The Rotorua Boys' High School football team won the Gold Coast Premier Invitational event in thrilling fashion, beating Southern Cross in a penalty shootout in the final.
The school also took an under-15 side, who played off for the Plate, but lost narrowly.
Rotorua Boys' coach and director of footballMark Trembath said the trip was about the players gaining experience on the field, as well as off it.
"It gives them a real eye-opener to what's out there. A lot of these kids hadn't been overseas before, or even been on a plane. To go and experience football and do all the theme parks and have a really good time is great.
"It's about creating memories and creating good footballers, as well as better human beings."
He said the under-13 team winning the tournament was a big achievement, up against some of Australia's best age group representative sides.
"The level of football in Australia is a lot higher than in New Zealand. The boys really dug deep, they played the whole tournament with one substitute, they showed a lot of heart.
"We had to play to our strengths, good physical team football - fast paced football, playing really compact and countering quickly."
The Rotorua Boys' High School under-13 football team perform a haka during the Gold Coast Premier Invitational football tournament. Photo/Supplied
The team showed great nerve, winning both the semifinal and the final in penalty shootouts against teams backed by a vocal Australia crowd.
"We pretty much flew through pool play, which was seven games. The semifinal was against the Gold Coast Knights, which used to be a feeder to the Gold Coast Knights in the A League.
"We'd beaten them 1-0 in pool play and we were pretty much all over them in the semifinal, but fatigue came in and we just couldn't finish chances. It went to a shootout and our goalkeeper Tom Parry saved two, as well as scoring one himself. He was the man of the match for that game."
Rotorua Boys' played Southern Cross in the final, one of Liverpool Football Club's international academy teams.
"We were up 1-0, but early in the second half they scored from a free kick to make it 1-all. Then they were awarded a penalty with one minute left, which Tom saved to keep us in it."
The match went to a shootout and Parry displayed his shot-stopping ability again, saving one in sudden death to give his side a chance to win.
"Seth Richards-Ward had never kicked a penalty in his life, but he stepped up to go for the winner. He just put it away, it was amazing," Trembath said.
