Volleyball Champs 

Our King's Lions' Senior A Volleyball team was unbeaten throughout the Otago Champs and won against Otago Boys' in the final, 3-1. They finished the competition as back-to-back Otago champions.

COVID restrictions meant the boys couldn't travel to Nelson for the Junior South Island Championships so the Otago Champs became a major focus. The boys trained all winter, getting up early every Tuesday for a squad training in the King’s Gym starting at 7am. Garry Turner and Jesse Dryden ran these sessions focusing on footwork, skill execution and serving accuracy.

The Vikings were coached by Andy Campbell and the Eagles were coached by Jesse Dryden. John Salisbury managed the Eagles at the tournament and provided valuable insight.

King’s was first and third in the Otago Junior Volleyball Championship. Volleyball is a team sport, "we before me", and the tournament team players would be the first to admit that they could not do their jobs without the accuracy of the players around them.

Andy has turned King’s into a school of Volleyball excellence and with such a talented group of juniors coming through, our drive for success at the national level looks in good heart.

Rugby

In March it was announced that five of our recent Old Boys' were selected for the Highlanders Under 20 Squad:

• Rohan Wingham
• Nathan Hastie
• Emmanuel Ventura
• Giovanni Leituala
• Bradley McPate
  

We are watching their careers with great interest.

In September, we congratulated Steve Salelea and Mahonri Auva'a for being selected to the New Zealand Barbarians Under 18 Rugby Squad.

At the time Steve thanked his family in Auckland and homestay family in Dunedin, the school and his coaches. He explained how challenging 2020 was with an injury that prevented him from playing as much as he wanted. In 2021 his goal was to work hard to get back in 'top form'. 

Mahonri noted that Rugby has meant so much to him and that his family and coaches have been his inspiration and motivation. His goal is to be the best athlete he can be and this selection continued to motivate him.

We were very proud of both their efforts and achievement.

https://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/four-otago-nz-squads

Smallbore Target Shooting

Cam Colson was selected for the South Island Under 21 Smallbore team. Below is an excerpt from Cam.

"In my first year at King's, I took up Smallbore Target Shooting on a Tuesday night as part of the King's Team.

I found this was a great way to improve my hunting, which I have done since I was five. At the time I was lucky enough to be one of the only Juniors to shoot as part of the Senior Team. Achieving this at such a young age made me even more competitive to ensure I improved but also stayed part of the team, in order to allow me to shoot nationally for King's which I have done since 2018.

Further, it has been a real honour to be made Captain of that team from 2019 to the present. I am really proud to say I have been enabled to do this through the coaching and support of both the King’s and Arthur Barnett’s Coaches.

I am very proud to have recently been selected for the South Island Under 21 Smallbore team, even more so since I am the only school student south of Timaru to achieve this, and one of only two selected from this area overall.

I hope this selection, in some way, repays all the effort, encouragement and expertise that has been shown to me over these years, because for me this is a pinnacle that has made it all totally worthwhile.

Smallbore is a skill and interest that requires discipline, self-management under stress and focus. All skills translate well into future opportunities and prospects.

With all I have learnt over the past few years, I am now in a position to give back to the sport and coach new shooters which not only helps them but also cements my own knowledge. Now in Year 13, I look back on my time with King’s Smallbore with pride and carry the interest with me beyond school onto a club level". Cam Colson