ADVANTAGES OF ASSIGNMENT  OF JUDGES BY NAWGJ

2008 - 2009 Request for Judges form

Missouri NAWGJ SJD

Gina Fuller & Amy Wasson

Meet Directors, 

MO NAWGJ offers a service to the state by assigning judges for a nominal fee.  If you would like NAWGJ to assign officials for your competition, please complete the “Request for NAWGJ Member Officials” form and return it with fees to Gina Fuller, MO co-SJD (form is found at the top/bottom of this page).

The number of large meets on coinciding on the same weekend has increased.  We will do our best to accommodate everyone’s needs, but we ask that you carefully consider the dates of your meet.  Please review the Missouri State web site for a list of scheduled invitationals.

IMPORTANT NEWS FOR 2008-2009 SEASON

• We will be accepting requests for NAWGJ officials on August 1, 2008.

• On August 15, 2008, the assigning process will begin. At this time, if there are not enough officials available for your meet, you will have two options:

1.   The assignor will work with you to find a weekend where more judges
may be available and fewer meets have been scheduled.

2.   You will be notified a minimum of two months prior to your meet and your fee will be fully refunded.  You will also be sent a list of available judges for that weekend so that you may contract judges on your own.

• Sanctioned meets will have priority over non-sanctioned meets.

• Meets will be assigned in the order they were received.

• Local judges will be contacted first. If they are unavailable, the assignors will try their best to assign judges from an area where carpools are an option.

• NO REQUESTS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER NOVEMBER 1, 2008

Meet Director Duties:

• Please request any officials that you would like for your meet in advance in order to prevent any miscommunication.

• It is your responsibility to address carpool situations with the officials directly.

• It is your duty to contact all officials, including the meet referee and assignor, regarding final schedules, changes, hotel accommodations, and any other pertinent information.  This should be distributed to all at least two weeks in advance of the event.

• Please review the contracts you receive from judges carefully. This will contain all estimated expenses and hotel requests.  If you have not received contracts from all officials by the deadline listed, it is your responsibility to contact the assignor immediately.

NAWGJ ASSIGNING STATUS

MO NAWGJ offers a service to the state by assigning judges for a small fee ($3/per judge).  We want to take this time to clarify the service, set expectations and let you know of some changes for next year.

There are two ways to have judges at your meet.  MO NAWGJ can assign judges for you or you can contact judges directly and assign your own meet.  There is helpful information available on mousag.com and usa-gymnastics.org if you wish to assign your own judges.

We have experienced an increase in the number of meets during the season.  This past season, many weekends had two – four meets scheduled.  We have approximately 35 judges, but not every judge is available or wants to judge every weekend.  This can make it difficult to fulfill everyone's need for judges.  We ask you to carefully consider the dates of your meet.  If there are multiple meets on the same weekend, you risk the need to contract judges from further away (a potential higher cost for you) or risk not having enough judges for your meet.

Our assigners spent many hours this past season trying to find judges to fulfill all the meet requests.  Please note this year we will be stricter with the meets we plan to assign.  Meet requests will start to be received by August 1, 2008 and we will start assigning meets August 15, 2008 with the following priority:

• Sanctioned meets will be assigned prior to non-sanctioned meets.

• Meets will be assigned in the order in which they were received.

We will do our best to see that all meets are assigned; however, if we are unable to assign your meet, we will do our best to notify you within 2 months from your meet that we have not been able to complete the assignment.  If we were able to assign a few judges, we will send you that information, but you will be responsible for assigning any remaining judges.  For judges we are not able to assign, we will refund your $3 fee.

To Make Things Easier…

• Carefully consider the date of your meet.  The more meets on the same weekend, you are at risk of not being able to assign judges.  If you are hosting your meet during the same time as another club in the area – consider sharing judges if necessary (hosting your compulsory competition on Saturday and Optionals on Sunday while the competition is vice versa at the other gym).

• Communicate if there are specific judges you would like to have (or not have) on your meet.  Please do not ask the assignor to make changes after contracts have been sent.  Plan ahead and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

• Plan your meet schedule in advance as much as possible and share this with the assignor.  We need to know if you plan on having Friday sessions as these can be increasingly difficult to assign.  If you plan on using 4 judges on a specific day – share this information too.  The more specifics you can share with us, the easier it will be to assign.

• As soon as you know the final schedule, please communicate this with all the assigned judges so they can make arrangements in their personal life (time off from work, childcare, etc.).

• Review the contracts you receive from the judges as they will have estimated expenses listed.  If you have any questions about these, please contact the individual judge.  Assignors are not responsible for judge’s expenses, compensation, or coordinating/assigning/enforcing carpools etc.  These are individual contracts between you and the individual judges.  If you do not wish to accept the contract from the judge you must notify both the judge and assignor immediately.  Failure to notify us within 2 weeks of the competition may lead to your being responsible for paying that judge and also at risk of not finding a replacement.