JUDGING COMPS: your turn to help us progress our sport!!!

ok so i just read all the thread and first thanks everyone for all the props it means a lot and for sure i will try to continue the stuff i'm doing cause i love it and this is because this the way i love to ski!!!

second for the judgement i have a format in my event but i know it will never work on a big comp cause there is media and big sponsors. but in my event the format is we ride all the different features which are bigmountain, bc, rails and a big air and at the end of the week all the riders judge each others which means that the snowboarders have to choose on skier and one snowboarder for the win and the same with the skiers!

i know it will never happen but i think it's the best way to have fair results cause all the riders have been riding the features so the know the difficulties to ride those and i have been riding for 10 years now and when it comes to me to make an event the first point i made was that way of judging cause i was tired of the normal format. and all the riders who come to my event are really stoked on the result cause they don't have the pressure of being judge at the end of the week they all just shred the all week like if they were at a shooting and they give their best




thanks a lot

LOLZO

it would be cool if different grabs on every jump would get recognized more.

i do think rider-judged formats should be looked into more... i think the top three can usually be agreed upon more or less, it would just be hard to sort everyone else out.

im sure that most of the riders would agree with you...  we have tried this method as well, but sometimes felt that there was some disagreement amongst the judge's opinion of style... so, by leaving one judge to account for that, ultimately leaves a big part of the score to just one view of their particular style.

you are right though, they should be scored higher, and i believe that for the years to come, they will...  these comps are coming from "the winning trick" being some wind-up top with an average grab.  i am a huge fan of the two different solid grabs in the same jump... this shows the rider is completely owning that certain trick (pokes also show this, although to a lesser degree, in my opinion) but the future seems to be headed in a way that is making these huckish kind of tricks more stylee...  already look at the dubs now, from the ones even just a year before.

couldnt wait to get to this one, when i saw it!!!!!  thank you lolo!!!!!  it's your style that has really influenced so many people...  your creativity has given our sport such a boost!!!!  i am very stoked about your comp, you have done very well to adapt it to something new and fresh.  riders have told me how much fun your event is because of the lack of stress and the format... it is too bad that more comps are like yours (except i wouldnt have a job!!! haha fuck it though, i can shape!!! haha)  your recognition that the mountain is the format, just slope or big air alone, but you must be a true rider to even be able to compete is sick!!! always thought that the athlete should be a true skier first, not just some jibbers... 

it is also sick how you have the skiers judge the snowboarders and vice versa.  these really helps bring the two sports together, because all love the mountain, and even most skiers snowboard.  it also gives the chance for them to see how we can get down... but we are lucky here in europe, that skiers and snowboarders are just a bit closer than it is over in NA, and especially in france, where many of them are very good friends, and respect each other already...

i am very stoked to see what you have planned for us next season!!!!!  and i hope you are still riding in some of the other events in europe, even though you got screwed last couple of seasons... (my opinion) i have actually never judged an event that you were riding, but was tm at the freestyle. events. 

catch you again next season around the way!!!!! (was at candide's after euro x, that burger joint in la clusaz is the fucking bomb!!!!!! best burger in europe)

have a great summer...

L8r, skye

people like casabon who don't really do dubs in comps should have a chance to win with style

the variety and style of grabs are defo one of the biggest points in slope...  many of the grabs actually make the difficulty  of the trick score a lot higher. same trick with the mute can actually hurt the score because of the repeating it over and over again... however, at the moment, makes our job a bit easier, because you can root out which riders are progressive with other grabs.  i believe that most of the newer tricks are learned mute, because in the rotation, you want to hold onto something (other than shiftys, un-grabbed tricks are not tricks to me!!!!) and mute grabs are allowing you to really let your head lead and can really huck into it...

i think you will start seeing more style in the dubs, but i am with you on slowing the rotation to get more style aspect...  i would love to see a cork three worth as much as a sw 10, or even buttered-into jumps put on a higher level.  but putting rules against flat 5's isnt gonna work, because if everybody is doing them, then maybe a super-uber stylish one that comes, that no one else can do, how do you not let him do it??also, once again, i can put competitors in that average classification and make the other tricks worth more...  if everybody were throwin misty 7's, then other tricks would be able to beat that. it just kind of depends on what the riders are doing at that certain comp...

there are a few that way, and they usually work out pretty well.  it's hard to argue when they are the ones who made the choice.  what is funny, is that happens sometimes in  the way regular judged comps are as well. sometimes, there is a clear picture of the top 3, and after that it can be a cluster fuck!!!!

im with you on that!!!!!!  but once again that is the question of style vs. tech...  but his development on rails especially has him in contention in any slope contest.  im sure b-dog will start playin with dubs and bust one that will kill all the others in style...  you cant teach style, its there, or it isnt...  he also has some very good chances when the comp format is based on style.  but it sucks that some of the bigger, more well known ones arent...

haha i know, i was just kidding.Jon got screwed at wx 13

Make sure you tell athletes exactly what you're looking for as a judge, I'm sure they would appreciate it more. Anyways...

Clean style should ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS prevail as the most important factor in judging. Tech tricks are awesome but not when arms are wavering and grabs aren't held.

After clean style I believe bonus points should be awarded for unnatural spins. For example Gagnier at the 2006 US open Bigair throwing his unnaty switch misty 1080s tail grab should beat Schiller throwing a switch 1440 mute with a much shorter hold on the grab(I'm not trying to hate on Schiller because that spin was still clean and it was the first sw14 ever.. but if the two tricks were thrown again today Gagnier should score better with his trick).

Lastly creativity should be rewarded far more than it is now, our sport breathes on creativity, it makes skiing fun to watch and fun to participate in. If you can't win a competition doing something new, that no one else can do, we might as well be doing aerials.

buttering off the lip of any big jump needs to be rewarded a lot, that shit is crazy. other than that i think that people need to look at what grab goes with what trick better. some grabs come really easily for certain tricks, and its cool to see guys mix up the grabs. for example, japans and mutes are way easy in rodeos, but grabbing blunt or opposite mute is really technical so it should be scored better.

100% Agreed.

Hard grabs should be rewarded, misty with blunt grab, rodeo with true nose...etc

and in diving there are different positions= different grabs there is tuck pike strait a flip tuck flip DD of 1.4 pike DD 1.5 strait flip is 1.6DD

MORE WEIGHT ON RAILS IN SLOPLESTYLE!!!

how do judges know what is difficult or easy for the riders to do?

most judges are either just recently finishing their comp careers, or injured during that particular season...  other judges (like myself) that were never able to step to that level keep a very keen eye on what is going on and also talk quite often to all the athletes and coaches...  sometimes, it is not very difficult to figure what difficulty there is, especially with certain grabs with certain tricks (ie...  blunts can be way harder than mutes with certain tricks)

but generally having a good understanding and keeping up to date with the progress helps quite a bit...  sometimes though, one guy may be able to hit something sw easier than he can forward and vice versa, so it is by no means perfect in this understanding...

i agree...  if you read in some of the replies before, i have answered all these statements to the best of my knowledge...  but you are defo correct and we really try (i do) to get your points involved.

all your points are right on the money...  this way of looking at the way they ride would really help push the style category more...  we really look for all four directions in slope and special things like butters and how they are going and coming off the rails...  i totally agree with you about the mixing of the grabs.  i think that you will see WAY more variation this coming year than ever before...  seems like the guys have their rotations down well and are now playing with different grabs for these rotations...  hope they do, because it kills me to award the most points to guys doing the same shit, but sometimes that is the way it goes down. (ex. russ and bobby had the exact same jump at london, but bobby's wasnt quite as big as russ's, and nobody was near to them with this...)

i really hope the riders are busting some very new and styleeeeee shit this year, even though it can be hard to judge, it is so exciting to watch!!!!!!  sometimes you can actually hear us in the booth screaming how sick it was while we are judging!!!! sorry, it is to get caught up in the excitement as well...

sorry dude, you wont convince me...  i know that i have no knowledge of diving (not trying to be close-minded, or anything) but, it just seems that the element of style is not the same as in skiing...  that is why it is probably a lot easier to judge diving...  you have pike, tuck, str, and such, but there is like 20 or 30 different grab combos, plus like i mentioned before about the special shit, like buttering...  i just dont see the same amount of style variations in diving...

kinda a noob question... what do you mean with all four directions? i thought there was only left side and right side, do you mean misty, bio, rodeo and cork?

right, left, sw right, sw left

^ word

bump. theres a lot of city big airs comin up and i know kids are gonna be complaining about the judging, make your voice heard now not after!!