While we’re at it, another rant. Whatever happened to judging obligations? At every tournament I know, there is an expressed mention in that invitation that judges are obligated one round past their participation; some tournaments go even further, and I don’t know any that ask for less. This is not some whim on the part of the tournament directors, or an attempt by the bastids in tab to affect yet another power trip. If people disappear after their own entries are eliminated, it is becomes progressively less possible to continue pairing the break rounds, especially the early ones (doubles and octos) where 24 or even 48 judges might be required. At some tournaments, just one or two judges skipping out can bring the whole thing down. Sometimes it’s a factor of those judges being highly rated. If they were going to be assigned a double-flighted round as an A judge, and we now have to sub in a C judge, that means that 4 debates have been affected. Other times, at smaller events where we need just about every judge, slipping off into the night could mean a literal end to the tournament. I have seen that happen.
Here’s the deal. If you’re judging, deal with it. Meet your obligation. No theater tickets that night. No hot dates. No “I really live far away and we have to go now,” when we know that if your kids were still in it, you wouldn’t be going anywhere. No “my bus is here.” No suddenly feeling a little rumbly in the tumbly. No nothing. Period. Stop it. You’re doing a bad thing, and possibly harming the tournament you would not want to see harmed if you or your team were still in it.
Does anyone have any idea how to end this growing, selfish practice?
4 comments:
Discipline from the coaches. Period. You need to leave early, and screw the tournament? Your child needs to not debate the next time he or she wants to do so.
That is: the coaches need to tell the parent judges this bit of news. I specify parents, because I find they are often the ones who ask to leave early.
Non-parent folks who ask to leave early should likely have that docked from their pay (if they are tournament hires or school hires).
Specifically for parent judges, I hypothesize that it might not be a hot date so much as it is trying to remove their child away from the scene of their loss.... On that note:
For SOME tournaments,* it might be okay to offer to have (or force, so that the judge has no choice but to wait) their student-debater watch the next round (with someone other than the opponent they lost to, for emotional reasons) to help them "improve" and "make the most out of their trip" whilst you hand the parent-judge their ballots. That way, they both have motive to stay. Then you can "forget" which round you sent the debater to, making it impossible for the parent to refuse the round and hunt the student down to extract them during prep time.
*mostly, end-of-the-topic ones, or local tournaments
Just a suggestion.
You've brought up three problems in the blog recently:
A. Judges not at judge meetings and missing communications at tournaments.
B. Coaches showing up without judges (they presumably registered) and insisting on buying judges from your reserve pool.
C. Judges bailing out on their "one round beyond" obligation.
This solution would require more transactions and bookkeeping/moneykeeping on the part of the tournament staff, but: as part of the registration fee, require up front payment of a "judge deposit" for each judge obligation. And collect the registration payment as far in advance as possible (like Jon did).
Let's say the judge deposit is $75/obligation. Big City Tech shows up at Bump with eight varsity and two novice LD'ers, a total of four judge obligations. Their registration includes $300 in judge deposits. They blow a gasket. You reply, it's OK, you'll get it all back as long as your judges behave.
Now you can work on problem A, requiring attendance at the initial judge meeting, at an interim judge meeting after round 3, or signing off on reading judge rules and picking up the speaker point guide, etc. If they fail to do any of these things you ask them to, you dock them $10 or whatever from the deposit.
This also works for problem C or any other missed round. They bail, you keep the deposit or portion thereof.
It also helps out with problem B, because you've secured $ just for the obligation. So when Big City Tech shows up with only three judges and wants to buy one from your reserve, you say OK, but they must forfeit their deposit for that judge obligation and they still have to pay for the one they are hiring. This way the fee for discouraging the practice is already in the fold.
Of course it also assumes your hired judge pool will behave and not miss rounds -- but you would handle that anyway with their compensation.
Just a thought.
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