I wrapped up my second volunteer weekend for the World Fitness Project (WFP) at Grand Park in Westfield, IN. The WFP is a season long functional fitness competition consisting of a series of “stops” throughout the calendar year. At the end of the season, the athlete that accumulates the most points is crowned the champion.

Each stop requires the logistics of hundreds of volunteers to set up equipment, move the athletes around the venue, and score each event. Having an interest in the fitness space, and all things data, I signed up to help the scoring teams when stop two came to town!

Last year, I joined the scoring team in which I moved the judge’s scorecards from the competition floor back to the computer for data entry. This year, I was a part of the live scoring team which was responsible for counting repetitions (reps) during each event.

During a livestream, you see reps counting down to indicate which athlete is leading each heat and how many reps are left. All I had to do was tap the “plus” button on my assigned smartphone. Each member of the live scoring team had their own assigned lane and scored one athlete at a time. And each lane, had its own judge.

With 10 lanes, 10 athletes, and 10 judges, a lot of action happens in a very short time. Add to that — media, head judges, medical, MCs — each heat turned into controlled chaos! There could be over 50 people on the floor at any given time!

Not groundbreaking work, but an important part of the entire production that gave ticket holders and those streaming from home a live scoreboard.

I scored reps in lane 3 for the entire weekend.

As I reflect on the weekend, here are a few takeaways from my experience on the live scoring team.

High Tech Requires Low Tech

With all the advancement in technology, counting live is still the most practical approach. Yes, some movements could be automated, but that is a blog for another day.

We used smartphones loaded with a custom-built website to collect data on rep counts. Before each heat, I selected my lane assignment from the dropdown menu. When the heat started, the event timer on the app ticked down, and we could start collecting our rep data. The live scoring team lead printed off cheat sheets for to keep us on track in case our rep counts were off.

With a high number of reps to count per event, it was easy to lose track.

For example, workout 7 required male athletes to perform:

• 35 calories on the rower
• 25 bar muscles ups
• 150 foot handstand walk (each 25 foot section = 1 rep)
• 5 squat snatches
• Cross the finish line (last counted rep)
  

(Female athletes only had to row 25 calories).

Workouts with machines and calories rely on a low tech operation. The live scorer (me) waits for a judge’s signal. For every calorie completed on the rower, the judge extended his arm out the side of his body. I adjusted my sightline multiple times to see my judge as the live scoring team was positioned about 100 yards away from the rowers. When the judge motioned to his side, I tapped one rep.

During each movement, rep counts lower by one when the athlete performed each rep as prescribed. A judge “no-reps” an athlete when he does meet the movement standard.

In this workout, no reps could be given for common faults such as:

• NOT locking out at the top of a bar muscle-up
• NOT completing an entire 25-foot handstand walk unbroken, or
• NOT bringing the barbell to full extension overhead.
  

Back to scoring. In the event of a no rep, and we tapped the rep as good, our team lead instructed us to wait for the next rep to be counted and not use the minus button.

You can see how quickly rep counts can be off by one or two given the nature of human error, a mis-tap on the screen, or a last second no rep delivered by the judge. That’s where the cheat sheets came in. When each athlete completed a movement, I had a few seconds during the athlete’s transition to the next one to align my live score with the correct cheat sheet total.

Outside of counting reps perfectly, the judge also signals with a hand in the air when the athlete has 5 reps remaining and counts down accordingly. The combination of my workout expertise, the cheat sheet, and a judge’s hand kept me on track.

When Counting Gets Off: The Culprits

As I mentioned earlier, reps are bound to be inaccurate at some point in the workout. To nobody’s blame, it just the nature of the beast.

Culprit #1: Mis-taps on the phone

The software team did a fantastic job on this one. A big bright-green button displayed in the middle of the screen. A smaller red rectangle placed below it allow us to undo a rep. I only used the red button a few times when there was a break in the action.

One finicky issue was making sure that the screen scrolled down a little so that your thumb hit the green button instead of another part of the screen, let alone the red minus button.

Your eyes focus on the lane, not the phone.

Culprit #2: Judge’s hand difficult to see

We could move around the venue, but generally, the judge started around 100 yards away from us. Most stayed put, closest to the Wi-Fi. Our team observed from the finish line end of the competition floor. As the athletes progressed through each workout, they would get closer to us, along with their judges. Or, in the event of a multiple round workout, they went back and forth the across the floor. Getting closer, then getting farther away.

Depending on the lane and athlete’s position on the competition floor, the judges hand and arm positions changed. Each change made it more or less difficult to follow the judge’s 5-rep countdown.

When counting row calories, sometimes, the workout rig or the media team on the floor obstructed my view from the judge’s arm. I changed positions multiple times in the bleachers to improve my sightline.

Culprit #3: Judges Counting By 5’s

This only happened during the first two heats of event 7. There was a slight miscommunication on how often judges would signal a calorie on the rower. Some judges counted every 5th calorie.

For live scoring to “work”, the spectator needs to see each calorie on the scoreboard because only the athlete and judge can see the rower monitor. After quick feedback on the team WhatsApp thread, judges signaled each individual calorie instead of by fives.

Culprit #4: The App Didn’t Start On Time

To count reps correctly, the software must start exactly when the MC says “Go!” If there is hiccup, you will be tapping the screen, only to look down and see the on-screen timer and rep counts didn’t change.

I can only imagine the technical coordination required behind the scenes to get all systems working in unison.

The first time that it happened no one had a clue until about 30 seconds in. The team behind the scenes fixed the app and we had to catch up. Rapidly tapping our phones and estimating where we thought each of our athletes progressed so far in the workout.

As a spectator, I’m sure that was quite the dance on the screen.

When athletes take the lead in a workout, their names move up and down the scoreboard.

Fewer reps left, you’re at the top.

More reps left, you’ll be at the bottom.

Culprit #5: Mental Drift

Every so often you just get tired looking in the same direction, doing the same thing, counting the same reps for 3+ hours. I got distracted and watched other athletes while my athlete rested. You zone out, forget what you are doing, and cheer for other athletes.

Event 2 had a 20-minute time cap.

Let’s do the math:

10 heats (5 male + 5 females) X 20 minutes = 200 minutes

That is over 3 hours of direct observation! Long events for live scoring are rough!

Unless your athlete finishes under the time cap, then you get more of a break.

Culprit #6: Crazy things happen on the floor.

Along with mental drift, crazy things happen and all eyes leave their lanes.

My eyes focused on lane 3, but in the foreground, lane 1 featured Patrick Vellner.

While attempting to flip a sled, his Achilles popped, the sled fell on him, and the medical team rushed over. A sea of red medical shirts and his grimacing face took my focus off lane 3. He was immediately taken off the floor and I regained my focus.

Noticing Judges Inconsistency

During certain movements, you can anticipatewhen a rep should be counted. When the athlete locks up a muscle-up at the top, both hands pass the white line during a handstand walk, and a snatch is completed at the top-end range of motion.

When focusing on your athlete, you tend to see what other athletes are doing as they are directly in your field of view. You also observe the decisions of other judges. Specifically with the snatch, you wait for the judge to signal a “good” rep.

Good reps may take several forms:

• Judges make an arm motion similar to a row calorie count
• For reps remaining, three fingers change to two
• A judge may point at the athlete
• A vocalization like “good”, or “two left”
  

For the squat snatch, athletes start their lift in a white rectangular box. They must finish each rep in the box as well.

This is where the inconsistency crept in.

Most judges allowed athletes to gather their feet back into the box in the event the lift carried their feet out of the box. When the athlete stood up the lift, standing upright in their assigned box, then the judge counted a good rep. I noticed a few judges in other lanes that would call a no-rep the moment that an athlete’s foot stepped on the white lines, not permitting them a chance to finish the lift and regather their footing. This became wasted effort which proved costly for several athletes.

A heavy barbell, at the end of the workout, right at the finish line.

One lost rep cost athletes valuable points on the leaderboard.

Movement standards are always a hot-button topic in the functional fitness space:

Did the squat go to parallel?

Did the athlete complete the entire range of motion?

Are judges using the same standards across all athletes?

Clearly, something broke down during the judges briefing. But it can always be fixed.

Is Live Scoring Necessary?

What’s the cost of all of this? Money is on the line and athletes are competing to earn points. We, as fans, volunteers, and spectators want to see who is winning each workout. The live overlay on the steam helps you orient to who is winning.

Is it a big deal when it is off? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

In short sprint workouts, like workout 7, it is great to know who many bar muscles ups are left. You can see that on the screen. Furthermore, the events are set up such that there is as clear start and end. The first one to finish all the fitness stuff first, wins. You can see that right in front of you with no streaming screen needed.

Live scoring is a nice-to-have.

We don’t really need it, but is most helpful in longer workouts with complicated rep schemes.

Outside enhancing the fan experience, live scoring served as a back-up score in the event the timing chips failed, or some other count went awry. I didn’t see any one of the live scorers data used a back-up dataset.

Props to the primary scoring system working without fail!

Does my work this weekend make the event exciting?

I think so.

Does it enhance the viewing experience?

Yes …but it was really about the accuracy.

I don’t think too many viewers were worried about the accuracy of the live overlay. Rep counts just had to be close enough and believable. It was easy to mess up movements with high calorie and rep counts (e.g., 35 calories, 50 chest-to-bar pull-ups in event 5), but the other movements are easy (e.g., sled flip, squat snatch)

Would I volunteer again?

Absolutely!