One of the most important things to understand about the NASDA Judge Advancement Program is that advancement is not based solely on completing a certain number of runs.

Required runs and assignments provide judges with necessary practical experience. They are an important part of the advancement process, but they represent minimum experience requirements.

Completing them means that a judge may be ready to be considered for the next stage.

It does not guarantee advancement.

NASDA may consider several factors when evaluating a judge’s readiness, including:

• Completion of required assignments and practical experience.
• Knowledge and application of the Master Handbook.
• Ability to recognize and appropriately apply deductions.
• Course design and course-setting skills.
• Understanding of safety and quarry considerations.
• Timing and scoring skills.
• Decision-making and judgment.
• Feedback from supervising judges.
• Completion of required judge education.
• Communication and professionalism.
• Overall readiness for increased judging responsibility.

Different judges develop different skills at different rates. Two apprentices may complete the same number of runs and still be at different stages of readiness.

That is a normal part of an education and evaluation program.