FITA International Youth Judges

The FITA Judge Committee has been working for a wile on recruiting young women and men for international judging. The introduction of Youth Olympic Games by IOC brought the whole idea up on a political level, as FITA is about to establish our sport as a dynamic sport for young people.   Using young judges especially in events for young people would fit this image. Some months ago we asked our Member Associations (MAs) to name all their young judges (below 30 years of age) to FITA. We received more than 100 names from around the world and a survey was sent to these young people. This survey gave a feedback from 30 young judges, which we now have in a database for a possible follow-up.   The preliminary plans are as follows:   Ø      Implementation of a new category of judges in our FITA system; Ø      Testing of the knowledge and understanding of these young judges (a kind of accreditation test); Ø      Seminar and practical training of approx. 15 of these judges at a world level event; selection of these judges based on test result, gender, language ability and geography; Ø      From this group, selection of a number of judges for the Youth Olympic Games and possible other youth events—together with established FITA International Judges and Judge Candidates.     Morten Wilmann FITA Judges Committee Chairman