Coach and judge education is identified as a key priority in Central Regional Action Plans. Now that the majority of formal qualifications are completed and exam catch-ups have been processed a clear picture can be shared of what the Judging landscape currently looks like:
At the start of the 2017 – 2020 cycle across the Central Region (Wellington, Wanganui/ Manawatu and Hawkes Bay/ Poverty Bay) a total of 90 judges across four codes were newly or re-qualified. The tables below outline the breakdown of this total across the four codes and across the different levels.

Number of judges qualified per level:

• Elementary Judge x 43
• Junior Judge x 37
• Senior Judge x 6
• Brevet x 4

Number of judges by code:

• Aerobics x 1
• Rhythmic Gymnastics x 7
• Women’s Artistic x 59
• Men’s Artistic x 23
• Trampoline – courses yet to be started

These numbers reveal some key gaps e.g. a low number of judges at senior level. Judges are currently not choosing to progress past junior level. This can be for a range of reasons including lack of confidence. We will be looking at what support is needed in order to increase the number of judges in the codes, improve retention of judges and encourage judges to continue developing.