Hero photograph
 
Photo by Theresa Smith

Summer Sport Kicks Off Well

Theresa Smith —

Summer sport is a frantic and crazy rush first week of school to get teams and individuals registered when they have been at school for only a couple of days. It is a huge task taken on by a great team of staff and teachers who are involved in sport. Without them we could not provide so many sporting opportunities for students!

Beach Volleyball – Sam Ryburn

We had four teams travel up to Mount Maunganui for the NZ Secondary Schools Beach Volleyball Championships. They competed well with Payton Anderson and Mia Porteous winning Gold in Division 2 of Senior Girls.

Canoe Polo – Carl Johnson

There are 21 students who compete in the weekly Canoe Polo league held at Lake Rota Kohatu every Wednesday. Training sessions are held in the school pool. This sport continues to grow.

Equestrian – Anna James

Eight students competed in the Canterbury School's Show Jumping event: Max Shanks, Breagh Beggs, Melissa Green, Charlotte Henshaw, Robbie Cochrane, Stella Archer, Jorja Dann and Stephanie Horridge. Out of a field of 100 plus riders, Max Shanks took out the prize for best sportsmanship on the day.

Korfball – Alisha Muir

Korfballl  has started in 2019 in full force. There are 3 teams in the weekly competition which involves 24 other schools from around Christchurch. Ex- students Michelle Tapp and Sam Coldicott have come back to support and coach Burnside High School teams, which we are incredibly grateful for. Looking forward to see all the learning that will be gained over the coming term, and then what can be applied when South Island Secondary Schools Champs come around in September.

Mountain Biking – Richard McBrearty

The season started the last week of February, with races being held at Halswell Quarry for five weeks. This year there will be approximately 15 riders from Burnside High School, with a mixture of new and experienced riders.

Rowing 

There is a large squad of 24 rowers, a mix of 14 seniors and 10 novices involved in the Rowing programme coached by Sarah Lindley and ex-student Fergus Vickers.

They have achieved on average, 12 top finals at South Island Regattas which means they are placed in the top 8 of the South Island. Four of the senior boys achieved a bronze medal at  the South Island Club Champs. They were very excited about this and were looking to improve this medal tally at the upcoming South Island Secondary Schools Regatta.

They sent a select group of the squad to Maadi Cup, a week long regatta, which this year was held at Lake Karapiro, in Cambridge. Elite Secondary School rowers from all around NZ compete in this prestigious event. It is the ultimate goal!

Softball – Helen Townsend

This term we have a senior girls and senior boys team competing in the Wednesday after-school Canterbury Schools Competition. We have already played two games, with the boys having two good wins against the Girls team and Riccarton Mixed team. The Girls have played some tough opposition, narrowly losing to the Boys team and struggling against a very strong Avonside Girls team. Both teams competed in the SISS Tournament .

Sport Climbing

Twelve students  signed up to participate in an 8-week Sport Climbing course in Term 1 held at the Hunter Gym climbing wall on Wednesday lunchtimes, coached by ex-student Cirrus Tan, who is a current YMCA Climbing Instructor.

Tennis – Murray Paull

Tennis has six teams playing in Term 1 in the Wednesdays after-school inter-school competition. Nine students also competed in the recent Canterbury Secondary School Senior Championships. A number of players made the semi-finals, with the highlight being Alana Liu and Juliette Ma winning the Year 11 Girls Doubles title. Upcoming events included the SISS Teams championships in Timaru (early March) and the NZSS teams Championships at Wilding Park (late March).

Touch – Carla Phillips

We have three teams playing in Term 1 on Wednesdays after school. The Senior Girls are competing well in the Super Touch competition and  trained towards the SISS Championships in Christchurch in March. There are both a boys and a girls junior team entered who have had a win and a loss each.

Volleyball – Sam Ryburn

Volleyball continues to be a well participated sport at Burnside. There are five Senior teams competing in the Premier schools competition on a Monday evening. Alongside this we have two top Junior teams in Division 1 competing well. This term we initiated a Junior Development League which runs on Monday after school where students learn skills from top coaches before playing against each other in an intra-tournament. There are 50 students who are part of this programme. We are excited to see the development come to fruition in Term 4 when Junior Volleyball takes the centre stage.

Water Polo - Pip Kees

We have three teams entered in the Christchurch competition being held at Jellie Park and Rangi Ruru School pool. There are many new players to the sport who are developing fast under the guidance of our coaches and more experienced team players. We are lucky to have two ex-students coaching teams. The Senior A teams will compete in the South Island Secondary Schools competition coming up in Christchurch towards the end of March and we are looking forward to the experience this will provide these players.

Waka Ama - Hanafi Addison

We had an enthusiastic team of 14 at the CSS Championships, early March at Lake Rota Kohatu.