IT’S TIME TO YELL! OR IS IT? Let’s talk skateboard judging
Skateboard judging is subjective, but maths isn’t. We’re going to give some insight into skateboard judging.
How it’s done simply:
1. Judges are given criteria for scoring &;
2. Judges score the criteria based on their opinion from 0-100.
When there are 3 judges:
The 3 scores entered by judges are averaged into a final score.
When there are 5 judges:
The Highest and lowest scores are dropped.
The Remaining 3 are averaged into a final score.
The Maths:
Lets use a competition Scenario to play this out.
1. 24 athletes,
2. 3 runs each,
3. 3 judges.
4. Scored out of 100, with 1 decimal place.
*note here that for a single run, there are 1000 possible scores from 0.0 to 100 including decimals.
The Mathematical odds of a general spectator or parent and their result opinion.
Choosing the winner
57% Chance of Disagreement
Will be wrong 4 out of 7 times.
Picking the top 3
89.98% chance of disagreement.
Will be wrong 9 out of 10 times.
Any Single Rank from 1-24
Statistically certain at a single event that no one would get guess the correct order.
Perfect Score Match
While it can happen, statistically the odds are next to 0.
The 4-Event Probability Table
If we assume a base disagreement rate of 57% (the natural variance between a single person and a panel), here is how the credibility of that spectator decays over four events:
First event
Expertise Probability: 43.0%
Technical Deficit Confidence: 57.0%
Disagreement is within the expected range of personal taste or minor preference. It does not yet indicate a lack of knowledge.
Second event
Expertise Probability: 18.5%
Technical Deficit Confidence: 81.5%
A pattern of error begins to emerge. The spectator likely lacks an understanding of specific technical criteria.
Third event
Expertise Probability: 7.9%
Technical Deficit Confidence: 92.1%
It is highly probable that the spectator is functionally unable to process the complexity of the data.
Fourth Event
Expertise Probability: 3.4%
Technical Deficit Confidence: 96.6%
The result is statistically significant . The spectators persistent disagreement shows an inability to process the sport’s technical requirements.
So basically the more someone disagrees, the more lack of technical understanding is shown.
The Parent /Coach trap
Maths and odds are great for a lot of things, especially a sport with runs, scores, ranks, number of athletes and averages. Everything can be calculated.
Here is where it gets interesting.
If a parent or coach disagrees with their student or childs result, you should see over 4 events or disputes:
1. 50% of their disputes should be that their student/child were scored too high.
2. 50% of their disputes should be that their student/child were scored too low.
When these numbers start to move out of the 50/50 queries, it demonstrates bias.
This bias even further lowers the odds of them being able to competently critique or disagree with official scores.
The wrap on judging
The judges scores are subjective, and the result is final
It is using the judges opinion based on the criteria, and therefore, their opinion is the correct result.
57% of people will, have a differing opinions to the judges, and that’s totally ok.
The Tips
Judges
Your opinion is your opinion. be confident in the placings you give, and rely on your peers to steer results well.
Event Organisers
Stand by your staff and judges. Remember that 57% of peoples opinions will differ from the result.
Coaches & Parents
This is also just opinion (like judging) but one would suggest that it’s not the best example to teach a young skateboarder how to win by complaining about scores and raising volume.
If you are dealing with young impressionable kids, develop them so they are so talented a win is undeniable by the judges.
The easiest way to win is to be the best.