During a discussion at the World Championships in Hungary last month, a few of the top judges talkged about the uselessness of the Degree of Difficulty score. In most instances, top level vaulters and teams end up with the same DOD. The FEI rule for individuals will be changed in 1997 to echo the US method of requiring a maximum score of 9.0, using the extra point to reward risk and unusual creativity; but, although it helps as we have seen in the years we have had this rule, this doesn't completely solve the problem. We also talked about the forum held in Stockholm last February and the initial reluctance of those top level judges who were present to dissect the Composition score in order to arrive at a more accurate score based on criteria rather than opinion. The main objection stated was the lack of time to arrive at a score when the next competitor[s] is ready and waiting and judges have other scores to give. After much cajoling on my part and a passionate outburst by me about what we as judges owe the competitors and the sport, those in attendance settled down and agreed to analyze the Composition score. At the conclusion of the forum, I think some minds were changed, but I am not sure whether (or how) the judges present are using this knowledge. If the published criteria are not used, the judge's score becomes totally subjective and this can be disastrous for the judge, competitor and the sport as a whole.
Another problem noted is that the DOD list of exercises contains only a small percentage of the exercises we see, leaving it up to the judge to decide - again subjectively - the DOD of most exercises. I can tell you, personally, that although there is usually agreement among the judges, this is not always the case as these decisions must be made in a split second. How can a sport have a list of exercises stating the DOD for only a minor number of the exercises that will actually be seen and not have a way to accurately determine the DOD of those not on the list? And why is no effort being made to address this problem? Once again, we will have to deal with inadequate information for the next four years while are judges are forced to make instantaneous, subjective decisions. The sport can only suffer as the competitors give voice to valid complaints.
Now, to add to all this confusion, we are adding a horse score and we will be defining it with another list of criteria which a judge is expected to consider. Is all this possible for a judge? Only time will tell. One can guess that additional stress will result for most judges, at least for those with less experience.
It is my way of thinking that there are only three important aspects of the sport:
Of course the DOD would still be useful as a training tool for judges and as a means of analysis of the Content score. Again, since most exercises are not actually listed, even if all US judges agree about a certain DOD, there is nothing to say we are correct in our thinking. There is always the possibility, for example, that German judges as a unit would disagree. In fact, I have seen this happen!
In the U.S. we have tried to stay as close to the FEI rules as we can. It is my belief that the U.S. can not be a separate sport from the international world of vaulting. To this end I have tried to make the U.S. rules the same as the FEI rules when I have had influence. But, in the history of the international world of vaulting, the U.S. has been an innovator, both in the formulation of concepts which hve become rules and in the establishment of a comprehensive judge's training program. (Nowhere else in the world are judges so thoroughly tested and trained in the use of the established criteria.) Maybe it is time, once again, to take a leadership role in rethinking the way this sport is judged, even if this thinking is divergent from the FEI rules. My opinion is that if the criteria on which we judge the vaulting sport is not simplified, the quality of judges and judging will deteriorate. We no longer can ask our judges to be super human leaders of this sport we all love so dearly!
The Horse score has not been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, and I do not want to give you the impression that it has cuased problems. I believe that the DOD score has created a tremendous problem ever since the Guidelines were re-written without including very many kurs, and the kurs and complication of movements became so much more sophisticated, as we have seen the last several years. In both the team and indivudual kurs, one sees movements not even imagined, even today with all that we have already seen, by most of us in the sport! The creativity and complexity of movement in today's world of vaulting is truly remarkable and I want to spend my time as a judge observing this aspect of the sport instead of concentrating in order to call out meaningless ones, twos, and threes. At the end of each performance, I always feel as though I have missed the real essence of the routine because I have directed so much of my energy into the DOD.
It is my opinion that we stand on the brink of something even greater for our sport, where the horse shares equally, along with the vaulter's artistry and performance, in the scores we give to determine the final score. Of course, the first question one must ask is what would this do to our international competitors? I think the effect could only be positive because it would place the emphasis on the artistry of the kur and the top level kurs are already ful of DOD 1 exercises at both team and individual levels, anyway. We have an opportunity in the U.S. to try this out in the AVA without effecting the AHSA or FEI levels in that this could be tried at Bronze, Silver, C and B Team levels. AVA rules are easily changed and these levels of competition do not apply to AHSA or FEI competition. I personally am very excited about the prospect of using either one of these methods and I'd like your input. What do you think? Please give us your opinions.