Last Fearner
2nd Black Belt
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2006
- Messages
- 712
- Reaction score
- 17
Saturday I spent the day at Professor Covert's Olympian Chung Do Kwan Taekwondo Tournament in Garden City, Michigan (an annual event). I took a couple of students and we all had a great time.
I have been involved in tournaments for the past 30 years, and have been officiating at Junior Olympics and Senior nationals since 1992, however this was the first time that I worked with the electronic scoring computer system. It was awesome, and helped to make things go so much smoother than usual.
I saw this equipment used at the U.S. Open in '95, but I was there as a coach. I have competed when they were using it. This was my first chance to actually judge and center referee with it, and I was very impressed. I sat at the head table at my ring for several matches and watched the indicators on the screen light up as each corner judge pushed their buttons to score a 1pt. body shot, or 2pt. head kick. You could see if a judge was missing points, or giving too many. It takes two of the corner judges to press their button for either the red (hong) or blue (chung) fighter within a 1.5 second interval in order for the computer to automatically award a point.
The time for the rounds, and which round you are in are kept track of by the computer and displayed, along with the score, on a screen visible to the fighters, and the audience. Warnings (kyeong-go) and full point deductions (gamjeom) are also recorded at the push of a button by the score keeper, and automatically deducted from the competitor's score on the screen. Three minus points, and the computer automatically flashes to end the match. Seven point spread, or twenty point ceiling, and the match is also ended automatically.
At the end of the final round, the computer flashes the high score (red or blue) for the center referee to see and announce the winner immediately. No more collecting papers, adding illegible scratch marks and checking math to see who won. No more trying to keep track of points or deductions in your head while you center ref. No more awarding points because of lines on two or more judges paper which might not even represent the same technique.
It was fast, efficient, fair, and lots of fun. Professor Covert always runs an enjoyable tournament, and this year's was outstanding. We started forms at 11:00 AM, and were finished with Black Belt sparring by about 3:30PM. With a large staff of Black Belt judges and a whole slew of Masters, we were given breaks between matches, rotated out for lunch (provided by the tournament), and ended in record time. No serious injuries, and I heard no complaints.
I half expected someone would come up to me during the tournament and ask "Are you Last Fearner from Martial Talk?," but alas, there were no fellow Michigan MT'ers there (or they did not come forth).
CM D.J. Eisenhart
I have been involved in tournaments for the past 30 years, and have been officiating at Junior Olympics and Senior nationals since 1992, however this was the first time that I worked with the electronic scoring computer system. It was awesome, and helped to make things go so much smoother than usual.
I saw this equipment used at the U.S. Open in '95, but I was there as a coach. I have competed when they were using it. This was my first chance to actually judge and center referee with it, and I was very impressed. I sat at the head table at my ring for several matches and watched the indicators on the screen light up as each corner judge pushed their buttons to score a 1pt. body shot, or 2pt. head kick. You could see if a judge was missing points, or giving too many. It takes two of the corner judges to press their button for either the red (hong) or blue (chung) fighter within a 1.5 second interval in order for the computer to automatically award a point.
The time for the rounds, and which round you are in are kept track of by the computer and displayed, along with the score, on a screen visible to the fighters, and the audience. Warnings (kyeong-go) and full point deductions (gamjeom) are also recorded at the push of a button by the score keeper, and automatically deducted from the competitor's score on the screen. Three minus points, and the computer automatically flashes to end the match. Seven point spread, or twenty point ceiling, and the match is also ended automatically.
At the end of the final round, the computer flashes the high score (red or blue) for the center referee to see and announce the winner immediately. No more collecting papers, adding illegible scratch marks and checking math to see who won. No more trying to keep track of points or deductions in your head while you center ref. No more awarding points because of lines on two or more judges paper which might not even represent the same technique.
It was fast, efficient, fair, and lots of fun. Professor Covert always runs an enjoyable tournament, and this year's was outstanding. We started forms at 11:00 AM, and were finished with Black Belt sparring by about 3:30PM. With a large staff of Black Belt judges and a whole slew of Masters, we were given breaks between matches, rotated out for lunch (provided by the tournament), and ended in record time. No serious injuries, and I heard no complaints.
I half expected someone would come up to me during the tournament and ask "Are you Last Fearner from Martial Talk?," but alas, there were no fellow Michigan MT'ers there (or they did not come forth).
CM D.J. Eisenhart
