Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the command judging course that was set up by Big John McCarthy at the River Rock Casino in Richmond. 

By far one of the most educational mma coarses you can possibly take. As a coach and fighter you think you know what the judges are thinking in a fight but there are many areas where you might be wrong.

I knew before taking this course that about 20 % of people actually pass, so thinking that I can just show up without studying and going over EVERY move and submission would have been stupid.
 
I had scored 87% on my tests but in order to pass you need at least 90%. 

You might think that it is a little strict but do you really want (as a fighter) to have a guy judging your fight not know everything? It wouldn't be fair to you if you had an amazing move or strike and score but the judge didnt recognize it, and credit you for it. I understand this and accept that I didnt pass but I want to challenge the test again. This is why:

We start the coarse Saturday morning at 8 am and run till 6pm. As soon as we finish the course, myself and 8 others are hurried over to officiate at Battlefield Fight League. The fights run until 12pm. We have to be back at the coarse at 7am. NO time to study and we all have about 5 hours sleep. Many of us only had time for a coffee. The sound on the video is not working and darkness on the screen makes it hard to see from my angle. My head was like scrambled eggs by the time we took the test at 6pm. Not making up excuses but I think that that played a big part on the extra 3% that it took to pass.

If anything I came out of this course confident that I learned quite a bit about MY sport and the knowledge I learned will help everyone in my club and the people I will be judging in the future.

Jonny Mac