Grand Prix Trials as a Judge

This past Saturday,  I had the privilege to be the head judge of a Grand Prix Trial tournament for GP Minneapolis.  It was an amazing experience. You have to be the one who can answer questions, fix situations, etc.  But there are some things that can be stressful about certain situations that need to be addressed.

For one,  you have to take yourself out of your comfort zone.  A friend my call you over to fix a situation or answer a question.  But when that happens, you have to be completely but yourself in a neutral state and be unbiased to the situation at hand. The tournament should be run by unbiased leader and you have to be that.

It can be a strain on someone to know everything, but thats not possible to do.  Thats why we have applications on smart phones that can aid us in situations.  It helps that we have the internet to so that we can look at forums and other judge websites too.

To become a judge if you think that you are ready, you can go to the judges website which the link will be on the bottom.  There are also other websites like wiki and such that can help you prepare for the exams, if those don't work, ask your local judge to help you out or shadow a tournament to view hands on experience.

Once you have taken you practice exams and passed all of those, contact your level two judge in the area.  They will be the one to administer your actual level one exam.  If you pass, congrats and welcome to the judging community, if not, then you need to work on some things or need to study more.  But I believe that you can do it.

DCI Homepage