Performing Arts - Whangaparaoa College

Sports Talk WGP
AIMS Tournament
Rugby 7’s
This year’s AIMS 7’s team showed excellent team spirit, which developed a
tremendous team culture and work ethic during the trainings leading up to, and during
the competition week at Greeton Marist in Tauranga.
The team members were Josh Waretini, Matt Hellesoe, Jordan Evans, Callum Gibson
-Owen, Spencer McDowell, Mitchell Murphy, Hamish Haak-Franks, Finn Beggs,
Kealan Higgins, Theo Burnard, Flynn Hague and Lockie Gibson-Owen.
The boys started off the week pretty slowly and struggled against some much bigger,
stronger opposition. On Day 2, they were placed into the bowl round and from that
point on they excelled, winning 6 out of the next 7 games. This resulted in them
winning the bowl competition and ending up coming 25 th in the country, a very
creditable result. The highlight was the excellent comeback; after thinking they had
won a game, the ref made a mistake and gave the opposition a penalty, resulting in
the opposition winning. From here the boys had to regroup and prepare themselves
for the next game against a team performing well. The boys overcame the set back
and won the next game 36-24 which allowed them to win the bowl. The boys showed
a lot of heart and tremendous mental strength throughout the week and played some
outstanding rugby.
The team ended up scoring a massive 49 tries with 26 conversions, by far the most
they have ever scored. The top try scorer for the week was Spencer McDowall who
scored 20 tries. The team played and behaved very well and the great news is that 4
of this year’s team will be back next year to compete again. We are positive they will
benefit from their experiences this year.
Netball
Wow, what a week! Icy cold gale force winds, torrential rain, sun and surf. Yes – and
there was some netball too.
The Year 8/1 netball team travelled to Tauranga for the AIMS Tournament to compete
alongside 6500 other athletes involved with 19 sports.
The netball team played 10 games over the week coming together to form a strong
and supportive team whose performance peaked just at the right time. The team
started their tournament towards the bottom of their grade and finished the week on a
high note competing in the final for the B Grade, where they were beaten. Thus they
finished 34 th out of 80 teams.
The trip to AIMS is a large commitment for the girls in their training and competing,
and for parents and supporters whose fundraising efforts made it possible. The girls
acknowledged this support and commitment by their enthusiastic play, showing great
sportsmanship, camaraderie and willingness to work as a team.