What an absolute joy it was to host the inaugural sports exchange with Waihi School on Tuesday this week. The Columba Year 7 netball had an exciting opportunity to play the first ever Waihi School netball team, as the school welcomed female students to join their roll at the start of 2021.

Waihi School has a total of seven female students this year, and, after forming a netball team for the first time this season Principal Alan Short approached Columba College, seeking an opportunity to play against our Year 7 netball team while their hockey, rugby and football teams played in their annual exchange with John McGlashan College.   

Our Year 7 netball teams were buzzing about the prospect of hosting Waihi, and we are thankful to the few generous families who put their hands up to host a billet on Monday night and make the exchange possible.

The first game of netball was scheduled for 9am Tuesday morning in the Columba Gymnasium, and our Year 7 Navy Team was first up to play Waihi. The game was evenly matched, and remained goal for goal through much of the first three quarters. Columba sneaked ahead by a couple of goals in the final quarter, and ended up winning the game 14 - 11. What a fabulous display of team spirit, skill, and competitive energy!

Game 2 saw the Columba Year 7 Green team take on Waihi. Encouraged by their performance in Game 1, Waihi got off to a strong start and pulled away on the scoreboard during quarters two and three. Despite the final score being 21-6 to Waihi, players from both sides had a great time, and enjoyed participating in what was a very positive sports exchange. A shared lunch was enjoyed by all at JMC to conclude, and school badges were even exchanged by some of our students.

Principal Alan Short summarised the day by reporting that he "could not take the smile off his face". Here's to sport: bringing communities together!

A massive thank you to the Columba families who billeted students from Waihi, and to Kate Wilson and Georgia Spek for volunteering their time to umpire both games of netball. To Coaches Jo Hurst, Poppy Henderson and Hannah Coe - thank you for supporting netball at Columba. Well done everyone!