Forms
In Odyssey of the Mind, forms are both the easiest thing to put off until last minute, and one of the most important things that influence your scoring. Properly written forms can potentially add dozens of points to your score, especially when it comes to style. There are four different types of forms you should have ready for competition. Two of the forms the judges use for scoring and two are simply there to make sure you obeyed the rules.
Scoring Forms
Scoring Forms
- Style form
- Long Term Descriptions
- Cost form
- Outside Assistance form
Bringing your forms to competition
So you’ve finished all 4 of the forms. If possible, you will have done them on the computer so they look top notch and are saved for future use. If not, print extra copies of all of the forms so that you have them for future reference. The problem states that you must have 3 copies of each of the two scoring forms and one copy of the other two. These are all you need.
What you should have as a coach:
Don’t staple them together in packets and don’t bring more as the judges are bombarded with paper. The outside assistance and cost are only for a quick glance by the staging area judge; they only need to see it once and certainly don’t need 5 copies. You don’t need “team contracts” (those hold no actual weight, some coaches just use them to keep students in line during the year) and photo release forms should be turned in upon checking in. The judges will be wanting a style and team required list for each style and long term judge respectively. While you only officially need 3, if there are more judges it’s nice for each one to have a copy. Don’t give away one copy of each of your forms. As a coach, have your team make one additional copy of every form and store it in a safe place. This is why I have 5, 5, 2, 2 listed. Come the next competition, you don’t want to have to redo forms from scratch, you want the ones that you used at the last competition as a reference for the next time. It is especially vital that you keep a style form with you. The scores the judges will give back for style don’t list specifically what was judged, they have numbers 1-5 written with a score beside them. This means you will be needing a style form as a reference to see what you were judged on in each category.
What you should have as a coach:
- 5 copies of style
- 5 copies of team required list
- 2 copies of outside assistance
- 2 copies of cost
Don’t staple them together in packets and don’t bring more as the judges are bombarded with paper. The outside assistance and cost are only for a quick glance by the staging area judge; they only need to see it once and certainly don’t need 5 copies. You don’t need “team contracts” (those hold no actual weight, some coaches just use them to keep students in line during the year) and photo release forms should be turned in upon checking in. The judges will be wanting a style and team required list for each style and long term judge respectively. While you only officially need 3, if there are more judges it’s nice for each one to have a copy. Don’t give away one copy of each of your forms. As a coach, have your team make one additional copy of every form and store it in a safe place. This is why I have 5, 5, 2, 2 listed. Come the next competition, you don’t want to have to redo forms from scratch, you want the ones that you used at the last competition as a reference for the next time. It is especially vital that you keep a style form with you. The scores the judges will give back for style don’t list specifically what was judged, they have numbers 1-5 written with a score beside them. This means you will be needing a style form as a reference to see what you were judged on in each category.
Post Competition forms run-down
Most of this will have to do with your style form. Figure out what you did well on score wise and what you did poorly on. FIX YOUR LOW SCORING ITEMS. It kills judges to see teams make the exact same mistake from one competition to the next. Don’t be worried if your scores are lower at state or world, everybody judges more harshly as competition progresses. For example, a 180 at regionals might only be a 150 at world.