Weekly winter sport 2017

Despite the Intermediates' Summer Weekly Sport Competition being cut short by an incredibly wet term one, our Heaton teams produced some fantastic performances down at Hagley park. All participants and coaches should be incredibly proud of their efforts and achievements, and I would like to thank you for your dedication and hard work this term.

Our attention now moves on to the approaching winter season, where our students will begin trials for Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Football, Table Tennis and Squash.  We are extremely lucky at Heaton to have the support of passionate teachers, parents and community members, who want to share their sporting expertise with our students. We have a proud history of not only excelling in sport, but providing opportunities for large numbers of students to participate, gain experience and develop. 

When it comes to providing opportunities, it comes down to the simple thing...people. The more support we have from our broader community, the more opportunities we can provide. I encourage any parent who is willing and able to assist us with our sports programme over the winter season to please contact me via email (everst@heaton.school.nz). Any assistance, whether it be weekly or sporadically is greatly appreciated, often allowing us to register more teams and get more students involved.

Sports trials can be a daunting process for some students, and I appreciate that your son/daughter will be disappointed if not selected on this occasion. As I have discussed with many students over the years, disappointment is a perfectly natural and expected emotion, as it demonstrates to coaches one's passion and desire to get involved and to succeed.

When a student is faced with this speed bump in their sporting world, it is our job as adults and their roles models to offer advice, support and the encouragement to persist, improve and try again, not to try and change the selection outcome for them. 

I look forward to a great winter season, and feel really privileged to be working with such a great group of young people.