the sparring rules since, to answer your next question, I will also be judging that.

It's a mixed style tournament, but mostly Karate based (Shotokan, Shaolin Kempo, Shorinji Kempo, Shorin-Ryu, etc...)

[DWx]

^ judging sparring is always fun. Although (more questions!) what's the format for that?

Point stop or continuous? Corner refs doing points or just a centre ref + shadow ref?