On Monday the 12th of April, we had three Years 5&6 teams and four Years 7&8 teams attend the Canterbury Korfball Tournament for Term 1. Each and every student demonstrated amazing sportsmanship and played with determination and grit! A special congratulations to Charlotte H, Ryan L (Years 5&6), and Navi K (Year 7&8) who were selected out of all the students playing for the Tournament Team.

On Monday the 12th of April, a whole bunch of Years 5&6 and Years 7&8 kids went to Hagley Park to play in the Korfball Canterbury Tournament. We played matches against a whole bunch of different schools from throughout Christchurch.

First off we got on the wrong bus, but Miss Fraser realised and we jumped off. Then the bus arrived which looked like a bumble bee. It was round and kind of funny. The bus ride was noisy and fun. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Korfball Tournament. Once we got off the bus, we found a good place to put our bags under the big trees to shelter us from the rain. There were a bunch of different schools like St Martins, Pegasus bay and so much more. Youri, the organiser of the whole tournament called us down to talk about what we were doing throughout the day. Two people from the other teams not playing would watch the game and record how many goals from the match were scored. He also made sure everyone would show lots of good sportsmanship. Before all the games started we all had a quick snack to give us energy and we set off to play our first game.

We were split into three teams, Halswell Red (coached by Miss Irvine), Halswell Gold (coached by Miss Fraser and Halswell Yellow (coached by Miss Eastwick). We all played five or six games against Waltham, St Martins, Pegasus Bay, and each other. Everyone started off the day with lots of energy. There was some rough play from some teams but Halswell showed great sportsmanship. Some games were 7 or 8 nil but others close like 2 or 3 all. We really enjoyed the day because there was lots of excitement playing different teams at a tournament that we got picked for.

Halwell Gold got into the finals, versing Pegasus Bay. Pegasus Bay got 5 goals and Halswell Gold got 3 goals. Halswell Red played against Halswell yellow for third and fourth. Halswell Yellow took it out with a four-two win but everyone was happy to place top five. At the end of the tournament, they called out the tournament team people that played well, showed great sportsmanship, respected the referee, and encouraged their teammates. Charlotte and Ryan were in the Year 5/6 team and Navi in the Year 7/8 team.

Our Year 7/8 teams did a fantastic job all day as well, taking on feedback and playing in the biggest Year 7/8 Korfball tournament they have ever had. There were 33 teams from 12 different schools. Halswell A placed 5th in the A grade and Halswell D placed 10th in the B grade. 

It was great to see everyone play with fantastic sportsmanship and had smiles on their faces all day.

By Charlotte, Annabel, and Jesse (Year 5/6)