Volunteers’ Week | David Webster
David Webster began volunteering as a judge in trampoline when he was sixteen years old. The former trampoline gymnast moved into coaching before being bit by the judging bug. The key to his longevity likely lies in his dedication to ensuring gymnasts are given the attention to detail their efforts deserve.
Inspirational
David said:
“As it’s progressed, I have enjoyed that as a judge you sort of give back to the gymnasts. You’re enabling them to compete. You’re also making sure they’re in the right places so it’s really the precision of the judging to make sure you get the gymnasts in the right ranking order at the end of the day for their hard work.
“Patience and resilience are important skills for a judge. You need to be able to have that eye for detail across the whole five or six hours of competition so that you have the exact same scrutiny and fairness for the first gymnast you judge and last gymnast you judge.”
David is also the judging coordinator on the technical committee meaning his contributions are not limited to the day of an event.
“The role involves the collection of volunteers for competitions and setting up panels for the events. Making sure that those panels are enabling the judges the chance to develop themselves by giving them different roles and responsibilities. It’s also making sure it’s fair for the gymnasts that we have the right people doing the right jobs on the panels.
“I enjoy now bringing on the next generation of judges and mentoring them through competitions and helping them progress. It’s great to enable other judges to have the opportunities that I have had and to allow them to develop.”
Aspirational
Last year David passed the trampoline national judging exam, the crowning achievement of his 18-year career.
“It was a tough weekend but being able to call myself a national judge and being able to volunteer at the British events is something I really look forward to. To be in that national pool of judges which enables you to be the first port of call for the competitions is a nice feeling to have.
“I think the next stage would be looking to see if I could get a brevet judge nomination at some point in the future depending how the judging goes at British competitions.”
Supportive
The sport that he has given so much to has not let his efforts go unnoticed. David said:
“I’m English born but I feel adopted by the Scottish trampoline community.
“I would recommend volunteering in gymnastics. You gain a lot through it. You gain almost sort of a separate family in terms of the gymnasts, the coaches, the parents that you meet.”
Judging has also given David an insightful mind outside of gymnastics. Reflecting on this life skill, David said:
“I think being a judge gives you the fairness to think about every gymnast on their merit on the day. Rather than thinking she’s done well in the last competition, or he’s done well last year so they’re going to be good this year, judge them on the day. I think that’s a good way to feel generally in life. It’s important to judge someone as they are at that point and not what you have seen in the past if you’ve seen them having a bad day.”
Feeling inspired by David’s story? Find out how you can get involved in judging or volunteering in any other capacity in gymnastics below.