The Te Kamo Intermediate School are the hockey gold medallists at the 2025 Zespri Aims Games in Tauranga.
The Te Kamo Intermediate School are the hockey gold medallists at the 2025 Zespri Aims Games in Tauranga.
A Northland school is believed to have made Zespri Aims Games history by bringing home two gold medals in seven-aside hockey.
Te Kamo Intermediate School is celebrating after its girls’ and boys’ hockey teams each won their division ahead of more than 30 other squads.
The students wereamong 14,000 athletes from more than 400 schools in New Zealand and abroad to compete in Tauranga last week in Australasia’s largest junior sporting event.
Te Kamo Intermediate girls triumphed over Diocesan School for Girls 2-1 to claim the top spot.
They may be the first hockey team at the games to win back-to-back gold medals, having beaten Paraparaumu Beach School, from the Kāpiti Coast, in last year’s final.
The team’s coach Laura Farrow said the fact they had won - again – only sank in on the drive home.
“It was getting more surreal ... It was amazing to win along with the boys.”
While gold had always been the destination, first the team needed to achieve the small goals they had set along the way. Such as win their games in pool play, then get into the top 8.
“That was when the competition got fierce and fatigue was setting in,” Farrow said.
The teams played three 40-minute games on day one before dropping down to two games a day for the next three days before the final.
“The girls really zoned in and were there to play ... They got stronger and stronger over the week,” Farrow said.
The team’s manager Vikki Tuckey, whose daughter Mia was the captain and only returning player from last year’s winning squad, credited the 10 players for coming together as a unit.
She praised the team’s resilience as the journey to gold hadn’t been an easy one. Both the team’s quarter and semi finals had come down to penalty shoot outs.
“It wasn’t a walkover. We had to dig really deep, and they really worked hard to do that,” Tuckey said.
In the boys’ division Te Kamo Intermediate beat Auckland’s Saint Kentigern Boys’ School in the final 6-3.
The unbeaten side scored 79 goals across all nine games and had only 18 scored against them.
Te Kamo’s coach Anna Alexander said the boys, aged between 11 to 13, had dreamed of taking the top podium finish.
“Winning the gold medal was a huge accomplishment.”
A Te Kamo Intermediate player celebrates during the boys' final. Photo / Dave Lintott
Alexander praised the nine players as being talented with a strong foundation of key hockey skills and concepts.
“Our boys play with grit, determination, perseverance,” she said.
Alexander believed spectators had been impressed to see players at that age showcasing a range of skills – such as overheads - usually seen at a more senior level.
Behind the team had been a strong cohort of supporters – family, friends, school staff, and more – who Alexander said had played a role in their success.
The win had put a spotlight on the Whangārei school.
“We were getting questions like, ‘Are you a hockey school?’ and, ‘whose parents are Black Sticks?’,” Alexander said.
