Are you sure you want to become a Judge?

Just because.that happens by a few Meet Directore in cewrtain federations don't mean it happens every where. Just do it right and you will have no problems from most meet directors and or lifters.
The truth is the only place you will get crap is here on the internet. The ones on the internet are not your peers nor are they even good lifters most of them. Just people allowed to say anything they please so they do.
This is the truth and most people already knows it. The more this allowed the worse things will get at meets and less stuff will be put up for anyone to see. Plans of this is already on it way.

I have competed MI AAPF RAW for 7 years. I have decided not to be a judge because I would call the squats below parallel. Not AT parallel. BELOW.

I would be hated.

Very simple. Below Parallel.

Should our powerlifting judges be trained differently for RAW powerlifters then equipred powerlifters?

Because the raw lifter always locks out their benches, and there is never a ratcheted lowering phrase on the squat, or bench. Calling the pause?

I would be the fucking "Darth Vader" of judging ! Hate on me all you want but, it STILL wouldn't change the red light you just got.

Peace

Jacob,
this is zane from old town up in bay city. i was wondering if you were lifting at the wolverine this year. if you are id like to know what weightclass youre going as im probably also going to compete raw. LMK man, its always nice to go head to head with someone instead of "trophy hunting"
Zane.

as far as the judging thing goes, i judge for the APA and i can tell you that i dont give a fuck what anyone says to me. i call the lifts by the book and if they have a problem with me they can kiss my ass, if they want to continue to make a big deal about it they can go ahead and leave the meet. im there to have fun and pass lifts that deserve to get passed. i'll be damned if someone who wants to be a big baby is going to ruin my day or the day of other people who came there to have fun and compete.

just my .02

the judges chair is a very very very lonely place. i learned that early on when several lifters refused to talk to me after a small town bench press meet. integrity and character is key and you really shouldn't get excited more for a 12 yr old benching 75lbs than rychlak or kennelly hitting 1000+.

small is a state of mind - Derek Wilcox

HEY ZANE,

I sure loved Old Town GYM in Bay City when I lifted there for a summer. Solid, but old equipment, just the basics.

I am glad that you are calling the squats like they should be. Good deal, powerlifting needs it.

My Michigan AAPF days are over, after 7 years of straight competition. I am leaving the state for the Army, effective August 2008. The 2008 MIAPF State Championships were my last. I went 1454 @ 220 RAW.

I thank you for the invitation to compete against one another in the middlewieghts and raw. I would have gladly accepted and trained very hard for it, but I am leaving. I agree, "trophy hunting" is stupid. Multiple divisions, in my opinion, dillute the power of our sport.

Train hard, and I will look for name and picture in PLUSA.

Jacob,

thanks for the kind words and good luck in your future endeavors. that is a great cause and i applaud you for doing so.

Old town has also made a move in the right direction as they have recently bought a reverse hyper, wide base power rack, and competition bench. in the near future they are getting a monolift and thats when i will go back to multiply lifting. for right now i am lifting raw and recently went 1525@220 at the APA buckeye open in bowling green, OH.

again, good luck and be well, hopefully we'll get a chance to lift together or against each other again in the future

Zane.

Barbaccio couldn't be more wrong.

I have been a WPC ref since 2004. I was an APF ref in 2002 and a state USAPL ref from 98-2002.

I called every lift by the rules. I don't think of myself as strict and their is NO such thing as "to by the book."

The rules are the rules. Either you apply them or you don't. I'm well respected in my federation as a good, solid judge and am asked to sit the chair frequently and at high level meets.

To give in to pressure is to let yourself be less than what you should. If the meet judge pulls you for adhering to the rules then his charter should be pulled and he can go non-sanctioned for future meets. Stay Strong, J.R. Bolger, WPC referee, APF Executive Committee Member

There are many judges out there that don't give two shits what someone in the meet or at the meet thinks, much less these internet posters that think they know something just because a web site lets them sit and run people down.

Is it there opinion, NO, they are just board and like starting shit.

When will it stop? When sponsors start pulling there money from sites and people that allow it and go else where, and lifters stop allowing there stuff to be sent in. It has already began and time will tell. Look how many great lifters has lifted in the past 3 weeks, is there Squats on the webs sites right now, HELL no. Why? They wised the F###
up. Can meet directors also put a stop to this, yes.
Will they? yes, it's coming. Everyone that is really involved with this sport and really cares about it is fed up with the crap that has been going on and are ready to makes chances, so we will see who does what, soon.

I'd love to learn to judge, the "right way". I live near San Antonio, if anyone can point me in the right direction...help a brothuh out. I really want to see what the hype/bitching is all about.

Peace

Well, sounds like we've got people on both sides of the fence. Personally, I would much rather be a judge in the USAPL, since at least there, strict is expected (not to say it isn't high pressure...IT IS, i'm just saying). Might be a little unnerving to be a judge in some other feds, especially in national/regional level competitions where a lot is on the line...I've seen cases in the APF (speaking from personal experience) where a lifter, his handler, and his posse will get UP IN a judge's face over a call....now, these are exceptions, not the general rule...usually, you miss a lift, you get off the platform, regroup, and get ready for your next attempt. THESE CASES ARE EXCEPTIONS. But it DOES happen.

Either way, powerlifting isn't baseball...you don't get to yell at the ref if you don't like the call.

LOL! are you living in fantasy land? do you think powerlifting will cease as a sport if video of high squats are not posted anymore? Or that Jon's site here will go under because certain lifters are afraid to show there lifts. Jon has the best site in PL period. Don't send in the vids, there are plently of good lifts out there even if you are not used to seeing them.

I look at judging from the stand point of if you are a lifter as well and have competed, then you know the work it takes. These guys that train for these meets and are willing to put it on the line came through what you may have! You trained hard for a meet, rep after rep, sweat, strain and work at it. When your sitting in that judge's chair just remember, that guy taking that bar out of the rack, probably worked very hard to get there and deserves your unbiased total attention to his/her attempt and hopefully they expect you to call the lift as fair as can be.

On a side note, you ain't refereed until you call a meet inside a maximum security prison and the guys lifting consist of three murders, three armed robbers and three felony manslaughter's. Then sit in the head judge's chair and throw a red light on a bench press for un-even lock out on a lifer with three murder convictions and he don't like it!!! If you ever went eye to eye with a 15' great white shark, you get the idea! I went anal so fast it took me a week to get straightened out! The look in that guy's eyes was as close to that of a great white as you will ever see. Cold, unfeeling, max scary!!!! He caught himself, but folks there is a reason those guys are in there and I saw it!!

Bill Lindsey
Roanoke, Virginia

I have heard alot about "I would throw a redlight or I would be the Dart Vader", but no mention of are you a judge. In my gym, you have to get your card and help out at some point, sometimes with very little notice.

Tone is right in the fact that there are alot of guys who look for the gift meets, and they exist. This is what makes it hard on other judges, because they got a gift at xyz meet so it should have passed at the abc meet. Alos the hard ass who wants "convincingly deep", this makes things even harder

Judging comes with little to no rewards other than you are helping the sport by doing something other than lifting for most of the time, no pay. But to be truely a part of the solution you must become a judge and set a good standard.

As for being a meet director and finding the right judges, it is tough. This is a thankless job, worrying about trying to get enough lifters and making it an experience where they will want to comeback next year. That is a balance that is hard to do, fun yet fair.

Running a meet in general from judging to promoting is tough and thankless, but the people who go out of their way to do more than judge(not on the internet) is what will keep this sport going.

Glenn Baggett
NGBB Elite

I agree with all of your post Bill, particularly the prison scenario. I also have had that experience. In my case the inmates watching, were the ones who 'disagreed' .....strongly....with a couple of referees calls. Tough crowd. It kind of put a lot of refereeing issues in perspective....in a hurry...

Chris

I just recently got my APF referee card and I plan on judging by the rules in the book. Simple as that.

Funny thing though...I remember when I was competing back in the 70s. I was almost always asked to judge meets after I was done lifting, which I gladly obliged. So I guess in essence, I was already a judge.

I veiw judging as giving back to the sport.
If you only lift there is nothing wrong with that but I personally help judge,load plates, spot, clean up or whatever when I am at a meet.

If I dont judge I try to help the other lifters with gear, handoffs etc..

It just makes the meet more fun for the staff and lifters to give back.

so then you didnt read a word of my first post then

Zane

The post had nothing to do with your post, if you read the others you will see that they are where I am looking to respond.

You talked about some gym and then how you judge APA and don't give a shit what people say. That is all good for you as you should judge properly, but if you read the others then you will notice the two partial quotes from the other people who have posted.

Lifters should be involved more than they are currently, this will only better the sport and encourage more participation by others...

Glenn Baggett
NGBB Elite

alright, i just pointed that out since i saw that you said "no mention if you are a judge or not"

i didnt know you were talking to anyone in particular as there was no quote to refrence. i thought you were speaking in general, to everyone.

my mistake

Once, someone with a misdemeanor manslaughter charge on their recored looked at me cross eyed and I wasn't scared at all.

I have red lighted plenty of prisoners, Beetle Lowe included, never felt the love until I red lighted in St. Louis and even the announcer said the judges were wrong.

Regardless, I rather have a lifter judging me, then someone who doesn't lift. That is why I became a judge and will continue to judge.

Steve Mann
www.mannofsteel.com

lol

I won't even beat that dead horse Steve.

i am a lifter and I wannt nothing for free, be strickt.