Tournament Judging

Dear Tee,

My husband brought me your card and informed me of the questions you were asking about forms judging at tournaments at a recent tournament held in Little Rock, Arkansas. 

 

I hope that the information I give you is helpful.

 

When I judge on forms, there are several things that I look for as a head judge.  I take into consideration the age group that I am judging and if the group as a whole looks nervous.  I look for flow, attitude, focus, power and execution.
If a person starts strong and ends weak, then I know that they are not as good as they could be on an individual basis.  If the form is weak through the entire thing, then I know that that is probably all they can put into it at the time.

I look for proper stances and execution of hand and foot techniques.  Do they have the proper chamber, target area and rechamber.  What are they doing with the hand that is not striking or blocking?  Is it in a tight chamber?  Are they kihapping(Yelling) on the right move and can you hear it?

These are just a few of the things that I look for.

If you would like to find out what the correct criteria for the ATA judging is, you can find a list of our tournament rules at www.ataonline.com.
It will be listed under tournament rules.
It might give you some more information, but the biggest thing to go by is yourself.

One judge might stress stances, while another might stress the importance of hand techniques.  All judges will have an area that they are more proficient in and that is usually what they stress the most.

It is important, however; to go by the overall performance.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at mandmkirker@salemnet.com. I hope that I have given you some useful information.

Sincerely,

Mary Kirker