{"id":84,"date":"2026-10-09T11:09:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/?p=84"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:09:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T09:09:48","slug":"judge-scored-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/en\/judge-scored-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge-Scored Tournaments: How to Calculate Scores in Kata, Gymnastics or Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In many disciplines the winner isn&#8217;t decided by goals or points from actions, but by <strong>judges&#8217; scores<\/strong>: kata, gymnastics, figure skating, dance, showcases and freestyle contests. A judge-scored tournament works differently from a knockout bracket \u2014 quality of execution is what counts, and the result depends on how the scores are calculated. In this guide we show how to run a judge-scored tournament so the result is transparent and resistant to a single judge&#8217;s mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does judge scoring work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The athlete (or team) performs their routine.<\/li><li>Each judge on the panel, e.g. six of them, gives a score independently.<\/li><li><strong>The highest and the lowest score are dropped.<\/strong><\/li><li>The result is <strong>the average of the remaining scores<\/strong>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Example: why drop the extreme scores?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Judge<\/th><th>1<\/th><th>2<\/th><th>3<\/th><th>4<\/th><th>5<\/th><th>6<\/th><th>Result<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Athlete A<\/td><td>7.8<\/td><td>8.0<\/td><td>8.1<\/td><td>8.2<\/td><td><s>7.5<\/s><\/td><td><s>8.6<\/s><\/td><td><strong>8.025<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Athlete B<\/td><td>7.9<\/td><td>8.0<\/td><td>8.0<\/td><td>8.1<\/td><td><s>7.7<\/s><\/td><td><s>9.5<\/s><\/td><td><strong>8.000<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Crossed-out scores are dropped. The average is taken from the remaining four.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Athlete B got a clearly inflated 9.5 from one judge. With a plain average of all six scores, B would win (8.20 vs 8.03). Once the extreme scores are dropped, that single score no longer matters, and athlete A \u2014 rated higher by the panel \u2014 wins. That&#8217;s why dropping the extremes is standard in judged sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tournament structure: eliminations, semifinal, final<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th>Round<\/th><th>Who competes<\/th><th>Who advances<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Eliminations<\/strong><\/td><td>all athletes<\/td><td>the best by average move to the semifinal<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Semifinal<\/strong><\/td><td>the best from eliminations<\/td><td>the top two advance to the final<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Final<\/strong><\/td><td>finalists perform their best routines<\/td><td>the highest average wins<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every round is scored the same way, and round results are <strong>not added up<\/strong> \u2014 each round is a fresh chance. The organizer can change these rules: use a different number of judges (e.g. 5 or 7), decide how many athletes are cut each round, or add up results across rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How many judges do you need?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>5 judges<\/strong> \u2014 the minimum where dropping extremes makes sense (3 scores remain).<\/li><li><strong>6 judges<\/strong> \u2014 a good compromise; average of 4 scores.<\/li><li><strong>7 judges<\/strong> \u2014 the most stable result, but harder to staff at smaller events.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With several mats or stages, remember that each one needs its own judging panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Judge scoring vs. the skating system<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">DanceSport uses the full <strong>skating system<\/strong>, where judges don&#8217;t give scores but rank the competitors, and a majority of judges decides each place. It&#8217;s very precise but complex. The system in Tournament Generator is a <strong>simplified version<\/strong> based on scores and averages \u2014 easier for athletes, parents and fans to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When should you choose a judge-scored tournament?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>When <strong>quality of execution<\/strong> matters more than head-to-head competition: kata, gymnastics, acrobatics, dance, cheerleading, figure skating, showcases.<\/li><li>When you want to narrow down the best over several rounds.<\/li><li>When the event relies on subjective assessment of technique and style, and you want to limit the influence of a single judge.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Karate kata can also be run in a bracket, where judges pick the winner of each pair. We cover that format in our <a href=\"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/en\/double-elimination\/\">double elimination guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Judge-scored tournaments in Tournament Generator<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Calculating averages without the extreme scores for dozens of athletes over several rounds means a calculator in hand and a risk of mistakes. In TG you enter the judges&#8217; scores, and the app drops the extremes, calculates the average, ranks the round and picks who advances. It works for both individual athletes and teams. If you organize karate events, see also our guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/en\/how-to-run-a-karate-tournament\/\">how to run a karate tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why drop the highest and lowest scores?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So that one clearly inflated or deflated score doesn&#8217;t change the result. Without the extremes, the result reflects the majority of the panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What if two athletes have the same average?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tiebreaker must be set in the rules. Common options are the sum of all scores (including the dropped ones), the higher top score, or an extra performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do elimination scores carry over to the final?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the basic variant, no \u2014 each round is scored independently. The organizer can, however, switch on adding up results across rounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In kata, gymnastics or figure skating there are no goals or points from actions \u2014 the result is the judges&#8217; scores. Learn how to run a judge-scored tournament: how many judges, why the extreme scores are dropped, how to calculate the average, and how to run eliminations, a semifinal and a final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-competition-formats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tg-app.pl\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}