Should Women's contest skating be scored differently?

[Salmon Agah]

As a person who's judged a fair amount of contests, both skating and surfing, the scale is normally adjusted before every day and between divisions. For instance, on a 10 point scale, you don't want the winning kid of the youth division to be winning on a 4 or a 5. That's not as exciting for them, they want to tell their friends they got a 9. So, before each division, a head judge should be holding a discussion as some form of ground rules for ways the judges should be re-scaling their scoring (variety of tricks, use of obstacles, etc.).

Given those ground rules, as a judge, the first score of every event will set your scale. You hope for a pretty standard run that you can deem a 6-7, and then you have your base line by which you can judge every other run off of. The issue that can occur with this, is when the first skater of the day puts down an absolute banger of a first run, and then you're forced to make a decision as to how much better of a score you think is possible, and then score based off of that. A real example that comes to mind is from the Rip Curl Search surf event in Mexico, where Mick Fanning took off on the first wave of the day, and got what was clearly going to be the best wave of the day, however the judges scored it to give room for better rides, and gave him like a 9.8, and then there wasn't a perfect 10 awarded that day/event.

Of course, numbers are truly arbitrary, and I think that it is most important for the judge to get the "feel" of a contest right. Normally, I define this to other judges as being able to write a separate list without your scores of what you think the outcome should be, and your scores should reflect that list as closely as possible. That normally helps to avoid the murmurs of "X person got robbed".

All of this to say, yes, women's should probably have a different scale. To anyone worried about scoring in the future, as stated above, the top of the scale should be the best that they think is possible that day. While holding everyone to the same standard does seem equal, at the end of the day being scored higher makes everyone feel better.

[TheFandangler]

As a person who's judged a fair amount of contests, both skating and surfing, the scale is normally adjusted before every day and between divisions. For instance, on a 10 point scale, you don't want the winning kid of the youth division to be winning on a 4 or a 5. That's not as exciting for them, they want to tell their friends they got a 9. So, before each division, a head judge should be holding a discussion as some form of ground rules for ways the judges should be re-scaling their scoring (variety of tricks, use of obstacles, etc.).

Given those ground rules, as a judge, the first score of every event will set your scale. You hope for a pretty standard run that you can deem a 6-7, and then you have your base line by which you can judge every other run off of. The issue that can occur with this, is when the first skater of the day puts down an absolute banger of a first run, and then you're forced to make a decision as to how much better of a score you think is possible, and then score based off of that. A real example that comes to mind is from the Rip Curl Search surf event in Mexico, where Mick Fanning took off on the first wave of the day, and got what was clearly going to be the best wave of the day, however the judges scored it to give room for better rides, and gave him like a 9.8, and then there wasn't a perfect 10 awarded that day/event.

Of course, numbers are truly arbitrary, and I think that it is most important for the judge to get the "feel" of a contest right. Normally, I define this to other judges as being able to write a separate list without your scores of what you think the outcome should be, and your scores should reflect that list as closely as possible. That normally helps to avoid the murmurs of "X person got robbed".

All of this to say, yes, women's should probably have a different scale. To anyone worried about scoring in the future, as stated above, the top of the scale should be the best that they think is possible that day. While holding everyone to the same standard does seem equal, at the end of the day being scored higher makes everyone feel better.

Yeah but we’re talking about the Olympics here, not some California skatepark contest where we want Susie feeling good about her score and everyone to have fun. They made the women’s scoring as it was because it left room open for the possibility of some serious hammers. I even wondered before the contest if the girls were going to do much on the big rails at all. They proved me wrong. They needed to leave that room open in the scoring too.

[coldbrew]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[SkateKitten]

The commentators from BBC said the girls wanted to be scored in the same standard of the men. So, it was their decision.

[Billy Bitchcakes]

Just had a convo about this with my gf and we came to similar conclusions. Either way you do it is going to highlight a disparity between the men and women's skill levels, but the way it is now makes it way more obvious.

The current scoring gives a clear indication to anybody watching, whether they know shit about skating or not, that the men are a much higher skill level than the women. And while that might be true right now I don't think highlighting so blatantly is a good thing, and should maybe be something that they try and avoid a bit more.

Giving both groups similar scores for different tricks is perhaps dishonest to viewers who don't know anything about skating, but they already don't know what's going on so does it really matter. Anyone who knows about what they're seeing will understand the gap between the two groups and understand what's going on scoring wise. Overall that way makes more sense to me. I don't agree with the argument that it sets a ceiling because the scores have always been adjusted to match the average skill level of the competitors. a trick that would've scored a 9 at SLS ten years ago would now probably get a 6 or 7.

[Billy Bitchcakes]

They made the women’s scoring as it was because it left room open for the possibility of some serious hammers.

That doesn't make sense though. Why don't they give the men lower scores just in case somebody came along and did a switch laserflip front crook fakie tre out down the handrail? You can leave room for scoring hammers without giving high scores of 2.5

[SatanicPanic]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[stephop]

I thought the girls / women wanted the scoring that way.

[coldbrew]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

A 540 flip lipslide was scored lower than a 360 flip lipslide already…

[SatanicPanic]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

A 540 flip lipslide was scored lower than a 360 flip lipslide already…

As it should be, 540 flip lipslide sounds dumb

[rawbertson.]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

[SatanicPanic]

Expand Quote

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Expand Quote

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

450 lipslide is stupid and shouldn’t exist.

We’re in the first year of judging so the judges are behaving like rational people with eyes. Give it two more and they’ll resemble the bean-counters in every other sport.

[LonleySk8er15]

Expand Quote

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

[close]

450 lipslide is stupid and shouldn’t exist.

We’re in the first year of judging so the judges are behaving like rational people with eyes. Give it two more and they’ll resemble the bean-counters in every other sport.

i thought the 540 flip lip and 270 flip lip were done on different rails. the former being on the smaller rail. It was confusing to watch and see the scores because theres 3 different rails. more technical tricks done on the smaller rail scored kinda low.

[wilk]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

[close]

450 lipslide is stupid and shouldn’t exist.

We’re in the first year of judging so the judges are behaving like rational people with eyes. Give it two more and they’ll resemble the bean-counters in every other sport.

[close]

i thought the 540 flip lip and 270 flip lip were done on different rails. the former being on the smaller rail. It was confusing to watch and see the scores because theres 3 different rails. more technical tricks done on the smaller rail scored kinda low.

exactly he did it on the smaller more mellow rail, I'd say medium, so not the smallest downrail but not the biggest, I think his score was fair for that trick. The course was so expansive, I noticed they didn't just have a big and mellow section like SLS style courses, the course was like 3 SLS courses put together and as far as downrails go they had small, medium, and large on both sides even, for switch and regular. I can't get over how insane that course was. It was a like a more tech version of the old X-games courses.

[coldbrew]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

[close]

450 lipslide is stupid and shouldn’t exist.

We’re in the first year of judging so the judges are behaving like rational people with eyes. Give it two more and they’ll resemble the bean-counters in every other sport.

[close]

i thought the 540 flip lip and 270 flip lip were done on different rails. the former being on the smaller rail. It was confusing to watch and see the scores because theres 3 different rails. more technical tricks done on the smaller rail scored kinda low.

[close]

exactly he did it on the smaller more mellow rail, I'd say medium, so not the smallest downrail but not the biggest, I think his score was fair for that trick. The course was so expansive, I noticed they didn't just have a big and mellow section like SLS style courses, the course was like 3 SLS courses put together and as far as downrails go they had small, medium, and large on both sides even, for switch and regular. I can't get over how insane that course was. It was a like a more tech version of the old X-games courses.

are you telling me that a 3 flip lip (which tons of people have done) over a 540 flip (which is incredibly rare) is easily interchangeable between a two stair difference?

[goldenbullcow]

They should lower the rails similar to how they move the tees closer to the pin in golf

[TheFandangler]

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They made the women’s scoring as it was because it left room open for the possibility of some serious hammers.

[close]

That doesn't make sense though. Why don't they give the men lower scores just in case somebody came along and did a switch laserflip front crook fakie tre out down the handrail? You can leave room for scoring hammers without giving high scores of 2.5

I think the gap in skill level in each category plays a big role there. They have a pretty good idea of what the men can do and they basically leave anything past 9.5 or whatever open for those tricks that nobody would expect. In the case of the women’s category, they’ve got skaters doing front boards on five stair rails and ollies down sets, meanwhile the top women are hucking the big rails. There’s a lot more uncertainty in the women’s competition, as they are progressing so quickly, and there needs to be room open for a non-male to push into the realm of the men’s scores.

Also, it sounds like the women asked for it this way, so obviously it makes sense to them

[LonleySk8er15]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

[close]

Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

[close]

lmfao there was a 450 lipslide and it was grossly undrescored. it shuld have been a 9 club.

it defiintely scored more than the 270 flip lip, but only a bit more.

[close]

450 lipslide is stupid and shouldn’t exist.

We’re in the first year of judging so the judges are behaving like rational people with eyes. Give it two more and they’ll resemble the bean-counters in every other sport.

[close]

i thought the 540 flip lip and 270 flip lip were done on different rails. the former being on the smaller rail. It was confusing to watch and see the scores because theres 3 different rails. more technical tricks done on the smaller rail scored kinda low.

[close]

exactly he did it on the smaller more mellow rail, I'd say medium, so not the smallest downrail but not the biggest, I think his score was fair for that trick. The course was so expansive, I noticed they didn't just have a big and mellow section like SLS style courses, the course was like 3 SLS courses put together and as far as downrails go they had small, medium, and large on both sides even, for switch and regular. I can't get over how insane that course was. It was a like a more tech version of the old X-games courses.

[close]

are you telling me that a 3 flip lip (which tons of people have done) over a 540 flip (which is incredibly rare) is easily interchangeable between a two stair difference?

big rail was a 12, smaller rail was a 8. to me thats a big difference. theres a few different 8 stairs around and I know plenty of children that landed tricks down the 8s. but almost none of them have stepped to a basic trick down a 12.

[Hyliannightmare]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

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I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

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Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

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I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

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Synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics are judged in part on creativity. What you’re suggesting is going to lead to some team unveiling idiotic tricks like double kickflip board slides and 450 lipslides because that’s technically harder.

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A 540 flip lipslide was scored lower than a 360 flip lipslide already…

Shit blew my mind

[georgethecat]

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As a person who's judged a fair amount of contests, both skating and surfing, the scale is normally adjusted before every day and between divisions. For instance, on a 10 point scale, you don't want the winning kid of the youth division to be winning on a 4 or a 5. That's not as exciting for them, they want to tell their friends they got a 9. So, before each division, a head judge should be holding a discussion as some form of ground rules for ways the judges should be re-scaling their scoring (variety of tricks, use of obstacles, etc.).

Given those ground rules, as a judge, the first score of every event will set your scale. You hope for a pretty standard run that you can deem a 6-7, and then you have your base line by which you can judge every other run off of. The issue that can occur with this, is when the first skater of the day puts down an absolute banger of a first run, and then you're forced to make a decision as to how much better of a score you think is possible, and then score based off of that. A real example that comes to mind is from the Rip Curl Search surf event in Mexico, where Mick Fanning took off on the first wave of the day, and got what was clearly going to be the best wave of the day, however the judges scored it to give room for better rides, and gave him like a 9.8, and then there wasn't a perfect 10 awarded that day/event.

Of course, numbers are truly arbitrary, and I think that it is most important for the judge to get the "feel" of a contest right. Normally, I define this to other judges as being able to write a separate list without your scores of what you think the outcome should be, and your scores should reflect that list as closely as possible. That normally helps to avoid the murmurs of "X person got robbed".

All of this to say, yes, women's should probably have a different scale. To anyone worried about scoring in the future, as stated above, the top of the scale should be the best that they think is possible that day. While holding everyone to the same standard does seem equal, at the end of the day being scored higher makes everyone feel better.

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Yeah but we’re talking about the Olympics here, not some California skatepark contest where we want Susie feeling good about her score and everyone to have fun. They made the women’s scoring as it was because it left room open for the possibility of some serious hammers. I even wondered before the contest if the girls were going to do much on the big rails at all. They proved me wrong. They needed to leave that room open in the scoring too.

Congrats on the 10/10 serious sexism hammer. No need to leave any room open here!

[TheFandangler]

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As a person who's judged a fair amount of contests, both skating and surfing, the scale is normally adjusted before every day and between divisions. For instance, on a 10 point scale, you don't want the winning kid of the youth division to be winning on a 4 or a 5. That's not as exciting for them, they want to tell their friends they got a 9. So, before each division, a head judge should be holding a discussion as some form of ground rules for ways the judges should be re-scaling their scoring (variety of tricks, use of obstacles, etc.).

Given those ground rules, as a judge, the first score of every event will set your scale. You hope for a pretty standard run that you can deem a 6-7, and then you have your base line by which you can judge every other run off of. The issue that can occur with this, is when the first skater of the day puts down an absolute banger of a first run, and then you're forced to make a decision as to how much better of a score you think is possible, and then score based off of that. A real example that comes to mind is from the Rip Curl Search surf event in Mexico, where Mick Fanning took off on the first wave of the day, and got what was clearly going to be the best wave of the day, however the judges scored it to give room for better rides, and gave him like a 9.8, and then there wasn't a perfect 10 awarded that day/event.

Of course, numbers are truly arbitrary, and I think that it is most important for the judge to get the "feel" of a contest right. Normally, I define this to other judges as being able to write a separate list without your scores of what you think the outcome should be, and your scores should reflect that list as closely as possible. That normally helps to avoid the murmurs of "X person got robbed".

All of this to say, yes, women's should probably have a different scale. To anyone worried about scoring in the future, as stated above, the top of the scale should be the best that they think is possible that day. While holding everyone to the same standard does seem equal, at the end of the day being scored higher makes everyone feel better.

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Yeah but we’re talking about the Olympics here, not some California skatepark contest where we want Susie feeling good about her score and everyone to have fun. They made the women’s scoring as it was because it left room open for the possibility of some serious hammers. I even wondered before the contest if the girls were going to do much on the big rails at all. They proved me wrong. They needed to leave that room open in the scoring too.

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Congrats on the 10/10 serious sexism hammer. No need to leave any room open here!

Perhaps I could have used different words, but my intention is anything but sexist, and I apologize to anyone that saw it that way. I just think the skill level is a little more varied with the women’s division, so literally anything could happen. I hadn’t watched a full women’s competition is some time, so I was surprised to see Funa doing fs crooks on the biggest rail there. Shit blew my mind, and if they are progressing this fast in that division, they need to be judged in the same metric as the men.

[matty_c]

Yeah I can’t even remember anymore but they were getting 3s for good tricks I remember someone did kicky fronts fifty and it was low 3s that’s a dece trick
Can’t remember anymore cause I was drunk and I am now but the whole vibe of that women’s street was a solid session, everyone skating was fucken going for it and those judges out to lunch, full fuckwit shit
The whole scoring for the chicks was like they were on a handicap or some shit but it just should have been the same as boys
They should just get scored the same as men’s section like nothing in their favour or against and deadset those judges rooted them on their scores
Deadset Evan smith kicky fronts fifty they all would have had a circlejerk about how how he’s the only one can do that trick and it’s his trick, man,
fucks sake

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Stand by what I said though it’d be mad to bang the danish one

[S.]

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“That’s how the Olympics does it” isn’t a good reason to keep doing it. The Olympics themselves are a mess of human rights violations and wasted money for the sake of some really dumb goals. The point of skateboard contests is to produce skateboarding that people want to see. Olympics should learn from skateboarding, not the other way around.

[close]

I wasn't saying it should stay that way because the Olympics does it that way.  I was saying it should stay that way because it makes sense from a competition standpoint.  Competitions by definition are to see who is better, not who is more creative/original.  If I was in a competition and I had planned on doing X because I thought it was super cool or whatever, and someone else just happened to do it before me, I'd be pissed that just because I happened to go after them that I got a lower score.

The only way it really makes sense to be across people is based on different runs, where if someone does a kf feeble in trick 1, and someone does it in trick 2, then maybe that second person scores lower because they waited to do it.

[close]

Creativity is part of being better. And lots of competitions include that angle.

[close]

I’m open to criticism here but you can’t judge creativity. They are judging a sport on a points system. You don’t get extra points in basketball for a 360 dunk unless it’s a dunk contest. It’s still 2 points. Creativity in gymnastics and figure skating isn’t judged extra they just award points for more spins (I know this is a very basic way of thinking). They judge on criteria.

Sure you would rather watch Gino push but Gino ain’t gonna win a gold medal just pushing around the course. Sports are judged a certain way and skateboarding (creatively) isn’t a sport.

I dunno, but don‘t you think a sls contest is much closer to a dunk contest than a basketball match? no teams, similar atmosphere, no scoring of hoops made, only very limited space  of the court used, single tricks are the only thing that matters…