This tournament is now one of the biggest sporting events in the world with over 9000 competitors (the Olympics is the largest with 11,000). Katikati College sent 4 teams to compete - Boys Basketball, Mixed Hockey 6's, Netball and Rugby 7's, along with 10 individuals in the cross country, 1 golfer, 2 squash players and 1 tennis player.

This year's AIMS games will go down as one of the most successful for Katikati College, driven in no small part by the Year 7 Boys Cross Country team. Finding ourselves 11th on the medal table out of 281 schools is, quite frankly, astounding!! Huge thanks go out to all our coaches, managers and umpires, our parents, grandparents and whanau along with our sponsors and supporters.

A record-breaking run in the 3km Cross Country won the Gold medal for Daniel Nicholson and a Silver for brother Sean, along with a fantastic 12th place finish for Luke Spurr, gaining the boys the Gold team medal as well. All the 10 runners did a fantastic job in the cross country.

Squash girls Katie Templeton and Olivia Astwood went into the games ranked 5th and 14th respectively and were looking forward to doing well. Olivia had a great week for her first attempt at AIMS, winning her first match 3-0 before coming unstuck against the 11th seed and going down 3-0. She then had a tough loss against the 15th seed before playing her final match and winning it with ease 3-0 to finish in 15th position. Katie had a bye first round before dispatching the 12th seed 3-0. She then had a huge game against the No 4 Dileesia Henare. A fierce battle with the lead changing hands several times saw Katie overcome and win 3-2 in a massive effort. This took her through to play the top seed Jade Stratford, one of the biggest games of the competition was again a very close match but Stratford just prevailed in 5, though Katie pushed her to the limit. This meant Katie played off for bronze but the huge match against the top player took its toll and she lost in 3 to the 3rd seed. A brilliant effort from both girls though saw their 4th and 15th placing win the Bronze medal for the teams.

Golfer Dandre Du Plessis went into his first AIMS games golf competition a little nervous. With a handicap of 15, going up against the best age group golfers in the country was a big ask. Playing a Stableford format with points scored based on the number of strokes taken, Dandre's first round was a steady affair, scoring 33 pts, rounds 2 & 3 he scored 31 and 29, a little under the high standards he holds himself to, but the fourth round was a stormer, scoring 44 pts and bringing himself up the rankings to finish in 16th place out of 43 golfers with 137, and 11th in the gross scores with 355 over 4 rounds, an excellent result and a golfer to watch for the future.

8A Netball after their strong season went into AIMS full of beans with strength right across the court. Monday they started strongly with a 30-8 win over Te Wharekura o Ruatoki, before beating Reremoana 36-6. Their last game of the day they went down 26-16 against Pukekohe who finished up 25th for the tournament. Day 2 was excellent again with a 28-7 win over Monrad followed up with a tough win over Wentworth 19-17. The team were really firing well with shooters Ruby Tawa and Sara Campbell in great form. They then lost to the strong Saint Kentigern 39-9 who finished 3rd overall and took the A grade Bronze medal. Two games on Wednesday were two wins with a great 19-17 victory over Samuel Marsden and a 23-6 win over Opotiki, both excellent team games, Hana Briggs owning the centre court. Thursday the teams were all graded into 4 divisions with 32 teams in each and Katikati made the B Grade. This meant they played Monrad again and beat them convincingly 35-19 showing great drive down through the mid-court with Jess Harray and Queenie Martin, before a real test against Maeroa saw them run out ahead 22-20 in a nail-biting 4th quarter. This placed then into Friday's semi-final for B grade, a huge result, only to be ground down by Matamata 20-14 in a low scoring but defensively tough game. So their final game was for the B grade Bronze medal against Wentworth who they had only just got past in pool play. A thrilling match ensued with end to end play. However Katikati's defence was massive with Janna De Graaf and Alice Tamai keeping the sharp Wentworth shooters at bay and taking some beautiful intercepts to redirect play to the other end. Sara Campbell though not apparent to the sideline, bravely played through illness to be on point with Tawa to shoot 36 points to Wentworth's 19. A well deserved medal to the girls who had a huge week. Congratulations to Ruby Tawa and Janna De Graaf who made the B grade tournament team with Tawa also picking up the Best Shooter Certificate. Fantastic results for coach Jamie Manukau and the team!

Katikati entered the inaugural Futsal tourmament this year with coach Martyn Niziolek selecting early and putting in some good training hours over the last few months. The futsal boys were very excited to be competing at AIMS and had great support from parent Bob Johnson who generously sponsored their playing shirts and Debbie Nizioleck taking on the court manager role. Their first game against Mount Int was very exciting and the team put together some very good moves coming up with a 6-1 win, Fin Niziolek and Luke Spurr looking in great form. They followed this up by beating Reremoana 7-4 before drawing with Pinehurst 3-3, keeper Nikolai Frandi keeping Katikati in both matches. Wednesday saw them start with another draw vs Omokora 4-4 which took them into the QF where they met the Mount again. This was a much closer match and they fought hard to win 4-3, Jacob Maloni looking great on court. The semi-final on Thursday was against Tauranga Int and was a very hard game. KKC fought hard but went down 5-1 to the eventual gold medalists. Katikati then had the bronze medal match against Somerville and what an exciting game it was. The pace was fast and furious and both teams found the back of net often. Rueben Johnson's defence was outstanding all week and the whole team played well. They were locked up at 5-5 until Somerville managed to sneak one in taking the bronze. However an excellent week for their first attempt, great job boys! Congratulations to Fin Niziolek making the tournament team a deserved selection.

The rugby 7's boys had a really good week taking on the country's best 7's players. Coached by Troy Arundel, they only got together a few weeks before AIMS bringing in a mix of KKC and JMC players. Day 1 was a very good day for running rugby with clear warm conditions. Game 1 was a victory over Hutt Int 31-12 with Tomasi Vakasiuola and Jonny Sukkel showing their running prowess that was to be the mainstay of their matches. They then beat BC 40-12 before a loss to Berkley 29-12 was a bit of a reality check. However they bounced back to beat Auroa in a storming 38-0 game, Zane Huiarangi converting well. Tuesday they took on the eventual silver medalists Tga Intermediate - though they fought hard, TIS was too strong winning 34-7. Recovering from this defeat they took on Rototuna beating them 24-5 but the pace was starting to tell and they lost their final two games, 19-26 to Northcross and 5-38 to Chisnallwood who finished 16th. Wednesday saw the start of the cross-overs and a first up loss to St Peters 5-33 was unfortunate but they rallied to beat Taneatua in a very close 24-22 game. 3 terrific gameson Thursday showed how far they had come during the week. Though they lost to Sylvia Park in the morning 22-14 by just one try, they came back strong to beat Albany 26-10 and then Karaka 39-10. Their first game on Friday was against St Peters which was a loss 27-5 and this left them playing off against Taneatua again for 31st. Injury had taken a bit of a toll by now so they couldn't maintain their previous form and went down 10-17 though they worked hard. 32nd out of 56 teams is a pretty good result considering their inexperience. Excellent all round play from Ethan Campbell, Zane Huiarangi and Anton Byford was a talking point. Well done boys!

6 aside Hockey was huge this year with a record-breaking 38 teams competing alongside the two 11 aside competitions. The small game format is growing every year due to its fast pace and exciting nature. KKC entered a team made up from its 3 intermediate teams, so was a real mix of players and was predominately Year 7's so great experience set in place for next years games. Day 1 was an easy day with only 1 game to be played. It started very well with a 6-0 win over Howick Int; Beau Moka showing his skills that led to his representative honours this year, scoring 5 of the goals. Tuesday was a much tougher proposition with 3 full games starting at 8:00am and not finishing until 8:00pm that night. First up was the very strong Pinehurst who had finalist hopes; KKC competed well but went down 5-1, though only losing in the latter stages of the game. Eli Brydon playing at left mid-field had an outstanding and tireless game defending and driving up into attack. They then played Beachlands and though they lost 3-0 played excellent hockey and competed in all aspects of the game New player Reuben Sobye had an outstanding match showing he is a real find for hockey and talent to be developed. The final late game against Rototuna was a test of endurance as Rototuna threw everything at them. However they were starting to find their feet as a team and won 2-1 with Aylish Dunlop showing how important fitness is in this running game, playing at striker but still managing to get back and defend. The cross-over on Wednesday wasn't such a good game with a 5-1 loss against Fairfield. Tired from the big previous day the team didn't really fire so fortunately they only had one game that day. Kayah Tawhiti however played out of her skin to keep the score down with the assistance of rookie goalie Max Christie who improved with every match. Thursday morning saw their best game against Otumoetai Int. Both teams played lovely team hockey, the passing was strategic and it lead to a high scoring game with Katikati prevailing 7-5. Grace Fotheringhame was the best player, her understanding of her midfield role leading to fantastic forward ball that the strikers could convert; Moka again the lions share, with 6 goals and Brydon taking the 7th. They then faced Omokoroa who pulled one out of the bag, beating KKC 5-0 in their best game. This led to the playoff for 27th vs Whakatane Int. With both teams evenly matched and pretty wiped out a 1-1 draw was a fair finish and the result shared with Aliesha Waghorn having her best game up front.

 The Boys Basketball team had a great week. Though they were not one of the strongest teams there, up against A grade basketballers from all over NZ, they competed for every minute they were on the court, making coach Sharon Strong very proud of their resilience and sportsmanship. They did a lot of learning which will be of advantage in the future and also showed how hard they will need to train to keep on top of their game. Their last couple of games were very close, losing by 1 point to St Josephs before winning their final game against Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o te Ara Whanui 29-20.

Sole tennis player Josh Noble had his 2nd AIMS games experience this year, with 55 entries and the Mt Tennis Club at capacity this is always a top competition. Josh started out well with a 6-0, 6-2 win in his first match which rather unfortunately lead him straight into a second game that day versus the 6th seed Daniel Persson of Saint Kentigern College. Losing the first set 6-3, Josh fought hard in the second playing excellent tennis taking it to 7-5 before conceding. His third game of the day saw him lose to Ethan Huff of Somerville 1-6, 2-6. Tuesday found him in great form, winning 7-5, 6-3 against Benjamin Ranby-AL from Te Awamutu before going on to beat Jordan Whittleston of Mangorei 6-3, 6-3. His final match was a close-fought nail-biter against Zachery Lerner of Saint Kentigerns. Lerner took the first set 7-5 but Josh fought back to win the tie-breaker second set 7-6 (4). They then played out a third set decider with Josh playing fantastic tennis to win 13-10.

Congratulations to all our wonderful young athletes!