Over the first week of the July holidays, Columba College 10A and 9A netball attended the South Island Secondary School Junior Netball Champs in Christchurch. A large number of teams from across the South Island competed in the tournament, and Columba is extremely proud of the development and achievements of both our junior teams while away.

9A netball team report 

On the first week of holidays the 9A team headed away to Christchurch for the SISS netball tournament. With lots of preparation and determination, we succeeded in a couple of games and had some hard games. There was blood, sweat and tears. The brutal conditions provided us with an unfamiliar challenge but we tried our best and gave it our all, and we ended up doing better than expected. We were pleased with our efforts after a tough season so far, being a new team together. We were very privileged to go away together as a team and form a stronger connection for the season ahead with a lot more experience. It was lots of fun! - Written by Lily Walker (Year 9)

The Sports Department would like to extend a big thank you to Jo Hurst who stepped in as tournament Coach for the days away at SISS champs, and to parent manager Jane Walker for her planning and organisation leading up to the tournament. A massive thank you also to our amazing parent community who attended the tournament in support of Columba College, and for helping to manage the 9A team while in Christchurch - Sarah Cameron, Lisa Turner and Angela Skevington, your help was invaluable!  

10A netball report 

Wow! What a fantastic few days. Frosty, fresh and amazing blue sky days was the setting for the Junior South Island tournament held at Christchurch’s Hagley Park in the first week of the school holidays. The Columba 10A team had a tough opening day to their tournament, playing two of the top four teams in Otago in their first two games - Wakatipu High School (40-20) and Waitaki Girls High School (40-10). Strong performances from all ten players and great team work saw the 10As come away with two solid wins. They took on St Margaret’s College in the final game of Day 1, which was a physical battle and, unfortunately, we lost our star defender Georgia Spek to a nasty fall, which ruled her out for the remainder of the tournament. The team fought hard and eventually won 38-29 to finish top of their pool heading into Day 2.

A well-deserved recovery session at the pool and early night prepared the team for another huge day of netball. Christchurch Girls' High School was the first game, fabulous composure under pressure, awesome shooting from all three of our shooters – Lucy Morrison, Ryan Dailey and Sophie Tizard paved the way for a strong win 30-23 which put a huge smile on Mrs Duthie’s face! It didn’t get any easier in the next game; we took on Waimea College, who were relentless on defence and had a very tall target in the shooting circle which made it a tough outing for our two defenders, Alex Duff and Pip Eason. Strong outside pressure, however, from our super fit mid courters proved to be the answer, with the team coming away with a 44-32 win to put them into the quarter finals later that day.

We met Rangiora High School next in a must-win game to make the semi finals. Again, the girls worked tirelessly on defence to gain crucial ball and convert it. Another strong performance from our mid courters - Zara Pratley, Milla Cashmore, Billie Craig and Millie MacKenzie - resulted in a 12 goal win and a place in the semi final the following day.

Refuelled and ready to go, the team met their match against a clinical, physical and well-drilled Cashmere High School side in the semi final. They gave it their best shot and never gave up but, unfortunately, went down 31-22, which meant another battle against Waimea College to decide the 3rd/4th play-off later that morning.

Bruised, battered and a little broken, the team played with amazing heart and determination to come back from being 2-9 down in the first quarter to eventually take the win 38-25 and finish 3rd in the South Island. This was an amazing achievement by this talented bunch of players. Immensely proud of the maturity and level of netball that this group has put out on court this season, it certainly bodes well for the future of netball at Columba College.

A special thanks to all the parents, grandparents and supporters who were there every game either court side or watching on the live-stream; we couldn’t have done it without your support. Thanks also to Kylie Cashmore, our fantastic manager – you are amazing! It was a pleasure to be part of this special team.  - Written by Coach, Jo Morrison

Well done 10A and 9A Netball! We are extremely proud of your efforts!