We know that a lot of questions come with competing in the NPC. Here, NPC and IFBB Women’s Head Judge Sandy Willamson answers some of the more common questions she receives from current and aspiring NPC competitors.
Have a question for the NPC? Email your question to info@npcnewsonline.com and we will do our best to answer it in the next segment of So You Want To Compete?, only on npcnewsonline.com.
Miss Part 1? See it here.
Q: I am a little confused on how the judging system works. How are we judged as competitors and what is the system used? – Ashley
A: NPC and IFBB competitions always have an odd number of judges on the panel, usually anywhere from seven to 13. We drop out the high and low scores, so we always add five judges scores. Once we see the competitors on stage, each judge has their own system on who they think are the top competitors. The head judge then usually has all of the judges pass in which competitors they think are the top ones in each class. The first few callouts are a consensus of who the judging panel wants to see. The judges then mark the competitors anywhere from 1 to 15, one being who they see in first place and so on. If there are more than 15 competitors in a class, everyone else is scored a 16. This is how it is done at all contests – local, regional, national qualifiers and pro qualifiers. It is also how it is done in the IFBB Professional League.
Q: I had planned to compete at least once before June in order to hopefully qualify for the NPC Junior Nationals. Both contests I am looking at are national qualifiers, but I started to fill out my entry forms and noticed it states placings become Nationally Qualified through all of 2014. Does this mean if I qualify it wouldn’t be for this year or does it mean from 2013-2014? I really was hoping to qualify and compete this year. – Nicole
A: If both contests are national qualifiers, you will be qualified for Junior Nationals as long as place in the open divisions. If you are competing in Bikini or Figure you need to place Top 3 in your class to be eligible for all national shows through December 2014. You qualification starts immediately but also includes the following year as we do not count the year you qualified in. Here is the link to the NPC schedule page, which lists all the shows and indicates whether they are a national qualifier or not.
http://npcnewsonline.com/schedules
Q: I am planning my competition schedule for 2013 and I told that placing in the top 3 at Masters Nationals does NOT qualify you for national-level competitions the following year. As I read through the rules and regulations on the NPC website, I was still unsure. To me, it appears as though placing in the Top 3 at Masters Nationals DOES qualify you for a national level competition. Can you verify this for me? – Summer
A: If you place top 5 in a Masters Division at a national-level competition, that qualifies you to compete in the open division at other national-level shows.
Q: I just wanted to get clarification on eligibility. My coach told me I was eligible for Nationals, but after reading the descriptions on the websites I’m not sure. At a national qualifying event, I placed in the Top 5 – 4th place in the Bikini division.– Megan
A: You are qualified for the Jr. USA in Charleston, South Carolina. You have to place in the Top 3 to qualify for Nationals.
Q: Could you please provide me with some information on posing in the Figure division? Is it a T-walk or quarter turns? Are there any other specifics on posing for Figure?– Victoria
A: The figure contestants will walk out to center stage, make their four quarter turns and then walk off. I have included the link for a video on figure posing.
http://npcnewsonline.com/video-posing-for-the-figure-division/19312/
Q: I am looking to compete in the NPC for the first time and am not sure which division is best for me. Can you tell me the main differences between the Bikini and Figure divisions? – Patricia
A: In Bikini we are looking for somebody with a nice, toned body but not really any visible muscle, whereas in Figure we do. I want to see visible muscle in Figure but don’t want to see striations or a lot of separation. Basically, the degree of muscle is the main difference between the two divisions.
Q: Last year was my first time competing and I qualified for Nationals! This is all brand new to me and I was wondering if I had to qualify again this year or if I could just go straight to Nationals? Not sure if I was eligible for two years of you had changed that. – Laura
A: It depends on which division you compete in and what national-level show you are considering entering. However, we don’t count the year you qualify in, so this is only Year One of your qualifications – which does allow you to compete in all the national-level shows this year. This does depend on which division you are competing in since some are top five and some are top three.
