Today I judged a Speech Tournament. I was really involved in forensics for all four years of high school, so I knew I wanted to judge when I was able as a way to help out the team. Since I'm only home for two tournaments all season, I forced myself to get up at 6:32 AM (I haven't woken up that early since at least April, maybe longer), got on a school bus, and went to the tournament with my former team.
It was a really cool and weird experience to be the one judging rather than competing. First of all, instead of sitting with the team in a holding area, I went to the judges' lounge, where I was happily greeted by some parents of friends and teammates. I was relieved to have people to sit with :)
When people saw me, they had one of a few reactions. The competitors were confused by my apparent age and weren't sure if I was a judge. My friends seemed pretty happy to see me, and others seemed confused. I have to admit, the code of conduct for a recent alumna was a bit tricky to figure out.
I was really excited to hear the judging instructions that I'd known existed but never got to hear as a competitor. It was remarkably short and lacked the level of detail I had hoped for in most events, but there were some great reminders, like to judge what is in front of you rather than some other interpretation of the words.
All in all, I got to participate in my favorite activity from a new perspective. I know that I'm a young judge, but I think I did a pretty good job. I'd always thought it was weird when parents would worry about whether or not they wrote good ballots, and I found myself having the same concern. I tried to give the same comments I would have in a conversational coaching session, but when you write it down there is no room for clarification. I just hope the competitors benefit from what I wrote.
It was really fun to go back, and I can't wait until I can do it again!! (Except for the getting up early part)
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