STANDINGWAVES


Today I am your champion… PHOTO: KELSEY THOMPSON


HOW TO FIX FREESTYLE


PUTTING THE FREE AND STYLE BACK ON THE WHITEWATER RODEO SCORECARD


At its roots, the term freestyle is pretty self-ex- planatory. You are free to do whatever you want, expressing your style however you want. Free- style kayaking is no exception; paddlers invent new moves on waves and in holes, and add per- sonal flair to existing maneuvers. Unfortunately, when it comes to scoring free-


style competitions, freedom and style could not be further from judges’ minds. To do well in com- petition, paddlers are forced to check their style in the eddy and conform to the definitions in a rulebook. The system rewards speed over execution, as-


signing the same point value to a move whether it is performed perfectly or sloppily. This often leads to poor form and makes competitions less appealing for spectators. The loss of spectators, and competitors, is the single biggest hurdle fac- ing freestyle kayaking competitions today. This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone


who’s attended a freestyle event lately. Competi- tor turnout at freestyle events around the globe has dwindled tenfold in the past decade. The senior men’s class at the World Championships dropped from 131 participants in 2003 to just 70 in 2007 (the 2009 Worlds drew a more encourag- ing 103). “Numbers are down at the big events, espe-


cially in the pro classes,” multi-time U.S. Free- style Team member and pro circuit competitor Bryan Kirk says. “Although participation seems to be increasing at new amateur events like the World Kayak Hometown Throwdown series, I’m not sure it will ever equal what it was in 2000.” Decreasing kayak sales, waning sponsorship


dollars and a slew of less-than-ideal event ven- ues contributed to this decline, but competition format has played a critical role. Since its incep- tion, the freestyle scoring sheet has changed al-


16 RAPID EARLY SUMMER 2011


most every year, making it hard for competitors to keep track of how they’re judged, and nearly impossible for spectators to keep track of who’s winning. Fixing the scoring system could help solve the


attendance problem. But the change needs to happen at a fundamental level. Simply putting a number value on each move just doesn’t work for freestyle kayaking. The current bonus points for amplitude and trick combinations are not enough. “The problem with the scoring system is that


it produces a big gap between the top paddlers, who can do every trick both ways, and the av- erage competitors,” says Jeremy Laucks, OC1 World Champion and long-time pro tour judge. “The hard tricks are worth so much more…that if you don’t have them wired, you’re not competi- tive. For a lot of competitors, that’s discouraging.” A new system needs to be devised that will


reward competitors for flawless execution, style and creativity. Nearly every sport that celebrates the same free and style roots as kayaking is judged subjectively: half pipe snowboarding, freestyle skiing, skateboarding, bmx, figure skat- ing, even baton twirling. A skater is not awarded a set number of points for merely landing her triple axel, regardless of how it is executed. So why is a kayaker? Adopting a system like this would give athletes


a rubric that stands the test of time, no matter how many new moves are invented or how dras- tically boat designs evolve. More importantly, it would bring freedom and style to competition, and with it the paddlers who are the lifeblood of the sport. Kelsey Thompson is a four-time member of the Canadian Freestyle Kayak Team and the current national champion. Learn more about ICF free- style scoring at www.rapidmag.com/0013


NEW RULES OF FREESTYLE Modeling freestyle kayaking after other subjective scoring systems would allow points to be awarded in four categories.


FLUIDITY


Scored on: Transitioning trick to trick with minimal setup/recovery.


Criteria: Executing tricks without flushing or paddling hard to stay on the feature, landing each trick set up for the next, overall smoothness.


AMPLITUDE


Scored on: Height off the water while performing aerial maneuvers.


Criteria: Higher moves garner higher scores.


DIFFICULTY Scored on: Complexity of tricks and order in which they are performed.


Criteria: Performing a difficult trick at the beginning of a ride increases the score. The difficulty of the trick relative to the feature also affects the score.


EXECUTION


Scored on: How cleanly moves are executed.


Criteria: Flawless execution increases score, sloppy or incomplete decreases it.


Each of these categories would get a score from 1 to 5. The scores would then be added up and multiplied by five, giving a final score out of 100—much easier for spectators to understand.


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