It is important to provide judge training for the staff at your tournament. Judging is a difficult task; it is as much of a skill as the martial arts on display inside the ring!
When people talk about a competition afterwards, they almost always talk about the quality of the judges. Phrases like “the judges were blind!” and “they didn’t see my hits!” are unfortunately commonplace. While this is often, to some extent, an issue with competitors performing low-quality actions, there is still usually a nugget of truth behind the sentiment. The provision (or lack) of judge training can be what makes or breaks your event.
Becoming better at judging is not just about offering better tournaments. The better you can perceive what you see with your eyes, the better you can create a narrative to explain what is happening, the better you can predict what is about to happen – the better you will become at martial arts. Although people tend to prefer to compete rather than to judge a competition, judge training is a great way to develop your own martial skills and to be able to think through a fencing problem under stress.
Judge training workshops
Hire us to provide a judge training workshop, and we will come to your club or event and deliver a lesson tailored to your goals and preferred rule sets. This could be a single two-hour workshop at your event for the judging staff before they judge the competition at the event; or it could be an immersive weekend workshop for the whole club, to give everyone a taste of judging and to develop valuable and related skills for their own fencing.
Skill development
Typically, a judge training workshop could include the following skills:
- observing and remembering the exchange
- predicting the exchange
- flagging and signalling clearly and confidently
- directing a bout
- working as a team
- using subjectivity in a judicious fashion
- understanding different ways to calculate and time the afterblow, including tempo theory
Price
The price for the workshop would depend on the length of the activity. A two-hour workshop at a bigger event would not be as expensive as a full-day workshop, which in turn would not be as expensive as a two-day weekend event dedicated to judge training. For a more detailed quote, please send us an email, and we will be happy to discuss it with you.
Book our services
Please get in touch by email to discuss your requirements and dates. We look forward to hearing from you!