June 14, 2004

 

Letter to the Membership regarding the certification of women’s judges.

 

Last month the decision was made to bring the entire process for the certification of judges in-house at the USA Gymnastics National Office.  This has been discussed by the last three Presidents of USA Gymnastics because according to the Amateur Sports Act, a National Governing Body is responsible for the training and certification of its judges.  The NGBs of Swimming, Track and Field, Volleyball, and Synchronized Swimming (to name a few) are currently managing this responsibility in-house.  USA Gymnastics manages the certification of its judges for Rhythmic, Trampoline and Tumbling and Sports Acro under the jurisdiction of their program committee as defined in our By-laws. Eventually the certification of judges for all disciplines will come in-house.

 

Historically, what we now all know as JCI (Judges’ Certification, Inc.) was originally a joint committee consisting of a sub-committee of the USGF Technical Committee and the NAGWS (National Association for Girls and Women’s Sports) formed in the late 60’s.  In 1984, five women involved in the joint effort incorporated to establish an organization independent of USGF and NAGWS.  This was done primarily because the USGF had informed the Joint Committee that funding would not be available.  During this time, the Joint Committee also produced the compulsory exercises and conducted the Master workshops.  Their hope was also to become a voting member of the USGF Board of Directors.  Since they did not fulfill the requirements for a seat on the Board, this goal was not realized. 

 

As you may know, USGF assumed the responsibility of the drafting and development of the compulsory exercises and the workshops in 1989. Since that time, the compulsory project has appropriately been under the jurisdiction of the Junior Olympic Committee. 

 

The certification of Brevet, Elite and National judges has always been conducted and managed by the USA Gymnastics National Office.  This number will include approximately 110 Brevets and 500 plus National Level judges at the Brevet and National Courses to be conducted in 2005.  It is not a new endeavor for us.

 

The Women’s Technical Committee will now be designing the tests and testing procedures.  We do not anticipate any major changes.  We hope to be using many of the same individuals for both the design and the administration of the test. 

 

JCI has done an exemplary job of managing this task over the years and has set a high standard for us to maintain and build upon.  Our main goals will be to continue with the same level of service, lower the cost of testing for our members, and provide on-line registration process.  We can do this because of the lower overhead and the advances in technology that are now available to us. 

 

The first benefit that all Brevet, National, and Level 10 recertification-eligible judges will see is that they will not be required to pay an additional administrative fee to receive a JCI certification card.  Another benefit will be that our data base at USA Gymnastics will be able to house information that will allow us to directly communicate with our judges when important updates are needed to be disseminated quickly.  Presently, there is no coding to indicate a judge’s rating in the data base for a Professional Member unless he/she is a Brevet or National judge. Since your certification is based on the levels for the USAG Jr. Olympic Program, it is only reasonable that the USAG National Office have that information available in our computer system.

 

We understand and are sensitive to your concerns about maintaining confidentiality.  We anticipate designating and training one individual to manage the administration of this program.  This person will report directly to Connie Maloney and will be under the direction of the Women’s Program Staff and the Women’s Technical Committee.

 

We believe that judges at all levels are most important to our athletes.  Our judges are among the best in the world as our program is the most highly developed.  We pledge to serve you with the respect you have earned and deserve.

 

For USA Gymnastics,

 

Bob Colarossi