St. Cloud [MN] doctor skates between bedside and rink-side as a national judge

[Sylvia]

I thought it was to see this local article about one of the alternate judges for 2018 U.S. Nationals who is a podiatrist in Minnesota: http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2...ates-between-bedside-and-rink-side/940445001/
Excerpt:

"Most of the people I judge are not Olympic skaters," he said. The competitors range in age from 3 or even 2 years old to 80-plus.
...
[Dr. Gregory] Rouw's been a judge for about 15 years. As a competitor, he didn't realize how much the judges supported him. But now that he's the one who ticks off scores, the goal is "to assist skaters reach the goals they want to reach," he said.
Fellow judge Jan Anderson, of Maple Grove, and Rouw often come to similar scores when they assess skaters together, she said. She sees Rouw as an honest and encouraging judge with young athletes.
He's also an honest and trustworthy friend, Anderson said. Rouw operated on her foot, and he's the only person she'd trust to do so.
The two volunteer their time to judge.
"It's in our blood," Anderson said. "You want to stay involved. You want to give back."

 

[vireo]

Thanks for posting this Sylvia. It's interesting to see skating from a judge's perspective and to be reminded that it's not all about the elite level skaters.

It's wonderful how Dr. Rouw has managed to stay involved in skating and has shared his love of the sport with his wife and sons. Many thanks to him and all the other judges and officials who volunteer their time and labor to figure skating.

 

[livetoskate]

Yes, it is unbelievable how much time and energy it takes for a volunteer to become a skating judge. It usually means having to wake up at 4 in the morning on a weekend to trial judge and judge kids scooting along doing three turns, single jumps, and other things that are not very exciting to watch. People who want to be judges have to pay for their own expenses to attend test sessions and competitions to do trial judging. Even if you get to do regular judging, depending on the club, you may get hotel and travel expenses paid for but there's still the time commitment. I have thought about trying to become a figure skating judge, but there just is no time to do so when you have work and family commitments. My hat's off to people who sacrifice so much to work as volunteers for the sport!

 

[Sylvia]

Here's another local feature -- this one is about an ISU judge from Edina, Minnesota who will be judging her first Olympics (pairs event) in Korea: http://www.fox9.com/news/edina-woman-to-judge-skating-at-pyeongchang-olympics
Direct link to the video (2+ minutes): http://www.fox9.com/news/297469096-video

 

[Aussie Willy]

Yes, it is unbelievable how much time and energy it takes for a volunteer to become a skating judge. It usually means having to wake up at 4 in the morning on a weekend to trial judge and judge kids scooting along doing three turns, single jumps, and other things that are not very exciting to watch. People who want to be judges have to pay for their own expenses to attend test sessions and competitions to do trial judging. Even if you get to do regular judging, depending on the club, you may get hotel and travel expenses paid for but there's still the time commitment. I have thought about trying to become a figure skating judge, but there just is no time to do so when you have work and family commitments. My hat's off to people who sacrifice so much to work as volunteers for the sport!

Yes for all the criticism judges get, people outside the sport do not realise there is a lot of grass root involvement. Most judges are not international and spend a lot of time doing local comps, tests and giving skaters feedback.

 

[gkelly]

And some international judges do some grassroots judging as well. But often they're too busy with the higher events and their day jobs.