My role as a judge.

Now I don't often talk about my personal life on my blog but this weekend I've had  fun and a weekend that was a little different to normal so I thought I'd share a bit on here.

Yesterday I spent my day as a judge at a gymnastics competition and was partly responsible for making some young boys and girls dreams come true as they won bronze, silver or gold medals.

My son is a member of a local gymnastics club and as I often take part in a 'freestyle' class I was asked to help out. Now the role of a judge is not an easy one and my role involved watching and scoring over 100 children aged 3 to 14 leap over a vault. Scores out of 9.5 or 10 are given and the children are marked on the way they leap on to the springboard, the vault that they perform and their landing. It is so hard as the standard was good and the children try so hard that you feel bad deducting points for a wobble here or a fall there.

It is particularly sad when they stumble into the vault as happened upon occasion and end up in tears in front of the judges, their friends, and their parents.

However on the whole it is very rewarding too. It was fantastic to watch them overcome their nerves and see the huge smiles as the made it on to or over the vault.

All of the children competing received a medal, a t-shirt and a certificate too.

Next weekend my son is competing in a regional competition against a number of Midlands clubs. This is a huge event with around 600 competitors. I was asked if I would join the Bromsgrove coaches to be part of a ladies team and whilst I was very chuffed to be asked as I am considearbly older than the rest of the team I have decided that at  my age my days of wearing a leotard in public are well and truly over, so next week I will sit back and just enjoy watching everyone else compete.