Scoring, Championship Points - The Addiction Begins

I wonder, sometimes, how I got here . . . addicted, practically foaming at the mouth, tension, stressed, anxiously seeking your next fix . . . I mean final.

Let me try to explain how it all began. You start showing your cat for fun. Why not, he's good type, meets the breed standard and he is stunning (at least in your eyes). You go to the show and are completely thrilled by winning a breed ring. You don't get a ribbon for this, but still, for a judge to think your cat is worthy enough to get a blue, and maybe be placed above a proven show Pixie Bob, WOW! That feels nice (the excitement begins). You meet some really nice people, and learn a few things. They walk you through the show process and show you how to fill out your Recognition of Wins form, explaining the Championship point system.

The points are easy . . . 25 points for first in best of color and another 25 points for best of division. In the world of Pixie Bobs, where you can only show Brown Spotted Tabbies, color and division go to the same cat. So, each breed win earns your baby 50 points toward his titles. Second place earns 20 and 20, for 40 total points and so on. The break down looks like this:

(BOC) Best of Color
1=25 points 2=20 points 3=15 points 4=10 points 5=5 points

(BOD) Best of Division
1=25 points 2=20 points 3=15 points

As you're learning how to fill out your form, you hear an announcement, "We have a supreme party on aisle C. Help them celebrate and go on over for a piece of cake."

"What is that all about?" you ask a new friend and teacher, who you will simply refer to as the "Siamese Lady" for the first few shows until you finally hear someone say her name.

"Oh, when your cat earns his supreme, it's tradition to throw a party to celebrate."

You turn to that true friend who sacrificed his weekend to come to the show with you so you wouldn't have to face your first experienced alone, and say with a smile, "Guess we'll never have to worry about that." Indeed, of all the show cats in TICA, only 3% earn the title of Supreme Grand Champion. It is a rare feat, worthy of a party.

As your day goes on, it happens. Your first show cat gets the first final. A judge thinks your cat is one of the top 10 in the show. You have a ribbon. You have a Champion! The sickness is in its infancy, subtly creeping in. You are unaware, but you have been infected. You have caught the bug. Before you know it, your Champion is a Grand Champion. Wow, six finals of worthy relevance! Yep, you're baby has done it. The Siamese Lady helps you fill out the paperwork and you send it in. She explains the requirements and how each final also holds a point value:

Allbreed (AB) final points
Best cat=200 points 2nd=190 pts 3rd=180 4th=170
5th=160 6th=150 7th=140 8th=130 9th=120 10th=110

Specialty (meaning the class is specific to cat's hair length, long or short) (SP) final points
1=150 points 2=140 pts 3=130 4=120 5=110 6=100 7=90 8=80 9=70 10=60

To achieve your titles you must earn:

Championship
300 points and 1 final (either AB or SP)

Grand Champion
1000 points and 6 finals under at least 4 different judges and only 3 of these finals are allowed to be bottom 5 specialty.

Double Grand Champion
2000 points plus another final (top 5 SP or top 10 AB) after Grand Championship has been achieved

Triple Grand Champion
3000 points plus another final (top 5 SP or top 10 AB) after Double Grand Championship has been achieved

Quadruple Grand Champion
4000 points plus another final (top 5 SP or top 10 AB) after Triple Grand Championship has been achieved

Supreme Grand Champion
6000 points plus a Best Cat after the title of Quadruple Grand Champion is achieved.

Note: Requirements are different for areas TICA deems as "remote".

Some people are confuse as to what it takes to achieve a Quadruple Grand Championship. I've heard some claim they achieved a quadruple grand championship in 2 shows. After all, they did get nine finals, the minimum required, but what they don't understand, the rules say they have to score 4000 points. The Siamese Lady explains that they have not considered the minimal points required for each title before they can count that title as "achieved" and then advance with an additional final. These people are in need of a wonderful mentor to explain things, or maybe they are simply trying to look good, because what they claim is impossible.

TICA sends your certificates of recognition. You are on your way. Then, that day comes, you are showing your wonderful, Quadruple Grand Champion and a judge gives him first in her final. Now, maybe this is not his first "Best Cat", but it is his first as a Quadruple Grand Championship, and that means that this final counts in your quest for his ultimate title, Supreme Grand Champion. Now it's just a matter of 6000 points (if you haven't already achieved it). Then, you've done it!! Break out the sparkling cider and order that cake with your Supreme's picture on it. You have a Supreme party to host!

Scoring, International and Regional Points - Phase II - The Addiction is Serious Now

You are at a cat show and the House Hold Pet (HHP) owner benched across the isle from you pulls out his laptop. Several other HHP exhibitors crowd around. He logs onto the internet. You see, they just came back from a final, and they want to see how the final affected their international standings. The results of their finals are logged on a website created and maintained by the HHP exhibitors specifically for this purpose. This may seem a little extreme to those who don't show, but it is admirable to those competing for regional or international standing. Maybe they are a little sick, but this bug is easy to catch. After all, everyone likes to win.

You remember when your addiction became serious. You were happy as a clam, proudly watching your baby move through his titles on his way to his Supreme Grand Championship. The Siamese Lady, who you now know as June, asks how you are doing in the regional standings. That joyous smile melts into a blank expression. "Quoi?" "Que?" "What?" She smiles knowingly and kindly explains a whole new set of points to you. This set of points is much more confusing.

International Points

If there are 25 cats, or more, in the class, you are awarded AB and SP final points as listed above (championship final points). If there are less than 25 cats, the point system for finals changes.

You also get one point for every cat you place above in the class/final. At the beginning of a final, the judge will announce the "count" of the class. Example: If the count is 53 in an AB class, and you place third, CONGRATULATIONS! That is noteworthy. Your international points for that ring would be 230 regional/international points - 180 for the AB final, and you placed above 50 cats. If you get best of breed in a class of 6 Pixie Bobs, but you do not final, you still earn 5 points for the cats you placed above. These cats are included in the count of a final, so if you final, don't count them twice.

Regional and International points are identical. They are only distinguished in the titles that they earn respectively. They differ from championship points in many ways. Where Championship points accumulate continually throughout the show career of your cat, International points accumulate until the end of the current show season (April 30th). Awards are given, and everyone starts at zero on May 1st for the next show season. Unlike the Championship points which you have to send to TICA to be recognized, International points are kept by TICA, automatically.

The standings are posted and updated on TICA's website, www.tica.org. But, once you have the addiction, they never seem to be updated often enough. And, in the beginning, this is what you look at once a week or so. You wait for the update to see where you stand. You check the Regional standings to see if you are in the top 20, and you dream of getting one of those three foot long ribbons, along with a plaque and being part of the PowerPoint presentation and the awards banquet. Or, of having the honor of having the best of your breed, and receiving a certificate saying so.

Of course, soon, TICA's updates just don't cut it. This is about the time you cross over from being a person who shows cats, to a cat show person. You find out where the results of all the shows are posted in the achieves, and the estimated standings. You check the show calendar and guess where your competitors might be showing this weekend. You want all of the Pixie Bobs to do well, but you don't want them to do quite as well as you. You become a statistician. You come home after each show, and you can't wait to figure out the points your pride and joy earned at the show.

Only the top 30 kitten rings count, or the top 50 adult rings. When you reach your 50 finals, you start throwing away the finals with the lower points. You are a campaigner when you know the value of the lower finals you will be replacing next. You see each final in terms of how much you can "use it" to increase your international standing. You start using phrases like, "cat count" "throw away"@ and "can only use top 5". You are beyond help when you can state, off the top of your head, how this final has affected your total as you carry you cat away from the final.

You are obsessed, but you don't care. If you have the money, you enter more than one show and go to the one with the higher cat count. "More points! I need more points!" You hunger for points like Gollum hungers for the one ring that rules them all.

One can look at these people and shake your head at the money they are wasting, but keep it to yourself. They won't understand why you don't understand. Just go with it. Trust me. They are under enough self-inflicted stress to choke a small pony. Smile and nod, and be encouraging. Their family will appreciate it.

Year End Awards

Year end awards are the reason people with Supreme Grand Champions keep showing. They are determined using International Points. TICA awards the title of International Winner (IW) to the world's top 20 long haired cats, and the top 20 short haired cats, the top 20 allbreed kittens, the top 20 allbreed alters and the top 20 household pets. They also recognize Best of Breed Winners, although there is no title awarded for this.

Your region will recognize their top 20 as well. The top 20 shorthair and longhair cats, kittens, alters and HHPs will be awarded the title of Regional Winner (RW). The region will recognize the best of breeds as well, but, again, no title is given for this. So, even if you receive a certificate congratulating you on your Pixie Bob kitten being the best Pixie Bob kitten in your region, they do not earn the RW title unless they are one of the top 20 allbreed kittens.

These titles go on the beginning of the cat's name. And IW will replace RW, as it goes without saying that any IW is also an RW. And a Lifetime Achievement (LA) award, awarded to a cat who has earned an IW and 2 RW s , in three separate years, would replace IW.

So an example would be:

The Pixie Bob Registered Nativeson's El Gato De Oro, our first international winner when he was 2nd best cat in the world, and a best of breed winner, becomes IW SGC Nativeson's El Gato De Oro. When (fingers crossed) he earns another RW (Check out the NW Alter standings), he will become LA SGC Nativeson's El Gato De Oro.

If all this makes sense to you, you now know more than 90% of the exhibitors, with the exception of the HHP people ... they are the true experts.

This article is copyright © Wind 2007