Parents Ethics question

[NutterButter]

If the judge knows your dd well, and knows all of the mistakes she usually makes, that judge can catch more deductions in real-time than a judge who has never seen your dd.

In my experience this is true. The times my DD has been judged by someone she knows, the scores are often a smidge lower.

To the OP - I think you are over thinking this. Unfortunately it happens in life sometimes where you run into someone you don't want to see and it's awkward. It's not unlike running into a former boss or colleague you don't like or running into your nemesis. All you can do is prepare your DD to handle the next run-in with grace.

 

[reluctant]

How are current coaches allowed to judge their current athletes? I've never seen that. My point was that, as the adult in the situation, it should be her responsibility to make sure she's not intimidating these girls in any way, and that was certainly not the case. They were completely terrified. I wasn't implying that she should go up and give them a hug, but a small smile when they give her the go ahead to salute and begin, as most judges do, would have made these girls breathe easier.

How do you know that she was trying to intimidate them? Most gymnasts don't have superwarm feelings towards the judges. I think I'd have their current coach talk to the gymnasts about how a judge's job is to be impartial not to make friends. Don't overthink this.

 

[moogacat]

Fairly early on in my daughter's competitive "career" we had a situation similar to this-- a coach/judge at her gym was removed from her team because the coach wasn't a good fit for that particular team/level. She was a judge at the very first meet after she was moved from their level, and the girls were terrified. By the end of the meet we could tell the judging was fair (the scores were lower than usual, but they were uniformly low, not just for our gym). I hadn't had the experience of a coach familiar with our kids judging, and it freaked me out at the time. Now that we've seen it several times and never had a problem, I'm able to put it in a better perspective. In other words, in your situation I was similarly uncomfortable, but time and experience have allowed me to relax. Unless you saw something truly amiss with the scores, I'd just reassure your daughter that this situation will come up again, and it will all likely be ok.

 

[gymnastmom05]

We are used to gym owners/coaches judging at meets. Our gym does not have anyone that judges but a few gyms in our state does. Our last meet, the Head Judge was also a gym owner/coach and yes, his team was there. We've been around long enough to not be surprised. In fact, I think it frustrates the parents more than the girls. My DD actually likes one certain judge even though he is a gym owner - all because he complimented her at Regionals last year for her "perfect" giants. She was stoked when she saw him judging bars at her last meet. (and let the mom, conspiracy theory side point out...my DD took second on his event. One of his girls got first. Could have been earned, I don't know but I do think anytime a situation like that is there, the speculation/doubt/wonder will accompany it).

As far as judges being assigned, in our state we have to submit a request along with a fee and they assign judges. No other information is given/provided (mostly because we don't know as it's months ahead of our meet and registration deadline) other than the date and location. So, I could see how a judge would easily be assigned to a meet and have former athletes/previous employers, etc competing in it.

 

[Curlyfry7]

If the judge knows your dd well, and knows all of the mistakes she usually makes, that judge can catch more deductions in real-time than a judge who has never seen your dd.

Yes!! We have a coach at our gym who also judges, and we all groan when we hear she is judging one of our meets...she is a verytough judge, and definitely knows how the routines are SUPPOSED to look, and knows what each girls’ weaknesses are.....

 

[2G1B]

My DS has a former coach who is a judge. When he was DS's coach I felt that he judged our boys a little harder than other teams. I wrote it off to him 1) knowing what his team's normal mistakes were, so he spotted them easily and 2) not wanting anyone to be able to accuse him of being more generous with his own boys.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Personally I’d be rather upset if a judge be all friendly and chatty with one particular team.

I expect them to behave the same to everyone. So I expect a more serious judge to be that way with everyone. A lighter more smiley judge to be that way to everyone.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

My daughter and several of her teammates switched gyms 7-8 months ago. Although the parents tried to have it be an amicable split, the gym owner/coach was very upset. This coach is also a judge and recently showed up to judge a meet we were competing in. It was the first time our girls had seen her and needless to say it shook them terribly. She would not smile or really even acknowledge them outside of being the judge on that event. My question is, "Is this ethical behavior? Does she have a duty to recuse herself from judging a session with former athletes?"

No, and she isn’t supposed to talk athletes prior or during competition. Happens all the time , moving on.

 

[tucktwisttumble]

We used to be judged by familiar faces all the time (sometimes gym-moms were judges, or coaches, etc.) and they would not acknowledge us. That is their job.