Hello, I'm in high school Mock Trail and I wanted to know if your able to judge actual rounds or just scrimmages. Although the whole idea of being a judge sounds pretty awesome.
Hello! I’m glad you do high school mock, and I hope you do college mock too.
As a former AMTA competitor and a current coach, I am able to judge actual rounds at tournaments. I occasionally judge my own team’s scrimmages (though usually we invite other people to come judge – former mockers, attorneys who are friends of our two head coaches, etc). Mostly, when I talk about judging (and when I make posts about judging) I’m referring to judging actual rounds in tournaments.
Last year, I think I judged at least one round at each tournament my team competed in, and usually it was more than one round.
Being a judge IS awesome, I think, but it can also be boring if teams are unprepared. As a judge, my biggest advice to all mockers would be SLOW DOWN. It is very difficult to listen to what you’re saying, and take notes, and keep score, and listen for objections all at the same time. I understand you have time limits, but please slow down.
For college mockers, I also love when mockers take an opportunity to reference previous cases when it makes sense. It makes me laugh. Sometimes, if it’s well done, I’ll toss in an extra point for it. I’ll definitely make a note about it on your ballot.
