Avril Enslow awarded a member of the NZ Order of Merit

It is with the greatest pleasure and pride that CSG announces to its membership that in the New Years Honours list, our Executive Officer, Avril Enslow, has been awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to gymnastics.  This is a very well deserved award and on behalf of the club membership the Board extends to Avril it warmest and sincerest Congratulations.

We would also like to thank Avril’s husband Chris and her daughters Julia and Lauren for the support they have given to enable her to make the contribution she has to the sport of gymnastics.. 

Avril Enslow receiving her NZ Order of Merit from Dame
Sylvia Cartwright 

There are some of us who have had a long history in gymnastics and are aware of what Avril has done for sport.  For those who are newer to the sport we would like to share the information presented to the Prime Minister in Avril’s citation.

Christchurch School of Gymnastics wish to nominate Avril Enslow for a New Zealand Royal Honour for her contribution to the sport of gymnastics both with the Canterbury region and nationally.  The Precise Reasons for recognising Avril Enslow include:

• Her vision, initiative and commitment to the development of Christchurch School of Gymnastics (CSG) from a volunteer run club to a progressive successful business which is continually developing and delivering a full range of gymsport related programmes to all sectors of the community.  
• Her commitment to the promotion of the sport of gymnastics regionally and nationally
• Her attainment of the highest level of international judging qualification in gymnastics and the international recognition of her judging ability.

Avril Enslow (Robinson) started in the sport of gymnastics as a gymnast.  From an early age it was evident that she is a person of ability and determination.  After retiring as a gymnast she moved into judging, rapidly gaining higher levels of qualification, coaching and administration. 

In 1979 the committee of CSG took the initiative to purchase a property in central Christchurch in order to have a permanently set up gym in which to deliver its various programmes.  Some years later, the committee realized that in the future sport in New Zealand would be delivered on a more professional business like basis and for CSG to do so would require a better facility and significant financial input.  Avril realized that this was going to require considerable effort and commitment and she along with others, set about identifying what was required and planning how it might be implemented.

A Russian coach was employed to improve the quality of programmes delivered in competitive gymnastics in order to attract more participants and to free up others who were coaching to deliver other programmes that would generate additional revenue. 

Avril identified that schools were becoming less able to deliver the gymnastics part of the health and physical education curriculum and that opportunities existed to provide these services.  She set about becoming conversant with what was required and developed programmes to deliver this.  Some schools came to the CSG gym for classes while in other cases Avril and other coaches went out to the schools.  The time Avril spent developing and administering these programmes was largely done without any financial reward. 

Soon the demand for programmes delivered by CSG increased and it became obvious that the club needed new, properly set up facilities with professional staff.  The challenge to do this was lead by Avril.  She established strong working relations with various sporting and regional bodies and funding agencies and developed a reputation as someone who worked tirelessly, professionally and selflessly for CSG and the sport of gymnastics as a whole. 

The opening of the CSG facility at QE II Park, Christchurch in 1997 was the result of thousands of hours of work put in by Avril and her team.  Much of this work was done on a volunteer basis and it was not until 1999 that the business of CSG had been grown to the point that Avril could be employed as a full time Executive Officer.  Since then Avril has worked to increase the utilization of the facility in order to keep CSG at the forefront of development and delivery of gymsport activities in Canterbury and nationally.  She is constantly looking at new programmes that would give other sectors of the community the opportunity to participate in gymsport related activities and has been instrumental in providing a variety of programmes to pre-school children, children in the recreation and competitive gymnastics areas, adults, trampolinists, home school and special needs children.  The fruits of Avril’s initiative and labour are shown by the club being the largest in New Zealand.  It currently has over 1000 active members and over 30,000 visits annually by pupils from around 70 schools.  The club was recently awarded Sport Canterbury Club Mark Gold status. 

While Avril strives to keep CSG as ‘the best’ she acknowledges that competition is healthy for the sport and has assisted other clubs in Canterbury to get established by sharing knowledge, programmes and experiences.  She has also shared her knowledge with other clubs around the country.  Avril’s ability as an administrator was recognized in 1997 and 2003 when she was named overall winner of the Sport Canterbury “Outstanding Winter Sports Administrator”

Avril is constantly looking at ways to provide her staff with the professional development necessary for them to improve their knowledge and deliver quality programmes.  She has great empathy with the athlete’s she trains and others she works with.  Avril has an holistic attitude towards her gymnasts.  She is constantly encouraging them to strive to achieve their potential but also shows interests in their education and future careers.  When they decide to stop competing she encourages them to give something back to the sport as a coach and/or a judge. 

Avril has worked to ensure that gymnastics has an ongoing profile in the sports and wider community.  This has educated people so that they understand that gymnastics in its ‘whole body movement sense’ is the basis for all sporting activities and about the wide range of programmes that gymnastics is able to deliver to all sports.  In other instances she has ensured that achievements of gymnasts, coaches and judges, as well as interesting and exciting developments that are happening within the sport, are informed to the media and other pertinent parties. 

As a judge Avril’s ability is recognized both nationally and internationally.  She gained her international (FIG) judges brevet in 1980 and gained the highest qualification of Expert/Master teacher in 1992.  Avril is one of a select few who have been awarded an FIG Judges Diploma, an award that recognizes long term contribution, dedication and exemplary service as an International judge at a minimum of 8 FIG competitions (2 Olympics and 6 World Championships) and she has been invited as a neutral judge to judge at the 2004 Athens Olympics.  In 1994 her ability was honoured when she was asked to represent all the FIG gymnastics judges at the Centennial IOC Congress in Paris where she gave a speech on olympism and its ethics. 

Avril works hard to maintain her level of qualification.  She shares her knowledge and experience within New Zealand and was a member of the New Zealand Women’s Technical Committee for 20 years from 1981 – 2000, being the national Judging Coordinator for a large portion of this time.  She actively encourages people to take up judging and provides the training for them to gain the required qualification and then the guidance and mentoring to gain confidence to do the work competently and professionally. 

Within the Canterbury region Avril has been an active member of the Canterbury Gymnastics Association, over the last 25 years.  She has held positions on the executive as well as being a member or Convenor of the Women’s Technical Committee. 

Avril Enslow has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of gymnastics in many ways and at all levels.  She has always put the interests of gymnastics, her staff and her gymnasts before personal gain and a significant part of her life’s involvement in the sport has been voluntary.  This contribution is worthy of recognition through a New Zealand Royal Honour.