College Sports: South Auckland kids joining their teams

Poliani Loi, 14, of Sir Edmund Hillary College, which took the boys' kilikiti title from Southern Cross Campus. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Encouraged by the overwhelming success of a pilot programme aimed at having more South Auckland secondary school children playing sport, another three schools will be added to next year's initiative supported by the Sir John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams, Sparc, ASB College Sport and Counties Manukau Sport.

Given the enthusiastic response in the project's inaugural year, James Cook High School, Manurewa High, Mangere College, Aorere College, Tangaroa College, Sir Edmund Hillary and the Southern Cross Campus will be joined next year by Edgewater College, Alfriston College and Papatoetoe High School with funding for the next two years already confirmed.

The four-fold aims of the John Walker-inspired initiative were to increase participation in secondary school sport, increase the number and quality of coaches, create school/club links and to increase the number and retention of students into sports clubs. All these aims were achieved.

About 3000 students from the seven schools took part this year.

Each school developed a plan to meet the needs of their young people. In many cases outside coaches were brought in to work with the increased number of teams.

Some schools also developed in-house initiatives featuring lunch-time or house-based events.

In doing this, schools were able to get around major funding and other logistical issues.

A number of schools introduced new sports including cycling, indoor rowing, badminton and baseball.

At Sir Edmund Hillary College their baseball programme was a resounding success, with enough students turning up to support three or four teams.

Looking back on their sporting year and the way it evolved, schools gave their whole-hearted support.

Sir Edmund Hillary College says: "The impact on the students' levels of engagement, attendance, skill development has been excellent.

"Also seeing ... improved levels of self-esteem among the students; they are keen and always wanting more. On another positive note, we have had the New Zealand under-17 baseball team training at our school gym three times a week in preparation for their trip to the United States.

"We now have their under-14 team training at Hillary in preparation for their trip to Australia and have just signed up Baseball NZ to a high-performance academy to be run at Hillary two nights a week with New Zealand baseball coach Aaron Campbell."

Southern Cross Campus says: "The most positive outcome for our school has been the ability to utilise the money for the hiring of a sports coach.

"The quality and quantity of time has been beneficial for the teams that he has been involved with and within other areas of PE and sport.

"The equipment has definitely been a great bonus and we are very grateful for this, and rate equipment high on our list of needs for our school - but with loads of equipment and limited staff ... it has only material value.

"Having the personnel that fits our school, relates well with our students and has the ability to promote excellence."

From Manurewa High School: "The most effective coaching/coach development has been achieved through the Wynrs programme. On Monday and Tuesday before and after school, the Wynrs football coaches come in and work with our senior boys' and girls' and junior boys' football squads.

"The level of coaching has been excellent, the team coaches have learnt a great deal by observing the sessions and our two senior teams have seen significant improvement in their level of performance.

"Both teams went to tournament week for the first time in years.

"It has also helped raise the profile of the sport on the back of the World Cup with even more of our students wanting to play - we now have six football teams. Netball and hockey have benefited from the funding as well as we have been able to pay coaches and umpires."

James Cook High School says: "Sport at James Cook has doubled in participation levels this year.

"The badminton ladder we ran as an inter-house competition was a huge success in giving our students an outlet to display their newly found skills in a code that has not had any focus in past years at James Cook.

"We have also been able to send our students to Auckland Secondary Schools and Counties Manukau Zone competitions.

"We have been able to build on student leadership in school sport and offer those students that step up a leadership course (including precious NCEA Level 3 credits) to reward them.

KILIKITI

There were double celebrations for Kelston teams at the Auckland Secondary Schools Junior tournament held at the Auckland Domain.

Kelston BHS won the boys' title for a third straight year with their win over Avondale College, while Kelston GHS sneaked home by one run to claim the girls' title from McAuley High School. Twenty-eight teams competed in the popular tournament, in which B-grade honours were shared.

Massey High beat St Dominic's College to claim the girls' competition, while Sir Edmund Hillary broke the domination of schools from the west in taking the boys' title from Southern Cross.

LAWN BOWLS

Howick College's Selina Goddard and Siobhan Archer spearhead a strong Auckland challenge at next week's New Zealand SS individual and pairs championships in Dunedin. The top-seeded pair will take good form south, having already claimed the regional and Greater Auckland championships.

Heather Blair (St Dominic's) will play singles with her schoolmates Tarangi Paul and Sadie Sieglaar entered in the pairs. Tome Davies and Rory Soden (AGS), encouraged by their win over top seeds KBHS, carry hopes in the boys' pairs.

SOCCER

Another transtasman battle looms with the odds stacked heavily against this New Zealand team.

Early next week, Paul Temple and his Lotto New Zealand Secondary Schoolgirls team head to the Gold Coast for the Deane Low Trans Tasman Challenge Trophy tournament, hoping to snap Australian domination stretching back to the inaugural competition in 1994.

Since then, New Zealand teams have won only four of 27 games with the Australians continually lifting the trophy, named after the founder of NZ SS girls' football and the organisation's patron.

The New Zealand team will be based at the Sports Super Centre in Runaway Bay for the December 15, 17 and 18 matches.

But with the best players available - and this has not often been the case in recent times given the clash with New Zealand Football's extensive international programme - Temple might just be on to a winner this time.

He has a good cross-section of Football Ferns, New Zealand under-20 and New Zealand under-17 players with most having played internationally this year.

The team will be led by Avondale College's Nadia Pearl, who last month was named the ASB College Sport footballer of the year. Also in the team is lively striker Rosie White (Diocesan). White has played at all levels for her country and is the Oceania Player of the Year.

Despite the strength of the 16-strong New Zealand squad, they will again be up against it given the numerical strength of the game at this level across the Tasman.

The Australians are able to draw the best players from a fiercely contested National State Championship, with many of those players also taking part in the booming Australian National Women's League and further honing their skills by playing in competitions within the strong Asian Confederation.

Temple is under no illusions: "Every time you play Australia in Australia it is going to be extremely tough but we have a very good group of players this year. They are experienced and hardened to international football.

"Other factors including the heat, travelling, playing back-to-back are all things our players have experienced so we won't be intimidated in heading to the Gold Coast. If we can match their endeavour and physicality I think we can beat them, because technically and tactically we have the edge."

New Zealand team:

Goalkeeper: Jessica Reddaway (MAGS).

Defenders: Rachael Head (MAGS), Ashleigh Ward (Cashmere), Tessa Berger (EGGS), Nadia Pearl (Avondale), captain, Kate Carleton (Tauranga), Sivitha Boyce (MAGS).

Midfielders: Evie Millynn (Howick), Emily Stotter (Hutt Valley), Kate Loye (St Peter's School), Hannah Carlsen (WGHS), Olivia Chance (Tauranga).

Strikers: Holly Patterson (Waikato Diocesan), Katie Rood (Rangitoto), Rosie White (Diocesan), Stephanie Skilton (Papakura).

Coach: Paul Temple.

TOUCH

New Zealand's budding players will be following in big footsteps when they line up at the XBlades SS national championships in Palmerston North for three days from Friday.

Nearly 60 teams have qualified for the championships at Ongley Park where Hamilton BHS, Papanui HS (girls) and Tangaroa College (mixed) will chase threepeats after defending their titles successfully last year.

Past championships have featured many of New Zealand's best sportsmen and women including Benji Marshall, Liana Barrett-Chase (both in 2001-02) and Mils Muliaina (1997).

The defending champions will be all out to emulate similar threepeats from 2002-04 but the teams looking to go back to back this year can expect torrid opposition from established powerhouses, including Papakura High (girls) and up-and-comers such as Mclean College (mixed).

Individually, all players will be chasing selection in the tournament teams, to be named on Sunday, with a view to being invited to Touch NZ's elite youth academy next year.

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