Record numbers flood to Tauranga for annual Aims Games

More than 7500 students from around the country will take part in this year's games. Photo / Jamie Troughton

They've left the Commonwealth Games far behind and now organisers of the NZCT Aims Games have their sights set firmly on the Olympics.

New Zealand's largest junior sporting festival will kick off in Tauranga tomorrow with more than 7500 intermediate-aged athletes taking part across 17 different sports in the week-long tournament.

Consider for a moment that 4950 athletes took part in the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and you get a feel for the scale of the event, with total numbers now surpassing every Olympic Games until 1988. Beijing and London both peaked at 10,500 athletes, although Aims Games organisers aren't ruling out reaching those dizzy heights.

"We thought last year was huge with our 10-year celebrations of the NZCT Aims Games," said tournament director Vicki Semple.

"But this year has taken another huge jump, with 1000 more competitors. Our organising committee has been blown away by the enthusiasm of schools once again and we're looking forward to giving all our athletes quality competition and some lifelong memories."

The Aims Games have also had 1500 coaches and managers register and with all the supporters and parents, it means more than 10,000 people will be flooding into Tauranga for the week.

Netball star Irene Van Dyk and Commonwealth Games gold medallists Sam Webster (track cycling) and Lauren Boyle (swimming) will help open the championship, while an impressive roll call of former sporting stars will be on the sidelines during the week helping coach and manage teams.

They include former All Blacks Rico Gear and Rhys Duggan, former Silver Fern Tania Dalton and Tall Black Dillon Boucher, acclaimed rugby league coach Kevin Tamati and middle-distance legend Dick Quax, a silver medallist at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Among the 17 sporting codes represented will be 90 netball teams, 62 hockey teams, 79 football teams and more than 500 cross-country runners. Table tennis also makes a debut this year, attracting 59 entries from 15 schools around the country.

Several sports have been over-subscribed, with organisers having to limit entries in sports like hockey and tennis, where turf and court access is at a premium.

While big schools like Tauranga Intermediate and Auckland's Northcross and Murrays Bay Intermediates have hefty team numbers, it's the showing from smaller schools which continues to amaze Semple.

"We have nearly 70 new schools taking part this year, many of them from passionate little sporting outposts like Awakeri School in Whakatane, Auroa School in Taranaki and Ruawai College in Northland - they're little heartland schools with keen kids who are desperate to show they can foot it with anyone else their age in the country."

The NZCT Aims (Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools) Games is a strategic partnership between Sport Bay of Plenty, the four Western Bay intermediate schools and the Tauranga City Council. It gives 11, 12 and 13-year-olds an opportunity to compete as an individual or in a team against the best of their age in 17 different sports. The aim of the event is to provide opportunities for the student in the middle years to compete at an elite level, be active, celebrate fair play and enjoy success.

NZCT Aims Games
When: Sunday, September 7 to Friday, September 12.
Where: Tauranga.
What: 7500 students from 228 schools competing in 17 different sports.
For more information visit: www.nzaimsgames.co.nz or www.facebook.com/nzctaimsgames