March has been a busy month in the Sports Department.

SAIL GP ASPIRE WORKSHOP

We had a group of students that took part in an Inspire Sail GP workshop at Lincoln University as part of the NZ Sail Grand Prix that took place in Lyttelton. The event showcased sport as a vehicle for change, promoting healthy living, and connection with others by providing an opportunity for students to meet high-performance sporting men and women, hear their stories, and be inspired. World Champion Rugby players, Kendra Cocksedge and Andy Ellis, were sharing insights from their sporting careers, and both of these sports stars are Lincoln University alumni. They also participated in a discussion panel that included the head of the New Zealand SailGP event, Karl Budge, and Nathan Outteridge, co-driver for the Swiss team, who is also an America's Cup Sailor and Olympic gold medallist. This was an opportunity for students to meet high-performance sporting men and women, hear their stories, and be inspired. Recently retired Black Cap, Todd Astle, another Lincoln alumnus, emceed the event. Students also signed a large card wishing the New Zealand team good luck and enjoyed a Kapa Haka performance from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Waitaha before finishing with a hangi for lunch. 

CRICKET

Our yr 9/10 Boys Cricket team has represented our school in the Canterbury Metro Competition on Saturdays this term. The boys have had a great season with the games they have played. The weather and team defaults against them lessened the number of games they should have played, but this is always out of our control. When they got out on the pitch, and for the majority of their games they fielded first, with some great teamwork and bowling, our team kept the opposition's runs to a minimum. The team finished the season with an awesome win against St Thomas', getting them all out for 86. Great bowling, fielding, and teamwork, which have been the strength of the team this term.

A BIG Thank You to the parents that have helped with umpiring, scoring, and organising the team. These contributions each week help with getting our boys out on the field and we very much appreciated your help.

DRAGON BOATING

Wow, what a great day out at Lake Ruger with our Dragon Boating Team competing in the Canterbury Secondary Schools' Regatta! This year we entered as a 20-person boat and the girls all did KHS proud, especially with only three trainings out on the water due to the weather not playing its part on Wednesday training day. However, this didn't have any effect on the amount of effort the team gave out on the water. The team competed in the 1km, 500m, and 200m and finished with a fun mixed race. The girls had some close races and it was great to see how well they worked together as a team and improved throughout the day. We had so many new members on the team, along with our paddlers from last year. A BIG thank you goes out to our community coach and sweeper Reon Tiweka, we are very grateful for his time and effort to be able to provide this opportunity for our students, and to Ms Collins for all her support.

ATHLETICS

We had a larger than usual group of students qualify from our School Athletics Day to compete at the Canterbury Secondary Schools' Athletics Champs, held at Nga Puna Wai. We had great success and now have a group of 10 students that have qualified to represent our school at the South Island Secondary Schools' Athletics Champs being held in Invercargill this week. Well done to Jacob Claridge, Pai Wynyard, Tia Wynyard, Tom Swales, Lily Morrison, Sophie Jolly, Sabrina Galilee, Iunaite Amataga, Elina Seuamuli and Bobbi Bailey McDowell. We wish them all the best and it is exciting to have a team of athletes representing our school.

SWIMMING

We had five students that represented our school at the Canterbury Secondary Schools' Swimming Champs, which were held at Jellie Park. A great effort by our swimmers Ethan Blair, Taylor Potter, Daisy Little, and Holly Langrish, with a special mention to Jacob Claridge who broke a record in the SWID 25m Breaststroke. 

VOLLEYBALL 

We have been so impressed by the level of skill of our teams and we have watched some great games of Volleyball over the last six weeks. The teams were self-selected by the students and this shows by the teamwork and commitment that we get each week. We had some highlights over the weeks. The Mixed team supported one of our junior teams by mixing themselves among the team that played a very skilled Hornby team that had been entered into the wrong grade. They worked together to give Hornby a more competitive game, while also encouraging and helping our junior players. Our Boys' Silver team stay at the courts all afternoon just waiting for their game. This team has great team comradery, from their pre-game huddle speech to the support and encouragement they give each other. They have been great to watch. The excitement within the teams when games get into a rally, or those serves that haven't quite made it over the net and that finally start going over, are all great highlights. These moments within our teams are what puts a smile on our faces as sports coordinators.

KORFBALL

Korfball has seen continual growth with four teams taking part in the Friday Night competition. It has been great watching our teams compete strongly, with the skill levels and understanding of the game improving each week. We have our Senior Gold team making it through to the finals and our Senior Silver, Junior Yellow and Junior Blue all making the 3rd-4th playoff, which will be played on Friday. Good luck to all of these teams.

WEDNESDAY SPORT

We have now finished our Wednesday Summer Sport this term and, unfortunately, the weather has really affected the number of games our outdoor sports teams could play this term. This is completely out of anyone's control but disappointing for everyone involved. Our Football teams have been lucky to play the majority of their games at Action Indoor Sports. All of the boys have really enjoyed playing in these facilities and we have a very skillful group of boys, who have been great to watch. Our Mixed Hockey has played at Nunweek Park. They are an enthusiastic group and just keep going regardless of the score as this is an open grade, with our team being juniors. Our five Touch teams have played games at opposition grounds and schools that we have not been to before. They have played with great sportsmanship and it is great to hear the positive feedback from the staff that has been involved with these teams this term. We have three Tennis teams this term, Senior Girls and Junior Boys and Girls. All three teams have been competitive when they have been able to get out on the court and hopefully Term 4 Summer sports won't be so affected by the weather (fingers crossed!). Small Bore has seen a group of new yr 9 students take part this term and try a new sport, along with our students that have returned from last year. Canoe Polo still has a couple more weeks to play and also Archery with one more week. This term we have had the largest number of students interested in Archery, which has been great to see.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

We have had Oscar Osteen representing KHS in the Mountain Biking weekly interschool races that take place at Halswell Quarry each week as part of the Wednesday Interschool Competitions. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS' SUMMER TOURNAMENT WEEK 

This is taking place all over New Zealand this week and we have a number of students involved.

• Our Golf team, Sean Cresswell, Matthew Moore & Jacob Coira, are competing in the Golf Championships being held at the Templeton Golf Club. 
• Softball Nationals are held here in Christchurch at the Dynasty Ball Park where we have entered both a girls' & boys' team. This will be played over four full days, with the teams playing up to three games of Softball a day. It is exciting to be able to have our Softball students representing our school and the tournament being local makes this opportunity a lot more manageable. 
• The Girls' 3x3 Basketball team, with Terongomaianiwaniwa Williams, Aliyah Newton, Hannah Toli, Delta Shaw & Anika Shaw, is competing in this event at Pulman Arena in Auckland. There will be 184 teams in attendance, with over 1100 games of basketball being played over four days. This gives you an idea of how big these national secondary schools' events are. 
• Our Athletics Champs are away competing in Invercargill, as mentioned above, and we wish them all the best, along with all our students that are taking part and representing our school. We look forward to sharing our tournament successes with you next month. 

Please make sure you have signed up on the sports noticeboard if you are keen to play a Winter sport next term and if there is a sport that is not up there, please see the sports office.