Page 38 - Koi Net - On-Line Koi Magazine - Issue 36

JUDGING SEMINAR This training takes place at formal seminars within our
Bernie Woollands.
For those of you that have been following this series of
articles, this is where we provide an opportunity to put
what you’ve understood into practise. For those of you
reading about judging seminars for the first time, we will
be having a virtual seminar. For those of you that are
already familiar with this concept I’ll include some tips
and hints about the real thing.
We have within the ZNA judging circles a device we call
the ‘Points System’, which we use to convey information
between each other during seminars and occasionally
when judging.
These seminars are multi-purpose. They are used:
■ as educational tools for ZNA members,
■ as refreshers for judges,
■ as well as examinations for Local Certified Judges
wishing to become Assistant Certified Judges.
ZNA has 5 categories for judges:
1. Trainees
2. Local Certified Judge (LCJ)
3. Assistant Certified Judge (ACJ)
4. Certified Judge (CJ)
5. Honorary Certified Judge (for retired judges
after long or exemplary service to ZNA)
For the most part training to be a judge takes place at
Koi Shows where trainees are shown the ropes by
qualified judges in the field. This training is augmented
by seminars such as the one I’m about to describe.
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chapters as well as the International meetings of the
ZNA. Those chapter seminars often take place at their
Koi Shows. The chapter seminars are deployed for
members’ education and can follow a different format.
At the International Meeting in Japan; which is run in
parallel with the AJNPA Show, a seminar is held at
which all attending judges regardless of their rank
participate. It is not a competition but a chance to
THE ‘POINTS calibrate each individual’s skill level according to the
adjudicating panel’s results; in other words, a refresher,
SYSTEM’ a lesson as opposed to an exam.
PROVIDES A
The LCJ-to-ACJ examinations only take place at the
FRAMEWORK International Meeting. I shall not be discussing those
exams. They are about assessing competences. I shall
FOR concentrate on the seminars deployed for education. I
DISCUSSION shall describe the formula for the seminars held in
Japan, as those held by the chapters can differ slightly.
DURING
The format for those educational seminars are as
TRAINING follows: 5 Koi are put on display and have to be
compared against each other and ranked according to
the criteria we have covered in this series of articles.
Those criteria are:
Body (Taikei)
Skin (Hada)
Pattern (Moyo)
Finish (Shiagari)
For each criterion there are a maximum number of
points available. These points allow the participants to
express their opinion about any degree of difference
between the Koi for each criterion.
For the participants there is a time limit of 7 minutes for
this process during which no conferring with other
participants is permitted. It’s an individual exercise.
Misaji Yamazaki (MD ZNA) The organising body limits the number of participants
& Yuko Shirako (HQ
Secretariat) conducting allowed around the display vat(s) at any one time.
a training seminar in Therefore, these seminars can go on for a long time
Holland 2016. depending upon the total number of participants.
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