IBA Head judge Chico Garittano directing the troops
The International Bodyboard Association (IBA) are pleased to announce that its introducing some former professional and high profile riders onto judging panels in 2012, starting at the IBA Pipe Challenge in Hawaii.
Judging offers riders who have finished their competitive careers an opportunity to continue their association with the sport. It also puts the IBA in line with other professional sports that offer their athletes career pathways when their competitive careers are finished.
Heading up the “new faces” in the judging tower is Tahitian local Simon Thornton.
Simon had a strong presence on the Australian Pro Tour prior to relocating to Tahiti in search of big perfect barrels.
Simon in "The Office" at Teahupoo in Tahiti
“ It can be hard judging all day when the waves are good but I’m looking forward to being apart of the judging team and working under both Chico and Craig ” Thornton said.
“ Pipe is one of my favorite waves and with so much talent in this pool it’s going to be an awesome event to judge”
Joining Simon in 2012 will be Dudu Pedra, a renowned big wave charger from Brazil.
Dudu has judged many IBA events including last years Arica event and his intimate knowledge of riding waves of consequence will be a great asset to IBA.
The crew in Puerto Rico
Ideally judges are required by the IBA to sit out of GSS events for a year before being allowed to judge at the highest level to create a distance between the judge and the athletes. Another criteria that IBA look for in a new judges is no brand association with Industry labels to minimize any perceived bias.
IBA International Head Judge Chico Garittano (Brazil) is excited to have riders of this caliber on his judging panel.
“The hardest thing for any bodyboarder coming into judging is they don’t know how hard it is to judge professionally. Riders that want to move into judging must have some specific qualities: Total concentration for up to 12 hours a day. Massive recall abilities as judges must be able to recall previous rides throughout the day. They must be able to keep concentrated while everything happens around them, some events like the The BOX (where the panel was positioned in a boat) can be very challenging and distracting. Have the ability to keep a cool level head when under acute pressure, at times heats get very stressful. They also must be able to operate as part of a team, we all work, travel and stay in the same places.” said Chico.
Craig Hadden will be focusing on managing the ratings and memberships whilst developing judging manuals and courses in 2012. He also selects the panels because he has long been regarded as the best bodyboarding judge in the world and will come to selected events this year as one of the 4 traveling International judges on GSS panels.
“ I will focus mainly on the events where there are waves of significance” said Hadden
“ Events like Pipe, Box, Chile & Mexico and so on where my years of experience can make a difference” he added.
GSS judging panels are approved by a committee.
Also joining the troops in the judging tower are the likes of Pat Caldwell (USA) and Ben Seversen (Hawaii)
IBA will be looking to bleed more talent into the judging pool in 2012 with a series of worldwide Level 1 Judging courses starting in Hawaii in February.
If your seriously interested in this area, then contact Craig Hadden at craig@ibaworldtour.com or log on to www.ibaworldtour.com
