Bodyboard comp Judging , it's a thankless job but I love it

Howdy ,
My names Brett McAskill and there's nothing more that I love than being on a great Judging Panel and scoring some incredibly talented Bodyboarder's .

I'm an accredited Level 3 International Bodyboarding Judge & Official

And a Member of Bio Limited

My Judging career to date has had me involved on some of the Best Judging Panels in Australia ( ABA TOUR , QLD STATE TITLES , QAB D'Bah Pro , IBAA RAW AUST. NATIONAL TITLES , ASF AUST. NATIONAL BODYBOARDING TITLES ) & im currently the Head Judge for the Gold Coast Bodyboard Club.

Here's my story of how it all came about ..

It all started back in 2006 / 2007 when I was first introduced to the sport of competition Bodyboarding by 2 of my sons , Joel & Dylan .They were members of Gold Coast Bodyboard Club ( DYLAN in Cadets & JOEL in Juniors ) . Like all parents should be , I wanted to get involved in whatever my boys were doing & help & support them in their chosen sport .
The Waluew family ran the club back then and I helped out on the BBQ flipping snags for the hungry hoardes .
After being on BBQ duties for several comps I was asked if I could help with the Tabulation tallying of the judges score sheets for each heat . I thought , great , I'm finally doing something a bit more productive and became the Club Tabulator which also presented me with opportunities to Tabulate heats for the QAB ( QUEENSLAND ASSOCIATION OF BODYBOARDING) at each State title round ( The State Titles consisted of 3 rounds back then with each round location hosted by the 3 QAB registered clubs . Sunshine Coast Bodyboard Club , Gold Coast Bodyboard Club & Headlanders Bodyboard Club ) . Frank McDonald ( Headlanders President & QAB sectratery) was a great mentor to me in those early days showing me the ropes of being a contest official & paving me a path to step up and become the QAB PRESIDENT in 2010 / 2011 but thats another story to be told at a later date.

IBA AUSTRALASIA hosted the RAW AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL TITLES at D'bah in 09 / 2010 which I Tabulated for.



During the 2010NATIONALS the IBA AUSTRALASIA were running Judging courses ( Level 0 & Level 1 ) that I was super keen to do and get accreditation in which I successfully completed .
Tabulation had now become computerised so there was no need to do it manually anymore.

The accreditation course was run by 2 major influences who I look up to and respect greatly in world Judging circles being Craig Hadden & Danny Byecroft.
Craig Hadden is currently the HEAD JUDGE on the APB WORLD TOUR / BIO LIMITED TOP OFFICIAL & co author of the current Bodyboard Competition rule book . This mans knowledge is second to none when it comes to all things official in Bodyboarding
Danny Byecroft is the current HEAD JUDGE at the QLD STATE TITLES & Bodyboarding official for SURFING QLD as well as stand in HEAD JUDGE at the ABA TOUR D'Bah Pro . Danny has also travelled the world Judging some of the biggest International contests for the now defunct IBA WORLD TOUR.

For the next few years I applied all my concentration on the local Club , GCBC & QAB until all the Australian Grassroots clubs in each state agreed to fall in line with Bodyboarding NSW and merge with SURFING AUSTRALIA to oversee Bodyboarding as a collective . So , in saying that . The QAB was dismantled and SURFING QUEENSLAND was now the governing body .
The IBAA had also fallen from grace at this time .

The new era saw an Accreditation being introduced by SURFING AUSTRALIA to Bodyboarding Judges as our IBA accreditation no longer counted .. All judges had to go and do another certification in order to continue doing what we love to do starting at a LEVEL 1 JUDGE & working my way up to LEVEL 3 .

I've now been HEAD JUDGE of GCBC for the last few years and totally enjoy teaching people and was totally stoked to see Aaron O'Callahan , Britt Marie Ladley & Rachael Summers become accredited Judges this year ..

We have some amazing local judges in our club but 1 person who stands out the most as they only started judging just on 2 years ago is LUKE ( Fish 🐟) Fisher .. Not only can this guy shred on the knee @beachbuminvestor but he has a good eye and good use of the " scale " . Hopefully in the future he to will become an accredited judge..

I love Judging , I've made many good friends through Judging and I hope to do so for many years to come ..