Mel Simmons Is Rad

What is your job title and what does the role involve?
I'm a Freestyle Snowboarding Judge, I judge snowboarding contests in NZ, Aus and everywhere on the TTR World Pro Tour...

You recently returned from the northern hemisphere… can you give us a rundown of your past itinery?
Yeah Japan was my last stop, I tweaked my already bung knee so that brought me back to my specialist instead of continuing through to finish my tour in the US..
Itinerary? Um, '08 til now was pretty full on Switzerland, France, Austria then Germany, NZ, US, NZ, Japan, NZ, US, NZ, Aus, NZ, then Aus again to thaw out on the Goldy, NZ, US, NZ, Korea, Japan and back to NZ! No complaints though, it's pretty fun. The weather dropped a couple of stops so it mellowed the trip out a bit. Canada got dropped coz there wasn't enough snow yet, and I got snowed out of Norway and Alaska...

When you are working on a big contest such as the Burton Open, what does your day entail? Can you run us through a typical day-in-your-life?
It varies alot, it depends on the discipline - slopestyle, pipe or junior jam -  a BGOS day usually goes a little something like this:

8.45am: Course side
9ish - 10ish: Riders Practice. We bench at least a quarter of an hour of the practice sessions in order to establish our scoring scale, and get a general idea of the level of riding to expect from the session.
11am-ish - 1pm-ish: Judged Runs
1ish-2ish: Riders Practice
2ish - 4ish: Judged Runs
5 or 6ish: Rider Meeting, which is just a general run-down on the following days event, weather etc...

Sometimes the schedule will allow us short breaks between heats, or during course maintenance but qualifying days are über loaded and the droplist is almost always stacked pretty tight. We'll judge up to approx 300 runs in a day… sometimes more. We run a split panel  (a bench of 6 judges so 3vs3) up until semi finals which allows us to have 2 riders on course at a time allowing us to get through the numbers quicker, then we full panel semis through finals. They're pretty full on days and a BGOS contest runs for 3 to 5days so come wrap, I'm wrecked!

What are the perks of your job?
The dopest part about my job is the fact that I get paid (pretty well) to watch my friends ride! I'm guartanteed the best view of the event - front row seats to witnessing some of the most insane progression in freestyle snowboarding -  which is outbloodystanding! Being real old now and a washed-up-never-was-been, harbouring two blown-out knees and an unsalvageable shoulder, I am left to live vicariously through everyone else that can still ride :)
Vehicle hire, travel, food & accommodation is all paid for. Pretty much as soon as I leave my front door for an event - my expenses are covered. Passes, VIP this, VIP that, after parties and bar tabs… all of that good shit!

What are the downsides to your job?
Internal politics. Though I try not to get too involved. I form my own opinions based on the facts and always try to keep a positive take on it.

Events that use stale judges and stale judging techniques. Judges and judging techniques need to be kept fresh - up to date and up with the play - but unfortunately there are alot of judges on the circuit that shouldn't be, because they're just too old-school or too lazy to update their trick definitions especially when it comes to rail features. Having to explain subtleties of trick difficulty, like the difference between a sameways and a wrongways - or hardways - to someone who's being paid pretty well to know those point differences, gets fairly frustrating and damn near incredulous at times. It can get pretty draining.
Scoring gripes. That's the major downside. Like any system implemented in a dynamic society, the judging system isn't perfect and there's always room for improvement. The area that concerns me the most is the issue of rider feedback in relation to their run scores. The IJC Overall Impression system is a far fairer system than the standards/rotations/OI/deductions system of old, however it doesn't really give the rider a clear representation of where they need to improve their run. You know, aside from the obvious fails, what's the difference between an 8.9 run and a 9.0 run - what area/s did oldmate 9-Oh dominate? It's knowing what that point-one is, that separates 2nd place from a potential 1st. Improving this communication of scores to the rider would help in their deciding of what to throw down in their next run - especially in live scoring instances.
Right now though, the TTR is working on developing a new judging system. They propose that the new system will still be based on the concept of Overall Impression, but it'll break it down into its three fundamental components – Style, Overall Composition (OC) and Tricks, each of which will have its own judge and score.
So we'll see how the riders respond to this idea and hopefully get something in place that all the riders feel solid about, then we can start to implement the new system - It's what it's all about, it's gotta be a system built by the competitors, a system that the riders are happy with...

Where do you want to go with your career as a judge? Do you have an ultimate goal?
I'm gonna run with where I'm at for a bit, I've been in this game since my first major knee injury way back when and I'm coming up on 7 years with the IJC (International Judges Commission), 6 years of competition at International level with the Burton Global Open Series, and 4 with TTR - though it's only the last 3 years that I've really been immersed in the TTR World Pro Tour outside the NZ circuit.
My ultimate goal really? Is to lay in a hammock strung between 2 palms outside my beach shack somewhere in the Pacific and program video games for the rest of my life, but I can defintely see myself juggling some kind of remote association position in order to keep my finger on the pulse of freestyle snowboarding. I'd like that. I'd like to continue to be around to make sure riders - that know what's up - are always in control of the snowboarding industry...

Where do you usually visit on your travels?
See: past itinerary question... then add a couple stops in between the north & south hemis where I like to go to thaw out - usually the islands - Fiji, Hawaii etc or the Gold Coast...

Where is your favourite destination that you’ve travelled to?
So far Hokkaido, Japan. I love Japan - the people, the culture, the snow. So stoked I get to go every year...

Where’s your favourite place to ride?
Japan for the pow, continental US for the parks...

What advice would you give to someone out there wanting to pursue a career in your same field?
KNOW YOUR SHIT and be consistent. Always keep on top of it. Watch all the new vids, view all the latest contest footage - get addicted to the live web feeds if you can’t be there in person. Absorb everything you can about the riders, their trademarks, their style, their execution, their flow, always looking for variety, technical difficulty, change-ups, progression, consistency and slack...
Judging is HARD. You're required to be mentally fit and emotionally stable. So STAY HAPPY. In my experience, grumpy judges throw out arse scores and it's up to the rest of the bench to pull you back into scale. Which isn't fair on your peers or the rider. If you dont wanna be there it can affect the flow of the entire event. Really. Happy judges = happy scores...
STAY OBJECTIVE. Never fold to bias. Be it your own or the influence of others...
Stick to your guns. Remember, you're only one of 3 potentially 8 opinions, so man up when you feel you need to...

Any last words?
I'm so stoked that I get to do what I do, I'm super lucky to be where I am in our industry. So many thanks to everyone that’s had anything to do with any of the events I've ever had the privilege to be a part of. Huge props to anyone and everyone who has the courage to compete and the stamina to maintain, from Grassroots though to Pro-level events.
Massive thanks to all that have schooled me up - Ste'en Webster for introducing the fundamentals, Jason Grossi and Greg Johnson for my solid foundation and continued education. Thanks Jamie Lynn for your ridiculous style that still remains a constant comparative - you're all responsible for shaping the Judge that I am today - IJC for life!!