- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
Thank you so much, Kate for opening up my eyes to the amount of intense training an American judge must committ him/herself to become a judge. It is absolutely true, I am not at all well versed in the training of judges. I can easily believe it when I read all the descriptions in the PC scores. Some of the bullets, e.g., choreography, and those related to music must require more study than others. Much of these topics are taught and learned at the college level. I would like to read a serious paper on figure skating judging similar to how Pauline Kael described Citizen Kane which changed the way movie critics' thinking. She was able to give solid back-up of her opinions.Hundreds of hours of training and trial judging (at least in this country). Do you have any idea what kind of commitment it takes to become a judgel on the national or international level? It's not a random number at all -- judges undergo intense amounts of training. Every single judge judging on a national or international level has examined more skating more closely than fans, because that's what's required of them in order to get a judge's appointment. There are some bad calls, yes, and some differences of opinion, but to suggest marks are random or to compare the level of knowledge tehait an international judge has to that of an average skater suggests that you know very little about the training process.
As the topic of this thread is concerned with CoP, and as an in-arena spectator,
I am concerned with how the numerics in the protocol listing are arrived at. I get the feeling that there is never a public critique on what exactly it was that lput some skater in 1st place and another in 2nd place, the results of which, the spectator is left without an answer. Just cold numbers with no explanation.
I am not against the CoP, the judges and tech panelists (except for the plus Goes). The base values do give a value to the elements. I even agree with the PC breakdown except for skating to music which should be more valued beyond interpretation, or dump it altogether. But that's just me.
It is the PC scores' numbering system which has never been explained. At least to my knowledge. Help. How much is a Transition/difficulty worth as an example? And like Pauline Kael, a little explanation to back-up opinions.
And thanks again, Kate for your post.