Why do some disciplines score out of 10 and others out of 100?

Because the rulebook says so. Solo, 2-Baton, 3-Baton, Artistic Twirl and Artistic Pair are normalised to 10; Duet, Artistic Team, Twirl Team, Twirling Corps and Artistic Group are normalised to 100.

Is there one twirling judging system?

No. IBTF championships are judged by officials certified by WBTF and by WFNBTA, and each uses its own system.

Does JudgeMate implement the IBTF system?

No, and it does not claim to. The rulebook points competitions at the federation's own tabulation programs. JudgeMate is criteria-based scoring you configure yourself, which suits club, school, national and regional competitions.

Can it handle majorette formations?

Yes — as one entry with a line-up, one start number and one score, rather than as a row per person.

Baton Twirling

Q: How much does a drop cost?

In team and group disciplines, one per cent — a full point on the hundred-point scale — deducted from each judge's score, not once from the total.

Two systems, one championship

An IBTF championship is judged by officials certified by two different federations, each using its own judging system — and the scale a routine is normalised to depends on whether it is a solo or a team.

Score a competition See how it works

In short: judges score, penalties are deducted from each judge's sheet, and the net score is normalised — to 10 for individual disciplines and to 100 for team and group disciplines. A drop in a team discipline costs one per cent, taken from every judge's score.

Scoring a twirling competition with JudgeMate
Formats and judging
The scale depends on the discipline
How the rulebook works
Tools & Resources
Frequently asked questions

Scoring a twirling competition with JudgeMate

Criteria-based scoring, configured by you

JudgeMate does not implement the WBTF or WFNBTA judging systems. It gives you a criteria-based model you configure yourself, including the two things twirling actually needs: penalties applied to each judge's sheet rather than to the total, and a scale you set per category.

Per-judge penalties

Deductions taken from each judge's score before the panel is combined — the order the twirling rulebook uses.

A scale per category

Set the maximum for a category rather than for the whole event, so solo and team disciplines can report on the scales their rules use.

Entry formats that mean something

Solo, duo, trio, group and club as real entry types, each with its own line-up bounds — so a corps is one start with one score, not twenty separate entries.

Start list and running order

Start numbers, running order and a printable start list, with a warning when the same twirler appears in two blocks that overlap.

Protocols the same day

PDF results with a per-judge breakdown, ready before the coaches leave the hall.

Formats and judging

Disciplines

Individual disciplines

Solo, 2-Baton, 3-Baton, Artistic Twirl and Artistic Pair. Net scores — after penalties — are normalised to a score out of 10.

Team and group disciplines

Duet, Artistic Team, Twirl Team, Twirling Corps and Artistic Group. Net scores are normalised to a score out of 100.

Nations Cup

The team competition run alongside the individual championship, on the same rulebook.

How the score is built

The order matters more here than the arithmetic. Penalties are written on the hundred-point scale and then converted, so a tenth of a point on the reported score is a full point where the judge wrote it. Applying the penalty after normalisation instead of before gives a different answer, and the difference is largest exactly where the field is tightest.

Judging system — WBTF or WFNBTA, depending on the official

Net score — the judge's score after penalties

Normalisation — to 10 or to 100, set by the discipline

Drop penalty — one per cent per drop in team and group disciplines, per judge

The rulebook refers competitions to the federation's own tabulation programs. JudgeMate is not one of them and does not claim compliance with the IBTF system.

The scale depends on the discipline

Baton twirling does something no other sport in this catalogue does: the scale of the final score changes with the entry format. Solo, 2-Baton, 3-Baton, Artistic Twirl and Artistic Pair are normalised to a score out of 10. Duet, Artistic Team, Twirl Team, Twirling Corps and Artistic Group are normalised to a score out of 100. Same event, same day, two scales.

How the rulebook works

Two federations at one table

Judges certified by the World Baton Twirling Federation and by the World Federation of National Baton Twirling Associations both officiate at IBTF championships, and each applies its own judging system. That is the fact a scoring tool has to start from: there is no single twirling sheet to implement.

Penalties on a different scale from the score

Tabulation converts the penalty from the 100-point scale on which it is written down to the 10-point scale on which some disciplines are reported, normalising it to a tenth of a point. For team and group disciplines a drop costs one per cent — a full point on the hundred-point scale — deducted from every judge's score rather than once from the total.

A federation tool, not a market

The IBTF rulebook points at its own internal tabulation programs rather than at a commercial product. That is unusual and it says something about the segment: there is no incumbent to displace here, only work being done by hand or by a spreadsheet.