How are all of you judges feeling about meets?

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CuriousCate

Proud Parent
Have you been given any word on how you will be kept safe with all of the coaches and athletes, and even the other judges (!) around you? Particularly with interstate competitions? I'm wondering if you all have been told anything about how some of these big interstate meets will be run given some of the state restrictions on the number of people allowed for indoor events. I know meets have already started in many states; but as numbers are rising, I am curious if any changes are being made.
 
I’m also curious. I just got certified for the first time a little over a year ago, but never actually judged a real meet.
I decided this year with everything going on to not renew all my memberships. I’m a little sad because of all the work and $$ it took to get there last year. Just not worth the risk. (I’m also not having my daughter attend meets this year)
I know our gym is having trouble finding judges for our in house meet in March.
 
I have only done intersquads and online so far. Intersquad was just me, coaches, one team level of about 10-12 gymnasts at a time with 2 spectators allowed per gymnast and everyone masked(including gymnasts) so I felt very safe.

This was before the recent large increase in cases. I don’t have a “regular” meet on the schedule until January, if it happens, so haven’t gotten details yet. If we are at the point where gyms are open, I would be very comfortable doing a season of just meets like the intersquad, maybe with 2 teams at a time(like a high school dual meet) to give the kids at least a little competition experience.
 
I skipped this season. I made the decision in the summer due to an unrelated personal reason but even when that reason evaporated in the fall, I did not sign up to judge meets because I had no confidence there would be much of a season to make paying the fee$ worth it. Add to that, at the meets, the judges would have to sit apart, eat boxed lunches apart, etc. to be safe and meet new local regulations, so I'd have to sit alone for 10-12 hours in a mask and it didn't sound fun, plus I would be getting paid for fewer hours than before because of decreased paid breaks (which does help meets, I understand, but makes my effective hourly pay decrease). I am supposed to solo judge one unsanctioned dual-squad meet in February with max 20 girls in the session and no spectators, but we'll see if that happens.

What we were told is that after being assigned to a meet but before we accepted, we would see the list of safety precautions being put in place by the meet so we could choose if it matched our comfort level, but outside of what is required for state regulations, all the precautions were up to the meet director's discretion and there was no required set of precautions. I just got notice from my state's chair that if judges feel that the promised safety precautions are not in place or are not meeting local regulations and the meet director cannot immediately rectify the issue, the judges can choose not to judge the competition & leave the meet that day and are still to be reimbursed for mileage, etc., but it is not a sanction violation. I would imagine the pressure not to do that would be high, however, since it would effectively punish any remaining judges and the gymnasts who are not at fault.


Many of the judges in my area are retirees who are in higher risk age groups so they are the ones most in need of protection at the meets and it does make me nervous to think about losing a friend just to have meets. If community spread were at (local) summertime levels, maybe, but now?
 

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