Rink Judging System

I was thinking today as I skated again on "Little Shiny" (LC Ice) that I could take the new judging system created for judging figure skating (called IJS or International Judging System) and apply it to my judgement of the rinks I skate at in the Portland area. Since I am a judge of figure skating (albeit I don't use this new system very much as a test judge, but I do have some exposure to this system) I figured I am somewhat qualified to use this system in any way I want, so here goes:

So in this judging system the skaters are given two sets of marks by the judges - the "Grade of Execution" for each element in the program - these grades range from -3 to +3, with 0 being "just okay" or "Just right" - nothing special but the element has been performed. -3 is usually given for a fall or a major error on the element. Positive grades of execution (or GOE) are given if the element is really good or even great.

The 2nd set of marks is more subjective (as if those first Grades or Execution or GOE are totally objective, but I digress) - these are the Program Components. These are what used to comprise the old "Presentation" or Artistry" mark in the 6.0 system and include categories like "Skating Skills" "Performance and Execution", "Choreography", etc. These categories are given a score from 1-10 with 10 being the best there ever was or could be (think: John Curry) and 1 being - well, pretty mediocre (think: me or any recreational or beginning skater).

So how does this apply to judging the rinks, you may ask?

For the GOE, we could look at the different elements of what makes a good rink: The quality of the ice could have a certain set value and then we could add or subtract from that value on any given day. We could look at Customer Service, cleanliness, etc. in the same way.

For the Program Components we could set up another set of criteria (although these criteria might be the same, actually, as I haven't defined that many levels of satisfaction yet...) and then could be judged on a scale of 1-10. In the end we could see who "wins" given these criteria that I have arbitarily set up.

I will work on this more in the coming days.

Tomorrow - a lesson at Valley (I hope) to do figures (I hope) and to figure out the categories, etc. - maybe I will even do a [mock] judging!!
Happy skating everyone!