Successful pilot events for ‘interesting and informative’ national diving judge course

The new National Diving Officials Judge Level 1 Course has been described as ‘interesting and informative’ by Olympian, Freddie Woodward, after pilot events.

Following the launch of the new training opportunity, the first pilot was held on Monday 29 March and saw 16 current and former world class international divers come together to gain an insight into what it takes to be a judge.

The course aims to build on the knowledge the attendees had already gained from completing their Introduction to Diving Judging resource.

The group included 2016 Olympic diver Freddie Woodward, and his 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning 3m Synchro partner Nick Robinson-Baker, who also competed at Olympic level in 2008 and 2012.

On the pilot event, Woodward said: “I enjoyed the course. It was concise but informative. I found that the Zoom format worked really well.

“As an ex-diver it was interesting to hear more specific rules as to why deductions are made.”

Delivering the sessions was current FINA diving judge, Olympian and Swim England Diving Leadership Group Technical Lead, Sarah Barrow.

Great course

Current Sheffield diver Clare Cryan explained that she had a ‘better understanding’ of a judge’s role as a result of the pilot course.

“It was a great course, all the detail on rules with plenty of opportunity to discuss. The course was really interactive, watching videos and plenty of examples,” she added.

“I left the video call having a better understanding of the role of the judge and everything they have to think about in a split second.”

The pilot events also saw various generations and levels of Team GB international standard athletes in attendance.

This included some divers who will be hoping to make Tokyo their first Olympic Games, such as Commonwealth silver medallists Katherine Torrance, Noah Williams and Matthew Dixon as well as former British National Champion Maria Papworth Burrel and Youth Olympic silver medallist Anthony Harding.

With the first official course due to take place on Tuesday 6 April now fully booked, all those interested in future courses should register their interest here and use this time to complete the Introduction to Diving Judging resource.