When It’s Time To Retire…

[ToddL]

Skiing was founded in the 1920’s, AWSA founded in 1939, and competitive skiing boomed in popularity with the population growth of the baby boomers. Now those founding fathers and mothers of the growth years of our sport are reaching upper ages and still have the fire, passion, and love of competitive water skiing. They have given their all and made countless contributions. They continue to serve as judges, scorers, drivers, and officials at tournaments.

 

However, at some point the difficult decision must come. Is this person still capable of serving in an official capacity at competitions?

 

I have witnessed great people decline with age. Their wisdom and intelligence are not in question, nor is their heart of service. However, their ability to ensure fair and accurate competition has aged as well. In a sport where “in the moment” actions and decision are the bare minimum requirement to serve, mental acuity and reaction times are a factor of success or failure. I have seen skier’s lose trick runs due to errors in capturing the tricks at the pace performed or repeated requested to see that pass “one” more time for the 3rd time. I have seen missed video capture of jumps due to failures to click the right button or in time. In slalom, I have seen repeated requests to review gate video or difficulties keeping up with times called into the scorer and so on.

 

I am not talking about the occasional mistake. I am speaking about those folks we all know and love who still show up to work their 6-10 skiers for the sake of keeping their rating, but put those skiers’ performances at risk.

 

I also know that there are methods to deal with normal mistakes, like DVRs which run the in the background, or redundant judges on computers, etc. Those are not always available to all classes of tournaments in all locations. Regardless of their presence, that is not the topic of this post. Rather, what do we do about the person who is repeatedly missing a performance, making an error, and therefore negating skier performances, some of which may have been a PB or critical goal for that day? How do you ask someone to step down when they love the sport so much?

 

[dave2ball]

@ToddL is this your decision alone or is a group involved? There is no easy way to go about this other then being up front about the situation. Talk with this person about the mistakes made and how it has affected your events and you or the group can’t continue to has this happen. As a group or by yourself let this person know a decision has been made to either phase the person out or just don’t allow him to officiate. There really is no easy way to go about this what so ever. Ya this person will most likely be upset but in the end it will have to be dealt with eventually

[ToddL]

I am not in charge of any decision. I am just saying this is a topic that is playing out and likely happening in other areas. I wanted to get some discussions about how others have handled it and some idea of the frequency of the issue elsewhere.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

It’s really up to the chief judge to put the most qualified officials in the places they are needed. I understand what you are bringing up and it is a real issue that needs to be addressed with care. Many of those chronologically gifted folks genuinely want to help out and participate in any way they can. They are still part of the skiing “family”

 

So…… the CJ “should” be aware of the judges abilities and make assignments accordingly. It’s pretty easy to judge kids slalom from a tower. If they really want to judge tricks, be sure it’s an easier group and there are 2 well qualified judges so in reality it won’t matter much. For jump there is suppose to be 2 people on redundant computers so the geezers are little more than last resort backup.

[ral]

@ToddL , I have seen some of that but not a lot.

 

A good approach I have seen is talking about it, on a quiet, non public and non judgemental way, and have them performing judging tasks less prone to error, like calling gates, or reviewing buoy times and calling buoy totals.

[bigtex2011]

I concur with Bruce.

[jayski]

The issue that tags along with @ToddL 's concern is the lack of 'younger' judges, and high-level ones at that...before we can all send some out to ''pasture there needs to be an effort to grow the qty of 'younger' officials

[LeonL]

@jayski you're right. Over the years I've tried to encourage young skiers (and parents of young skiers, young themselves) with only limited success. That's somewhat discouraging and doesn't bode well for the future of 3 event tournament skiing.

 

[dbutcher]

I am 78 years old and may soon be approaching "time to retire". I am only an assistant judge (don't judge much or want to), but I am a senior driver. If someone I know and respect told me that my driving skills have declined to the extent that I am hurting skiers, I would be disappointed for sure but not angry. I hope that I will recognize that myself without having to be told. I know how important good ski performance is to me and likewise is to other skiers. I would never want to hurt anyone's performance. I would like to think that I would be appreciative if I were accurately informed that my performance as a driver has declined too much to continue. I believe most potential retirees would feel this way. So maybe it isn't such a tough a problem, at least in drivers.

[ToddL]

My young adult, collegiate son has been working through his assistant judge and now scorer requirements. He is encouraging others to do so as well. However, it is not just the kids who need to be invited to become officials. Think about a few mid-aged adults who are returning to the sport for the sake of their young kids' participation. They are good recipients for a tap on the shoulder and a work requirement sheet. Also, those former novice skiers who are now a few years into normal Class C competition are good candidates for becoming officials.

[ToddL]

The real opportunity is legacy. What will your legacy be when you retire from competition? Will you have inspired, trained, mentored a few new officials in the tasks in which you have been so deeply involved? Will you have created two replacements who have benefited from your superior expertise and will eventually even surpass you as they continue to grow in the sport?

[Jody_Seal]

this is some deep thinking anal shit right here!but hey! elitist anal organization and membersmake for better scores eh?

[RichardDoane]

- that's not helpful. every season I try and create as many new Asst. Slalom Judges as possible, with the Level 8 option based on scores (I'm a Scorer). I always carry blank Asst. Judge applications for the new mwmbers and kids. this season I've added 3 new Assistants who can now sit in a tower and count to 6 as necessary, and will hopefully continue to advance in rank during their time as a competitor. I also do the testing upgrades to Regular and Senior for those that are willing. it takes a village you know.