posted Feb 12th, 2012 - The NSL News reported on 22 January 2012that the International Parachuting Commission (IPC) would soon decide over the application of new judging procedures at the annual meeting, this time in Argentine.

Trude Sviggum, Chair of the IPC Formation Skydiving Competition Committee, now sent an update with great news. The IPC Plenary approved the rule changes that her committee had prepared in Argentine. The pioneer work of the National Skydiving League at the Shamrock Showdown events in the past years, Judy Celaya's persistence and courage to push for the changes, CamScore's technical support and the great work of the IPC Competition Committee members and Chair Trude Sviggum eventually brought the changes that were overdue. The results of the NSL Poll showed the overwhelming support by the NSL News audience for rule changes before this year's IPC Meeting.

Previous IPC rules at 5.4. The Judges will watch the video evidence of each jump to a maximum of three times at normal speed. If, after the viewings are completed, and within fifteen seconds of the knowledge of the result, the Chief Judge, Event Judge or any Judge on the panel considers that an absolutely incorrect assessment has occurred, the Chief Judge or Event Judge will direct that only that part(s) of the jump in question be reviewed. If the review results in a unanimous decision by the Judges on the part(s) of the performance in question, the score for the jump will be adjusted accordingly. Only one review is permitted for each jump.

The final wording of the new specific judging rules allow the application of slower review motion, and the details of the procedure can be found in the new language below. The review speed is defined between 70% and 90% of the original speed. The judges at the Shamrock Showdown have applied a review speed of 80% which worked very well.

The judging procedures at the Shamrock Showdown with the CamScore judging system provided evidence that the technical application of slower review motion was easily possible and provided more accurate results. The USPA Nationals 2011 brought additional evidence that such a procedure would not slow down the judging process and event progress.

Judy Celaya has been judging at the Shamrock Showdown in the past years and was Chief Judge at the USPA Nationals 2011, as well. She used her positive experiences to push the issue and convinced USPA to adopt the Shamrock procedures. She also found great support in the current IPC Competition Committee where several active 4way competitors, including Chair and Polaris member Trude Sviggum, helped to prepare the rule changes.

New IPC rules at 5.4. The Judges will watch the video evidence of each jump at normal speed to determine points in time to a maximum of (2) two times. The moment of freeze frame at the end of working time will be determined at the first viewing. At the request of the Event Judge a (3rd) third view of part(s) of the jump will then be conducted at reduced speed between 70-90 percent of normal speed. The same reduced speed shall be used to judge all jumps requiring a third viewing. The Chief Judge will decide prior to the start of the Competition the percentage of reduced speed to be used for the different Events. The freeze frame from the first viewing will be applied on each viewing.

The language explains that the Event Judge has to request the third viewing with slower speed. However, the other judges can ask the Event Judge for the additional review, as well, if they need it.

A new separate paragraph was also added, which gives the "Absolute" special attention and improves the evaluation of an "absolutely incorrect assessment" by any judge. The incident will now be reviewed with slower motion, as well.

It was a very important step forward by the International Parachuting Commission. The performance level of the teams has increased dramatically in the past years (Arizona Airspeed just posted a 26.0 average without a Super Sequence at the Valentine's Meet 2012), together with the judging and review technology by CamScore, the pioneer and leader in this area. There was no reason any longer to ignore the possibility for the judges to get closer to the truth.

New IPC rules at 5.4.1. If, after the viewings are completed, and within fifteen seconds of the knowledge of the result, the Chief Judge, Event Judge or any Judge on the panel considers that an absolutely incorrect assessment has occurred, the Chief Judge or Event Judge will direct that only that part(s) of the jump in question be reviewed at reduced speed in accordance with 5.4. If the review results in a unanimous decision by the Judges on the part(s) of the performance in question, the score for the jump will be adjusted accordingly. Only one review is permitted for each jump.

Slower review motion is actually nothing new, as it was applied decades ago in Formation Skydiving competition. It was abandoned in 1999 or even a few years earlier when the International Parachuting Commission decided to pursue the goal of making the sport a live mainstream event, possibly even with live judging. The earlier applied "slow-mo" review with VCRs and video tapes was indeed a very slow procedure at times.

The judging in original speed was not as challenging at that time as it is now. Arizona Airspeed held the world record for a single round with a 39-pointer in 1999 and posted a 21.9 average at the same meet. Times, scores and technology have changed, while the review rules have been almost exactly the same ever since. Formation Skydiving competition is still not a mainstream sport either...

It was time for this update, and the Shamrock Showdown 2012 is the first event where the new rules will be "officially" applied. Judy Celaya will push the CamScore buttons once again in DeLand, and the slower review of infringement situations is nothing new to the Shamrock audience. It has been a special CamScore feature in the past and now turns into a part of the judging procedure.