So if you still haven't heard, people like Dani "Kiwi" Meier and others legends have concocted an improved way to judge snowboard events. It's called SLS (Snowboard Live Scoring) and the main reason for its implementation is to making judging more transparent and fair, giving riders and coaches more feedback so they can understand scores, as well as the press and spectators. After debuting at last season's TAC, SLS was used at the Burton New Zealand Open, the main TTR event of the SoHe season. We sat down with Kiwi after the end of the NZO to get the full 411 (that's information, in case you were wondering) on the SLS system.
Here is a little video breakdown from the people at TTR:
As TTR Head Judge with a decade of judging under your belt, what are your personal feelings about the Snowboard Live Scoring system?
My personal feelings? I’m honestly proud to have been part of the adventurous path we have taken. In the last 5 years with The Arctic Challenge we were trying out very experimental things and it's thanks to people like Henning, Terje, Torstein H., Andreas Wiig and the support of Nico @ NRK that we were we able to make the initial SLS result a success. Now that senior people like Greg Johnson and his US judging team have committed to collaborate on the future of the SLS, we are richer in knowledge and opportunities than ever before. You know it takes very passionate and critical people to make something like judging snowboarding at today’s level progressive. I think we have achieved that. I am very proud and very happy.
Why is SLS better than traditional (OI) judging?
Better? That’s a very critical word. OI (Overall Impression) judging has served snowboarding well. But for me it wasn’t exposing enough info to anyone about how the results came about. It was not helping the rider or the coaches analyze us (judges) or our process and was therefore not feeding progression. It was also hard for TV shows to communicate the story in a transparent and easy to understand output. We wanted to change all that. I wanted to keep up with the riders, give them something to work on, to improve with and to review as they competed. SLS does that.
Will this system reward riders for style and finally free us from the spin to win mentality?
We are not saying that the SLS is perfected and it will certainly evolve from here on in. The response and feedback since the Burton NZO has been huge. Still, after the NZO we were questioned on straight air values and whether they will now die away with SLS. If the riders don’t want to do straight airs or spins then we won't see them, but mark my words, our aim is to evolve the sport. We are not here to tell a rider what he can or cannot do. We want straight airs, spins, inverts and anything that has "impact" to remain in a run. SLS will score a killer 20-foot straight air in the 90’s as we would a 15-foot double cork. We will merit a 4 hit run as much if it is bigger and better that a 5 hit run in the pipe and the rider has exhausted the entire pipe. We will merit to the fullest everything that leaves an impact, that is progressive, perfectly executed, delivered large and that supports variation. You need to show you deserve the points. You need to lock your shit down and use the obstacles or pipe to their fullest potential. So to merit top scores it doesn’t matter what the trick is, but it does matter how it is done, where it is done and when it is done. 
Kiwi is for peace, love and fair scoring Photo: Giom Morisset
How did it go at the NZO, what feedback have you gotten from riders?
The feedback has been both positive and critical. Positive - people got more information than they have ever had access to during an event. They understood it immediately and put it to use between runs. There has been an abundance of feedback and we are taking every single comment to heart. The system will evolve. We have already identified what we would change for the next event. Yet, as it stands, it is already by far the best system I have ever been involved in and that would not be the case if the riders and their coaches were not responding so positively. After all, it has been developed for them.
Will SLS be implemented at every TTR event from now on?
It will be implemented where it make sense. Right now the aim is to implement it at all TTR 6Star Half Pipe and Slope Style events. That looks like it will happen. We will test its adaptability to different resources and formats when and where we can and act accordingly. No short cuts.
This doesn't really have much to do with SLS but we are dying to know, how do you feel about SMS (text message) judging like they had at the X Games a couple years ago?
I am not here to tell others how they should judge their events. I always say, if the riders know what they are up against and the variables they will be confronted with to make podium and they sign off on it, then anything goes. If their results turn out right, great, if they don’t... ouch. Personally, I wouldn’t want SMS judging to influence my run if I was a rider.