Debbi Wilkes Take On New Judging System

Here is a good article by Debbi Wilkes - based on the recent Skate Canada competition.

Some may find it interesting:

http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/debbi_wilkes.asp

Thanks for the link Ladskater.

I have good feelings about COP. I know there are still some areas that need adjusting, but I just like the look of it so far.

Very good article. I agree with everything Wilkes said, bith pro and con.

Mathman

Article

Good article. I agree with everything she said....I think it is getting better, but world rankings still appear to have a hold in some of these murky (to the amateur eye) judging categories.

Imo, Ms Wilkes is an excellent observer. The comparisons between Plushenko and Buttle are very astute.

My only comment on the differences in the scores whiich Ms Wilkes was quite correct to mention, it that the judges are going through a new system which they are not yet experts.

I believe they can only watch just so much of a program and can not digest the entire routine of any one particular skater. It is not like judging gymnastics which a judge looks at moves on a balance beam or high bars for less than one minute. There is no music to grab you for interpretation, etc. (Diving even less than 10 seconds per trick.)

In the case of Plushenko vs. Buttle, I can understand a judge assuming beforehand that there will be no competion between the two. Evgeni is the better (and, imo, he is) so therefore subjectively and without malice, he is not as critical of Plush as he is about Buttle. Imo, this is not deliberate on the part of the judges. It is just that the new system is a toughie for them to grasp the entire program of any one skater and will force them to fall back on reputation and the 6.0 ratings.

I don't have a solution to this, yet I do like the CoP in principle.

Joe

Joesitz:

Plushenko may be the better technician, however Buttle is the artist. The differences in their style is quite obvious.

The new judging system is still in its infancy stage. Time will tell if the new scoring system works better. Judges still have to pretty much go on what they see out there. If the performance lacks lustre then the marks should reflect. If the performance is outstanding as Jeff's was then the skater should be rewarded.

Anybody else get this message when they use either the link or go to the tsn.com home page and pull down "Debbi Wilkes" under "Columnists" and no story?:
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Oracle error '80004005'
ORA-12535: TNS:\operation timed out
/inc/columnist.inc, line 6


I'll try again later. Boo. Sound like a very interesting article.
Rgirl

LAD - I think you missed my point. First of all, I did not see the competition, so I am going by what Ms Wilkes said in the article. Like her, I am one for judging who is the 'best that night'. Neither she nor I are arguing who should win. The comparison between Plush and Jeff are examples of questioning the CoP. We are talking about CoP as it is right now - not what it will be next year. It is only through open discussion now that the CoP will improve. And hopefully, it will because imo, it is here to stay.

Again, my argument is not against Evgeni or Jeff or anything like a conspiracy theory. It is just that the CoP requires a lot of attentitve judging which seems to me to be lacking so far by the judges. I think it's mainly because it may be impossible to cover so many tricks and evaluate them so quickly for an immediate score.

It seems to me from what Ms Wilkes wrote that the judges may have to resort to the reputation of the skater because of the need to produce a score immediately.

BTW, I agree with you that Evgeni is the better competitior and Jeff is the better artist, but this was not the subject of the discussion. And it is only my opinion.

Joe