Those of you already interested in Skateboard Judging will likely already be aware of World Skate’s Judging Certification Program which launched in 2024, but if not here’s a quick flyover.
With skateboarding growing worldwide, there is an obvious requirement for those skateboarders who take part in World Skate-sanctioned events to not only have fun, but also enjoy a fair experience based on consistent judging.
The process, run by World Skate’s International Skateboarding Judging Commission with support from Olympic Solidarity, aims not only to raise the standard and professionalism of judging at National level but to create pathways for talented judges to both develop and progress at both National and International level (about which more later on in this article!).
National Federations have an open ongoing invite to get involved, and the United Kingdom governing body Skateboard GB have just completed the most comprehensive project of its kind over the space of the seven months since last summer.
Given that this has been a best-in-class example of engagement at this level between Skateboard GB and World Skate, we thought it would merit a deep-dive into what exactly was involved.
The UK project involved ISJC members Jean-Baptiste Gillet, Alexis Jauzion and World Skate’s Head Of Judging Martin Karas undertaking a multi-stage education and evaluation process with thirteen current or aspiring UK skateboarding judges varying in experience from National level to novitiates.
This involved pre-, in- and post-event mentoring in the best practices of international-level competition judging to ensure the accuracy, fairness, and credibility of competition outcomes and align Skateboard GB’s domestic competitive environment with international standards based upon the PACT doctrine (Professionalism, Accuracy, Consistency, Time-efficiency).
Part of the project involved the creation of shadow judging panels for three British events: the 2025 UK National Park Championships held in Newquay back in August 2025, the UK National Street Championships in Warrington last October, and the Scottish Open in February of this year.
Each of the events followed World Skate’s current Olympic contest formats, which allowed all the judges to get a sense of the demands which come with adjudicating in a highly- structured, professional environment. 
The shadow judging panels ran real-time parallel scoring systems implementing the best practice methodology from the pre-event symposia for the purposes of comparison and analysis, including separate criteria for Run and Single Trick judging. 
Joining Kaitlyn Massey- who had already reached Level-01 Certification from online assessment- was Jim Langran in Park (Jim is already a Level 03 Vert judge), as well as Laurence Partridge, Sam Sheridan, Eliana Woosnam and Jessie Fleischhack who were all assessed to have successfully delivered across all competencies and were certified as World Skate Level-01 Judges accordingly.
The intention will be for these Judges to themselves become organisational pillars responsible for the professional organisation and judging of national skateboarding events as well as retaining the option to progress to continental-level Judging.
In fact, Kaitlyn would go on just two months later to represent Britain on the Judging Panel for the Asian Championships in China.
There, she worked alongside fellow Level-01 alumni Daniel Wenbo, both of whom successfully made the leap from national to international judging using their enhanced skillsets in what will doubtless be invaluable experience for both- and a tangible benefit to their National Federations who will not only learn from their best practice experience, but more closely align their National skateboarding contest programmes with global benchmark standards.
If you are a National Federation seeking to do likewise, get in touch with us to begin the process in your country!
Park photos: Leo Sharp/ Street Photos: Garry Jones