Report: 2014 DCE Judges College in Belgium

"Friday 16th May provided my first DCE Judges College. Travelling from London – Brussels, I was met by Mark and Helen Bassett who had kindly agreed to collect me from the airport and transport me to the hotel headquarters." A report by Barry Davis.

"Friday 16th May provided my first DCE Judges College. Travelling from London – Brussels, I was met by Mark and Helen Bassett who had kindly agreed to collect me from the airport and transport me to the hotel headquarters."

A report by Barry Davis

"On arrival, I was greeted by a number of friends and what would be my fellow DCE judges from here on. Bob Thomas personally introduced himself, and then we discussed my history and Bob’s passion for DCE coupled with the plans and focuses for the judges’ college weekend.

Saturday morning started with the complete judging panel meeting for the first time since DCE Championships. With judges from the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and the USA, it was clear to see that the judges had formed good friendships, all very pleased to be reunited.

Everyone introduced themselves which was then followed by Mark Bassett and Ann Legon providing information based on administration and best practice. Everyone was very passionate about DCE as a whole, discussions based around the past and the future was all treated with excitement and anticipation for the years to come.

The day then continued with every judge providing a detailed synopsis of their scores and commentary from the Championships, both Prelims and Finals. Bob led this session, encouraging and supporting every judge to explain their reasons as to why they awarded both their rates and rankings and their understanding of how that fell in line with the criteria/system. It was certainly an interesting session but all judges spoke with real conviction and honesty. We then split into two groups (visual and music) where both groups drilled down even further to produce even more detailed analysis.

The groups then re-joined to set the 2015 paradigms – a very professional process led by Bob with all judges providing input to ensure their captions had the best possible paradigm for the up and coming season.

The evening was completed by a number of judges sitting their recertification tests, plus I sat my certification test. The test is designed to test the judge's understanding of the system, check everyone has the level of understanding required to provide high quality judging.

Sunday Morning College was an opportunity to view a live drum corps as Jubal kindly dropped by to provide live sessions for the judges work shop. This proved to be very insightful for every judge, splitting into brass, percussion and guard sections allowing every judge the opportunity to ask direct questions and clarifications.

The weekend was designed and delivered in a very informative and supportive manner. Every judge was encouraged to interact throughout whilst a great deal of respect to all was clear to see. The judges left feeling very excited for the 2015 season and extremely eager to provide their first assignment."