In July British Ice Skating hosted the 2024 BIS Judges' Convention, with over 30 Singles and Synchro ice skating judges attending seminars, exams and team-building activities to support their ongoing learning and development.
We are as always grateful for our judges' commitment to their roles and enthusiasm for continuing to grow our sport in a fair and effective way for skaters, and this was on full show over the course of the Convention's four days.
Staying Up to Date
Moderators and highly experienced judges Ann Findlay, Maggie Worsfold and Chris Buchanan led seminars on a range of key topics, designed to consolidate existing knowledge and provide updates on the latest regulation and rule changes.
Promotions and Appointments
Exams were delivered across a range of disciplines and competencies, including element ID, technical components, practical judging, and codes of conduct and ethics; as a result of the exams four new Singles judges and three new Synchro judges have been appointed along with many promotions! Broadening the pool of judges available for tests and competitions makes organising those events easier, ultimately improving access for skaters.
A United Team
Working effectively together is an essential task for any event's panel of officials, and we were keen to provide opportunities for judges to get to know each other better and learn how to work with each other best. The competitive side of the judges was clear in a tense egg drop team-building challenge!
More to Come
Ongoing professional development is essential in every role, as is receiving the support to achieve this development successfully. As such, additional seminars and education opportunities for judges will be delivered for other skating disciplines soon, while training for new judges will launch in late Autumn this year.
We would like to express our thanks to all the judges in attendance, and to our moderators for their time and dedication.