Well done to all students who got involved in winter sports this year. It was fantastic to see the Cashmere maroon and gold colours present on so many sporting fields around the city and region. Our overall participation numbers in sports this year have been strong with significant numbers of students getting involved in netball, basketball, rugby, hockey, adventure racing, badminton and football. We also had large numbers of students involved in single events such as road race, cross country and the ever-popular trips to Mt Hutt for snow sports. I hope that all students involved this year enjoyed the experience, reached their goals and were able to learn and improve throughout the season.

One of the standout results for the season was our Boys 1st XI Football team who were able to defend their Premier 1st XI title. In front of a loud and passionate crowd at English Park, the team put on a clinical display against St Thomas in the final, winning 3-0. A second standout at the premier level was the performance of our Girls Cycling team who won the U20 Canterbury Time Trial. This marks the first time in Cashmere’s history that we have won this top cycling title and is a result of some very dedicated and talented athletes.

Alongside these premier results, a large number of our development and junior teams across all of the sports had fantastic seasons winning grades or making division finals. A shoutout must also go to all netballers (and their supporters) this year who continue to show their passion for the game, playing on in the extremes of Christchurch weather on many Saturdays this year. We hope the new facility due to be opened at Ngā Puna Wai will minimise these chilly games!

The Term 3 season concludes with Winter Tournament Week. This year played in a rare week of perfect weather, we had over 175 students head around the country to compete for Cashmere High School. These students were all fantastic representatives of the school and community, showing great sportsmanship and striving for continual improvement. Standout results from the week included the Boys Hockey 1st XI finishing 2nd in the Johnson Cup and the U15 Rugby team finishing 3rd in the SI Co-Ed tournament.

A huge thank you to all of our wonderful volunteer coaches and managers who got involved over the winter terms. Without the support from our school staff and community members putting their hand up, we would not be able to offer our students such a breadth of sporting opportunities. We are lucky at Cashmere to have such a great group of people willing to get involved and support all of our sporting programmes.

Volunteer in the spotlight

A volunteer that I wanted to highlight was one of our Year 13 students Ben McLaughlin who has put in huge amounts of time and effort over his 5 years at Cashmere as a referee of rugby, basketball and touch. Ben is a well-respected referee, having reached representative levels in all three codes. He is quick to support and help any school-based refereeing need having most recently attended the U15 rugby tournament and refereed our annual seniors vs leavers game.

How did you get started in refereeing?

I started refereeing in year 8 down at my local basketball club Pioneer Basketball. I always liked the look of it when I was playing, so decided to give it a go. After that, I then got started into a bit of touch and finally rugby when I was in year 9.

What do you enjoy about refereeing?

The main thing I enjoy is staying a part of the game after deciding I didn’t want to play anymore. Apart from the refereeing itself, there’s also an awesome social side off the field to get involved with. There’s also tons of opportunities to travel away to other parts of New Zealand and meet lots of great people.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about getting more involved with refereeing?

I think everyone should at least give it a go. Without giving it a go, you never know if you will like it or not. It’s a great way to get involved and give back to your local community, meet new people and if you were really lucky, make a bit of money on the side.

International Sports Events

Cashmere has also been well-represented on the world stage over the past few months. Congratulations to these individual students who have worked very hard over many years to reach the level of competing at an international level. We look forward to following all your progress of the years to come.

• Oscar Clatworthy was a member of the New Zealand U19 Mens Rowing Eight who finished 4th in the World Champs (Paris).

• Maria Laurie finished 27th at the Junior Women Mountain Bike XCO World Championship and 11th in the NZ relay team (Scotland).

• Meg Baker rode a personal best in the 2000m Individual Pursuit to finish 6th in the Junior Track Cycling World Championships. She also was part of the Junior Women Team Sprint Team that finished 5th setting a New Zealand Record. 

• Angus Sevier represented New Zealand in the Australian Cross Country Championships picking up a silver medal as part of the U18 team (Canberra)

• Natasha McGibbon competed in the Junior Canoe Sprint World Champs finishing 5th in the K1 1000m and 6th in the K2 500m (Italy).

Term 3 Highlights:

• Adventure Racing: Four teams of junior adventure racers competed in the annual Get2Go challenge. This involves a number of events including orienteering, problem-solving, mountain biking, canoeing and paddle boarding. The four teams did a great job finishing 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 11th.
• Boccia: Cashmere hosted and had students participating in the Canterbury Boccia Championships. This sport is a hybrid of bowls and pétanque designed for students with high needs. It was a fantastic event with some of our Year 9 Sports Leaders also supporting through umpiring games.
• Basketball: Our Junior Boys finished in the top four of both the Grocott Cup and making the final of the CBA competition. Josh Breitmeyer was named U15 MVP for Saturday Competition. Indi Beeforth, Ellie McDougall and Icaro Teixeria were all members of the Canterbury U17 teams that finished 2nd while Josh and Jack Watson won the national title with the U15 Canterbury Team.
• Canoe Polo: The Cashmere Senior team finished with the bronze medal in the SISS Canoe Polo Championships in Oamaru while our junior team finished in 6th place.
• Cycling: Meg Baker, Maria Laurie, Millie Junge and Eliana Beale made up the Cashmere team who were winners of the Christchurch Schools Cycling U20 Girls Team Time Trial.
• Duathlon: Thomas Newson finished 2nd in the NZSS Duathlon Championship. In the Canterbury SS Champs Thomas finished 1st while other results were Ethan Cox 2nd U14 Boys, Lucy O’Connor 3rd Under 14 Girls, Jacob Ridder 4th Under 16 Boys.
• Football: Cashmere 1st XI Boys Football won the Canterbury Premier Boys competition with a win over St Thomas. They also secured the Challenge Shield in the final game of the round-robin so finished the season with both trophies up for grabs. Our Girls 1st XI travelled to Taupo having qualified for the National tournament in 2022. Despite a huge injury list during the week, the team were able to put together a great tournament to finish 16th.
• Hockey: At tournament, both 1st XI teams had fantastic weeks down in sunny Timaru. The girls finished 4th, backing up their top 4 finish in the local tournament. The boys ended up making the final of the Johnson Cup, going down to Shirley in a competitive final.
• Netball: Our Year 9 team finished 3rd in the Junior SISS Tournament while the Senior A Girls finished 9th in the. The 9A, 10A, 10B, Sen D, Sen F teams all had fantastic seasons and qualified for the CNC Finals.
• Orienteering: At the NZSS Orienteering Championship Anna Wright won both Junior Girls races, Greta Prince finished 2nd in the sprint race with plenty of other top 5 finishes for Cashmere students.
• Rugby: In the South Island U15 Co-Ed tournament, Cashmere U15 team finished 3rd, performing strongly in the 24-team competition. In the Metro competition, U15 finished 1st equal after the round robin while our U14 team made the final of the Sec 2 competition going down narrowly to St Thomas 31-29.
• Rock Climbing: Once again Cashmere had great representation at the SISS Rock Climbing Championship. Our Mixed team (Sara Pelizza, Riley Hughes, Connor Richardson, Sophie Borsboom) finished second and the Male team (Jaimeson Arkless, Ben Coughlan, Harvey Sanderson, Jack Wooster) finished third.

Michael Jones
Sports Director