Sportsmanship - Respecting the Judges
| Category: | Sportsmanship |
|---|---|
| Notes: | Good before a camporee, a Klondike derby, a competition at summer camp, or any event with judges, referees, or scorekeepers. Pairs with the other Sportsmanship minutes. |
At this weekend's camporee, there are going to be judges. Volunteers standing at every station, timing the fire-building, checking the knots, scoring the first aid scenario. And at some point, one of them is probably going to make a call your patrol doesn't agree with.
Maybe they'll say your square knot was a granny knot. Maybe they'll time your fire a few seconds slower than you think it was. Maybe another patrol will seem to get an easier judge than you did.
What you do next matters.
Here's something to remember. Those judges are volunteers. Most of them are parents and leaders from other troops who gave up their weekend so you could have a camporee. Nobody is paying them. They're doing their best, and every judge makes a mistake sometimes. Just like every Scout does.
So if you think a call is wrong, you can ask about it, once, politely. Let your patrol leader do the talking. "Could you help us understand what we missed?" And then accept the answer, even if you don't like it.
What you don't do is argue, roll your eyes, complain loudly, or trash-talk the judge to the rest of the camporee. That doesn't change the score. It just tells everyone what kind of patrol you are.
Win or lose, thank the judge before you move on to the next station. You might be the only patrol that does.