Friends remember teenager who was always smiling

James Webster (far left) with one of his many friends who remember him as always making everything fun. Photo / Supplied

When asked who he wanted to grow up like, the junior diver didn't hesitate.

"He said, 'I want to be just like James Webster'," said friend Jamie Rodriguez.

"James was such a good role model ... All the kids loved him. As a person, he was just a really good guy, just one of those people you meet and can't help but like him."

On Monday, members of Diving Waitakere came together after training and reminisced about their King's College mate, who died in his sleep after binge-drinking at the weekend.

"All the divers miss him so much because we are a family and he'll always be part of our family," Ms Rodriguez said.

James, 16, came third in this year's Auckland schools diving competition and won the 16- to 18-year-old section of the North Island springboard diving championships one-metre event.

Ms Rodriguez said even when doing his most dreaded dive - a particularly difficult "back twister" - he came up with a smile.

"He failed it at every comp but he comes out of the water and smiles ... Nothing gets him down."

Ms Rodriguez said James trained hard - up to three times a week - to catch up with those who started younger.

He was thrilled when he got his restricted licence and could drive himself from King's in South Auckland to the diving club out west.

He loved to wind people up, she said, but always got away with it.

"No one could get annoyed with him, no one could laugh at him."

King's College chaplain Warner Wilder agreed. "He just wouldn't have had an enemy in the world. You would never hear him run anyone down."

James' talents did not stop at diving. Once a competitive gymnast, he also scuba-dived, tramped, skied and sailed - aspiring to one day do the Coast to Coast event.

His parents Charles and Penny Webster said music "was his soul".

After playing the piano up to grade 7 level, James turned his talents to the organ. King's headmaster Bradley Fenner often walked past the chapel and heard James in there practising.

"He told his mother that his aim was eventually to be able to play the organ in a chapel service, here in our chapel," Mr Fenner said.

James was "the sort of boy you were proud to have at King's College", the headmaster said.

He had an "extraordinary ability to connect" with a whole range of students, which was unique.

He would remember him as a vibrant, lively young man. "Everyone talked about his smile."

Mr Fenner said James had a special friendship with John Bean, the college's long-serving archivist.

James' mother, Penny, said his friendship with Mr Bean began when he was asked to check the school clock every Monday to make sure it was correct.

They used to go to concerts together and had been due to attend another one when Mr Bean took sick. So James went with Mrs Bean and sat through a three-hour classical performance.

Charles Webster said his son was "a beautiful young man" who would have made a major contribution.

"He would have made a great father, a great husband."

Friend Richard Moore said James always made everything fun.

"Every diving session he came to, he would always be doing something fun. Then he would do something silly and come up smiling every time."