In some sports competitors are awarded points by judges. The judges score the competitors against certain standards. For instance, in diving the competitors’ scores are based on:
• the diffi culty of the dive • how well the dive was performed.
Judges are highly skilled but their scores are subjective – diff erent judges will score the same dive slightly diff erently. For this reason, the fi nal score is the average of several judges’ scores.
Scorers
High-scoring sports have an offi cial scorer to keep track of the score. This allows the main referee or umpire to concentrate on the action.
Scorers are present in basketball, baseball, handball, volleyball and cricket.
Some other sports that use judges include: • rhythmic gymnastics • fi gure skating • synchronised swimming • diving • dressage • skateboarding • freestyle BMX • boxing • freestyle snowboarding.