AIMS Games: all about having fun

Aquinas College AIMS Games netball team (L-R) Maggie Blackmore, Whetumarama Timutimu, Libby Manning, Lauren Kerr, Alisha Yeatman. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

It has been a mixed bag for the Aquinas College's netball team at the AIMS Games but they are proving having fun is the most important thing.

Despite playing an exhausting eight games in only three days, multiple twisted ankles, netballs to the face and being placed in the C grade the girls were still having a ball.

Twelve-year-old Whetumarama Timu said her first AIMS Games was "really fun".

On the first day of play her teammates suffered multiple hurt ankles and she herself was hit in the face with a netball.

The team had won three of the last seven games they had played yesterday.

ALL OUT: The Aquinas College netball team have had a blast competing at the AIMS GAMES. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

"But it doesn't matter, we just want to have a good time. Winning is a bonus."

A selfie with Sam Wallace from Breakfast, getting time off school and meeting local Olympians were highlights for Whetumarama.

Molly Barriball, 12, said the games had been a real "whirlwind".

This year the Aquinas College netball team was up against 112 teams.

"We had six weeks of training as a team - while some of the other teams here have trained way longer."

She said the defending champions had been training for at least a year together.
"So we're doing pretty good for the amount of training we've had," Molly said.

"We'll just keep playing and keep trying. It's a great experience."

For Maggie Blackmore, 12, it was awesome to meet all the other kids who came from around the country to play.

"When we're playing or on the sidelines we get to talk to the other players."

Netball manager Michaela Kaymo said the games had been "incredibly exciting" for the girls.

"Blake Park is full of energy and the atmosphere is electric."

"They told us there were just over 10,000 athletes at the Rio Olympics and there are over 9,000 here," Ms Kaymo said.

She said it was the largest number of netball teams competing this year so competition was tough.

"It's been exhausting. There's been plenty of icing and strapping ankles. But they keep each other in good spirits.

AIMS GAMES
9300 intermediate-aged athletes from 275 schools all over New Zealand.
The largest sporting tournament of its kind in New Zealand, having grown significantly in each of the 13 years it's been running.