A couple of highlights and write ups from those who were away on tournament last week.

2019 SISS NETBALL TOURNAMENT - NELSON 

On Saturday the 31st of August the MANC A team travelled to the South Islands Secondary Schools Netball tournament held in Nelson. The girls were all very excited to put our long season of training into play and experience playing against new teams. On the first two days, we were lucky enough to be able to play inside. This was an advantage for our team because we had been playing and training inside for the whole season.

The next two days we played outside and on these days it happened to be raining. This challenged the girls as it was tough conditions to play in, but they never gave up and the rain only made us play more as a team. On the last day of the tournament, we won both our games and were lucky enough to be able to represent MAC and stay in the A grade. This meant we had achieved our overall goal for the competition and the girls were very proud of their effort and the end result. I think that we can say on behalf of the team we really enjoyed the whole experience of SISS and are happy we can take away good memories from our time in Nelson.

Meg Breen and Abby East 

MAC GIRLS FIRST XI FOOTBALL TEAM 

The MAC Girls First XI Football team went to Invercargill to take part in a satellite NZSS Lotto Tournament. Our strong squad comprised of seven Year 13 students, three of which have been in the team from Year 9 so it was fantastic to have them still in the team and creating a strong backbone for the remainder of the squad. 

We had some great wins in pool play; 3-1 against Southland Girls, 4-0 against Aurora and 4-0 against Villa Maria which put us top of our pool and into the quarters playing the team sitting second in Pool C. A huge 6-0 win against Menzies took us to the semi finals against Mercury Bay down from Whitianga, a game which many supporters saw as being the teams that should be in a final. This game was tough, a real eye opener for the girls who had to pull through in the second half to come back from a first half that was very much dominated by the opposition. We finished 1-1 and had to head into penalties which we won 5-4 in sudden death!! The final against Kavanagh we took out 1-0, a long game after a long week on tired legs! An amazing week away for the girls and such a great finish. Both Phil and I are so proud of the effort the girls put in across the season and the attitude they had to develop into such a strong, determined side who were willing to work for the changes they wanted and needed to see on the field. 

Vicky Brown 

MAC HOCKEY 

The Mount Aspiring Hockey team defied expectations by finishing third at the South Island mixed tournament. The team always had lots of potential and it finally all came together on the first day when they had a convincing 5-0 win over Rodney and followed it up with a close 3-2 victory over Garin College. These wins gave the group a lot of confidence and after another win and a loss they had done enough to make the semi finals. They played Dunstan in the semi's and having lost to them a couple of times in the local competition they were keen to cause an upset. The Mount Aspiring team played with a lot of intensity and at three quarter time they were locked at one all, however a couple of late goals to Dunstan would be enough for them to win. Mount Aspiring then played Kavanagh in the third and fourth playoffs and the team was keen to finish on a high. They had a really strong game and ended up winning 7-0 to finish third overall. This was a great team effort and everyone including the coaches were happy that they reached their potential.

Dan Cullen

MAC U15 RUGBY 

The U15 rugby team attended the South Island U15 Co-Ed tournament in Lincoln last week. The team managed to gain enough flag points in pool play to qualify eighth for division two grade. The team then played their best game of the week and beat the top-ranked side 26 - 24. However, we couldn't back that performance up and were soundly beaten in the semi-final. 

MAC was one of the smaller sides at the tournament and showed plenty of courage and commitment. Rory Read played very well and Ewan Hughes was our MVP. 

The team wishes to thank all of the local businesses who sponsored players, Wayne Green and Julian Field for coaching and the parents who came up to support the team.

Hamish Crosbie 

THANK YOU!

A big thank you to all of the tournament teachers, coaches and managers for taking time out of their busy lives to join the teams on tournament. They encouraged, trained, fed, taped, and cared for the students and without them, we would not have these opportunities.

Coaches: Phil Burke, Wayne Green, Julian Field, Emily Wilton, Leon Roode, Dan Cullen and Simon Nyhof.

Managers: Karen Gilfedder, Vicky Brown, Gareth Hodges, Hamish Crosbie, Sue Richards, Trudie Millar and Richelle Courtney.

Kia mihi!