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Unrealistic Competitions
For a number of years I was a big supporter of Road Rescue Competitions and Challenges however a few things have occurred that have really turned me "anti" the whole concept.
The first negaitive experience was whilst competing at the State Level to get into the Nationals. Our team, of which I was a member, were the only team in the whole competition to extricate the casualuty, and to add to it, did it the quickest. However the Chief Judge canned us and marked our points down because we didn't do enough metal cutting and movement for his liking!!!!
We had a car on it's roof and went through the side doors and removed a B pillar and removed through that opening. The Medical Judge loved what we did and how we did it, as did the others.
However, no one to this day has been able to give us an explanation of what is "adequate" metal movement for a competition. We don't go to a real scene and keep cutting and moving metal just to make sure we do enough. We assess the scene and in consultation with the medics, remove the vehicle from the casualty and then extricate accordingly.
The second annoying thing for me is the over-the-top safety. We now have teams in competions wearing dust/particle masks, knee pads, tools belts with all sorts of gadgets and accessories and the harsh reality is, again in the real world, we don't wear this stuff. (I even saw one team here in Australia wearing SCBA! I mean come on!!!!!)
For competitions to be beneficial to all, they need realistic scenarios and realistic rules and equipment usage.
Your thoughts...?
Don't get me wrong- we need to be safe, but we need to be realistic.
The first negaitive experience was whilst competing at the State Level to get into the Nationals. Our team, of which I was a member, were the only team in the whole competition to extricate the casualuty, and to add to it, did it the quickest. However the Chief Judge canned us and marked our points down because we didn't do enough metal cutting and movement for his liking!!!!
We had a car on it's roof and went through the side doors and removed a B pillar and removed through that opening. The Medical Judge loved what we did and how we did it, as did the others.
However, no one to this day has been able to give us an explanation of what is "adequate" metal movement for a competition. We don't go to a real scene and keep cutting and moving metal just to make sure we do enough. We assess the scene and in consultation with the medics, remove the vehicle from the casualty and then extricate accordingly.
The second annoying thing for me is the over-the-top safety. We now have teams in competions wearing dust/particle masks, knee pads, tools belts with all sorts of gadgets and accessories and the harsh reality is, again in the real world, we don't wear this stuff. (I even saw one team here in Australia wearing SCBA! I mean come on!!!!!)
For competitions to be beneficial to all, they need realistic scenarios and realistic rules and equipment usage.
Your thoughts...?
Don't get me wrong- we need to be safe, but we need to be realistic.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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I agree, when you're doing "movements" just for the satisfaction of the judges instead of the way we'd do it in the real world, it just becomes a stupid show-off thing.
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Permalink Reply by Michael J. Guadagno on
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Good topic. Also Brian's comments sum it up.
We started competing in 1996. The first couple of competitions were a great learning experience. After that we could begin to see the pattern. The more of a "show" you put on, the better you placed in the competitions.
We'd seen teams shoot the bit right out of the ajax, over the top of the car, almost hitting the crew working on the other side, they still took top honors because the Team Leader put on a show that would of made the Ring master for Barnum and Bailey jealous.
Now, we compete very sparingly. Some of it due to availablity of our crew. The rest is the resentment and disgust of putting in a solid performance and being ripped up in the critique for silly things like not wearing a "dust mask".
You're right, the Judges need to bring some of the judging back to a realistic sense.
On the same token, we have been in the same boat as you, superior extrication and quick patient removal then in the critique, the judges explained that it isn't always about speed and removal. We learned to make the access to the patient so big you could drive a truck through, that seemed to satisfy the judges. Doing this gave them the opportunity to judge us on everything else like tool knowledge and use, access to the patient, patient care, stabilization, etc. So in a sense we kinda conformed to their style of judging.
Now we compete to keep our skills sharp and our teamwork top notch for the real extrication. We go in with the acceptance that we will not take top honors but come out with new ideas and experience. -
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Good reply Michael, but we shouldn't have to conform to their style. Better yet, their style needs to be relevant and realistic to the types of scenarios we encounter in the real world.
If you haven't seen them, have a look at Mines Rescue and also Vertical Rescue competitions/challenges. They use real world scenarios with very strict guidelines, expectations, etc. The crews compete using real world knowledge, techniques and equipment- there's no showmanship in these competitions.... -
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