Meet our judges
Team Members
Skate since 1992
host of the world championship
Skate since 2004
EFSC judge for several years
Head judge of world championship
The judging system
The judging system that is being used is a modified version of the UKFSA judging system. With help of Lukasz Ciszak we will bring the best suited system for this event.
Format
Each competitor is given 2 runs of the length shown below:
Amateur division 90 seconds run
Womans division 90 seconds run
Masters division 90 seconds run
Pro’s division 2 minutes run
Music
Bring your own music to the event—MP3s on USB sticks or links to music streaming services, preferably Spotify, are accepted. Please provide song details during registration to enhance our preparation for a memorable weekend with you.
Announcers
Throughout the contest, the Dutch duo Paul Brunninkhuis & Kevin Wessels will guide you through the event. They will call out the run order, engage the crowd and inform competitors about remaining time. , A visible timer on-site will offer additional visual support.
Practice
On friday evening from 17:00 – 22:00 there will be an open practice session to get used to the floor. Before every new Division of skaters, only skaters of that division will have 30 minutes to warm up on the ground. Besides the contest area, there will be an indoor skatepark open in the same building. This skatepark is open on Saturday to warm up as well.
Judging
One of the most important tasks of the weekend will be the judging. To make it as fair as possible, we pick judges with a deep background in freestyle knowledge. They either are freestyle legends with over 50 years of experience, or more new-school skaters that are working closely with the world championship judging system to honour the past, and the future of freestyle skating.
The judging will be done by five different judges. This allows the top and bottom scores to be removed in an attempt to eliminate bias.
The way it is getting judged
We will use the base of the British category system. This is a more complex system which has been in use in England since 2003. In theory, it is more balanced and more representative of how a skateboarder has actually performed. It is also more accountable, in that a skateboarder can see how he or she achieved their final score.
Points
Each judge awards 0–25 points for each category.
0 = not good; 25 = perfect
Each judge then has a final score out of 100 for each skater
Bails will be deducted at the end (1-3 points deduction per bail)
Categories
- Technicality
- Consistency
- Style
- Variety
- Originality
TECHNICALITY, 0–25 POINTS
The level of difficulty of the tricks executed and landed. Points are not deducted for missed tricks in this technical category, which also encompasses how elements are executed and linked. This isn’t just a flip-counting exercise; complex footwork or difficult combinations will also score highly here.
CONSISTENCY, BAILS DEDUCT 1 TO 3 POINTS OF THE TOTAL SCORE (DEPENDING ON SEVERITY OF BAIL)
Consistency refers to a seamless, fluid routine that is free of mistakes. Points should not be deducted for occasional planned stops, or for controlled changes in tempo and pace. Points should be deducted in this category for mistakes, missed tricks, unplanned breaks in flow, and excessive number of stops-and-starts.
Note that a fluid, interesting routine can conceal mistakes. It is up to the judges to decide how much an error hurts the routine – not all mistakes are equal!
In the original system, the consistency is scored from 0-20 points. But having this score this high, it promotes safe and dull runs. Because of this, we’re trying out a new format where consistency does not impacts as much as the other categories with deducting points on mistakes.
The severity of the bail will impact the ammount of deducted points. If a competitor loses full connection with the board, this will result in a harder penalty than a quick unplanned food touch to regain balance. points can also be subtracted for poor form – toedrag, under-rotated tricks, or unplanned foot on the ground.
STYLE, 0–25 POINTS
The Style category encompasses numerous elements: Style can loosely be defined as form, ease, and control of the entire body and skateboard, but it also includes musical interpretation, originality in style and technique, how a skater moves between techniques, and the use of the entire competition surface.
A skater does not have to move in a textbook and precise fashion to score highly here; a wild and exciting performance could also be considered stylish if the overall presentation is good.
VARIETY, 0–25 POINTS
Variety in technique. This does not necessarily mean performing elements from each and every technical category, which might encourage formulaic skating. But a perfect score should only be awarded to a routine that, within the chosen approach, shows an interesting, exciting variety of elements from multiple trick groups.
It is easier to explain why someone would score low rather than see why someone might score highly; if someone only does stationary tricks, has a run where 90% of the tricks involve ollies, or almost everything they do involves landing on one leg, they would get zero points (or close to it).
ORIGINALITY, 0–25 POINTS
Originality encourage progression. Note that originality does not necessarily mean “deliberately weird” or refer exclusively to brand new tricks; points can be given for unique trick selection, unusual sequences or linkages of tricks, and stylistic elements as well as innovated tricks.
Calculating Scores
Once all scores are finalised, the category scores are added together so that, much like the basic Overall Impression System, each judge will have given the run a score out of 100. These final scores are then processed to remove bias as normal.