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AA Judges Program - from the August - September 2002 Judges Corner in Hunting Retriever:
New “AA”
(Apprentice Approved) Judges Program:
There has been an ongoing
discussion in HRC for a number of years regarding how wise it is to license a
judge, then immediately expect them to take an apprentice under their wing.
It’s really not fair to the judge, the apprentice, a club trying to
get the best possible judges for their hunt, nor especially to the handlers
who must run under the combination of a newly licensed judge/apprentice team.
There is little doubt that most judges need a period of time to adjust
to being licensed at a level in order to do a good job teaching an apprentice.
In an effort to address this issue, HRC has developed the new AA Judges
Program. The
designation of “AA” judge has been created to recognize those individuals
to which apprentice judges can be assigned at licensed hunt tests. It is hoped
that this new designation will strengthen our judging program and build better
judges. The AA program does not
apply to the Upland Hunt Test category. I’ll
explain when it becomes effective, who can become an AA judge, and how the
designation process will work. It’s
really quite simple.
Beginning Jan 1st, 2003 an apprentice judge must judge under
a judge who carries the “AA” designation.
The program will have no impact on licensed hunt tests this fall.
All HRC judges who held a valid judging license for a particular
testing level on January 1, 2002 will be automatically designated AA judges
for that level and all lower levels. All
other individuals will be required to judge a minimum of two times as a
licensed judge at a particular level to earn the AA designation at that level
with one exception. In an effort to build a judging base at newly formed
clubs, and not impede the ability of clubs in remote areas to obtain judges,
HRC will give “AA” designation to those judges who are grand fathered as
licensed Started or Seasoned judges at preliminary hunt tests. The AA status
given to grand fathered Seasoned judges will apply to their Started status as
well. Presumably those judges
chosen to grandfather for clubs are the best and brightest and will be working
at the prelim under very experienced judges.
Let me clarify one thing you might be wondering about. Let’s say a
person finishes their dog and wants to become a judge.
That person can work through the judging ranks exactly as they do now.
In other words, a person does not have to earn the AA designation at a
level to move up. They can’t,
however have an apprentice put under them at any level until they have served
as a licensed judge at that level twice.
It’s our
hope (but it is not required) that individuals becoming licensed in a category
choose to stay in that category until they are AA approved before moving
upward. Having more judging
experience at each level will make them better judges when they continue to
the next. HRC (I should say Claudene) is in the process of modifying our existing database of judges to indicate those judges that will receive the AA designation automatically and at what level. Those members who were not licensed at some level in 2001 will be checked against judging records from the 2002 hunt tests and receive credit when they served as a licensed judge. Many will have already earned AA designation. Once our present records are updated, it will be easy to denote when a judge is the licensed judge at a hunt and mark their record accordingly. Clubs seeking judges in the future need only check the judges list to verify an individual is AA approved if the club wishes to place an apprentice with them. Since most clubs will begin recruiting their judges for next spring this fall, a list of AA approved judges should appear sometime in September on the HRC website and hopefully in the magazine as well. |
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The Judges Corner - copyright
2006 All Rights Reserved Last modified: February 18, 2008 |