New Years Honours for an outstanding gymnastics official.
story printed by SPARC in their Up With The Play Officials Newsletter 2005

The Christchurch School of Gymnastics (CSG) is so proud of the enormous effort their Executive Officer (and international gumnastics judge) Avril Enslow has put into their sport that they sucessfully nominated her for a 2005 New Year’s Honour.

Awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the sport of gymnastics, Avril was taken completely by surprise when she was told of her award. “It came completely out of the blue. It was such a lovely surprise and I am very honoured to be recognised in this way,” said Arvil.

CSG and NZ Gymnastics nominated Avril for her outstanding contribution to her sport both in the Canterbury region as well as nationally. They wished for her to be honoured for the following reasons:

- Her input and drive which helped the school develop from a volunteer-run club to a sucessful, progressive business which is developing and delivering a full range of gym-sport related programmes to all sectors of its community;

- Her commitment fot the promotion of the sport locally and nationally, and;

- Her attainment of the highest level of international judging qualification in gymnastics, as well as receiving international recognition for her judging ability.

Avril Enslow has dedicated most of her life to the sport of Gymnastics. Her career as a gymnast began at the age of nine, when she competed for her school and went on to be a founding member of the CSG club, Avril continued to compete as a gymnast until injury ended her career at 19. She moved to Australia to widen her horizons, where she began to coach and judge gymnastics.

On her return to New Zealand, Avril became involved in the administration of the sport, and she continued to coach gymnasts and further her judging career. She attained her first international judging brevet (license) in 1980 – a position she has held ever since.

Now recognised as one of the top 20 gymnastics judges internationally, Avril travels all over the world to judge at major competitions, including the Olympic Games and the world championships. “ The best thing about judging internationally is that I have a front-row seat at events like the Olympics and I have a say in who gets the gold. My opinion counts where it matters and although I always judge within the rules, my role as a judge is to rank the gymnasts and I find this exhillarating and rewarding, ” said Avril.

Ever committed to the growth of the sport locally, she is New Zealand’s Chief Judge and regularly judges domestic competitions. Avril is also passionate about coaching gymnastics and is  a  senior coach at CSG. “Being actively involved in coaching is one of the reasons I have been sucessful judging internationally. I work within the rules every week, therefore I can apply them easilly,” she notes.

With this huge input into gymnastics officiating, it’s obvious that Avril loves what she does. “I find judging really satisfying. It’s easier for me than coaching, although I love that side of the sport, too. It’s a way for me to give something back to the sport. My family have always been very supportive of me, which is just so important with volunteer roles. I couldn’t have received the New Years Award without them,” she said.

And with all that hard work, we think Avril deserves the last word. “Whilst it’s great to have won such an award, I’d like to point out that I’m not the only one who deserves it. So many people volunteer their time and resources to officiate sport all over New Zealand. You should get out there and nominate your own officials and administrators. Help to give them the recognition they deserve!”