Term 2

In light of the recent Covid-19 Level 2 guidelines released by the government, coupled with recommendations from Sport NZ and other national sporting bodies, the Sports Department is developing a set of guidelines for Mount Maunganui College sport. These will be released as soon as is practical.

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To our students and families, here is a message from your Sports Leader’s Reuben and Kendal.

Kia ora everyone, we hope you and your whanau are doing well in these unfamiliar times.

Reuben and I, as well as many other students at school, have had to deal with the setback of limited physical activity and sporting seasons. We both understand that for many of our students’, sport defines their lifestyle and mindset. If you feel you have lost a big part of who you are, you are not alone as many of us have felt the same. It’s always worth remembering things could be a lot worse right now.

If you are still feeling like this, the best advice we can give you is to use these thoughts as motivation to put time towards improving your physical and mental state. For us, Reuben will go for a run or kick around a rugby ball, Kendal has started up yoga and variations of home workouts.

Although we don’t know exactly when we will be back into our normal routines at school, we want to give students hope that physical activity and sport will not be over for good this year. We plan to run more lunchtime sports, teacher vs student games, and our annual events such as cross country, so no student will feel lost or gives up on their sporting aspirations.

For now, hold tight and take care of yourself, good things will be coming. We cannot wait to see our school field’s crowded with active and bubbly students again.

Reuben Kelly and Kendal Devlin

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Waterpolo

Over the very short season, we have seen our Premier girls travel to Australia and battle some powerful teams, they learnt some great skills that will strengthen their personal play. The games for our local competition showed our teams as gaining strength and stability as a group. Unfortunately, the lock down came just as both the boys and the girls were getting ready for their NISS competitions. The boys team were gearing up to be very strong in their pool and would have proven us proud. The female team also was coming together well, and both teams could have placed on the podium if these competitions had been completed. As NISS got cancelled so did NZSS which meant the females chance to a podium and medal finish to their five year campaign has ended in a somewhat disappointing state. Our boys have also missed out on the chance to really open up their skills under Paul Kayes as their coach, this also has left them falling short of a podium and medal chance.

All members of the teams have worked extremely hard over the last 5 years for this chance to be year 13 and compete for their school and get a medal in the final show down. As Teacher in Charge of the waterpolo I am so very happy to share how impressive and inspiring our waterpolo students are, they have kept their heads up and have continued to fight for the chance to achieve their goals this season.

Although this is a disappointing end to the senior season for 2020, I want to congratulate our seniors for their efforts and dedication to the sport. You are all awesome people, and your skills and perseverance has been amazing to have in this sport for 5 years.

Abbey Yule - Person In Charge Waterpolo

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Volleyball

2020 Senior Volleyball is going to be memorable. Prior to the Lockdown, our senior teams were tracking well for the New Zealand Secondary School Championships that were being held in Palmerston North during Summer Tournament Week. Our teams had just finished the Bay of Plenty Championships which was held over 3 weekends. Both our A teams securing spots in the top 32 (Division 1/2) which allowed them to vie for Division 1 spots. Bay of Plenty have only 7 for Boys and 9 for Girls places available out of the 32 spots for the national competition with the next 6 girls and boys spots making up 33-64 (Division 3/4). Our A teams placed 5th with our B teams placing 11th on the final round of the competition.

Unfortunately, with the Covid outbreak, lockdown and subsequent cancellation of the NZSS sports, our teams ended their season prematurely. The disappointment of the tournament being cancelled has affected our teams and is especially sad for our Year 13 students who have been involved since they were Year 9. Special mention needs to go to our Year 13 students Tommy Smith, Leo Gerrie, William Veale, James Armstrong, Kendal Devlin, Ella Raymond, Blayze Waddicor, Monique Bos and Niamh Edwards.

Having watched most of these seniors over the last five years, I would personally like to commend them for their commitment and effort they have given this sport and the many laughs that we have had along the way. You have made it a very enjoyable part of my job. Thank you for the memories.

Loren Riddall - Person In Charge Volleyball

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Cooney Lees Morgan Mount Maunganui College Cricket

Mount Maunganui College this year entered a team into the qualifying tournament for the National Gillette Cup For 2020. The team made it through to the last round of qualifying, in the 20 over format, before the 50 over games started. As a result of Coronavirus these 50 over games did not eventuate.

In the first round, Mount Maunganui College took on Otumoetai College who were bowled out for 33 with two of the younger members of the team making their names as outstanding bowlers. Harry Burns took 5 for 4 off 4 overs and Gus Tustin 2 for 3 off 2.2 overs. The runs were knocked off in 2.4 overs with Kade Smit scoring 17 not out and Tamati Wikaira, 13 not out. A win by 10 wickets.

The next game was played against Papamoa College and was the decider game as to who went to the Northern Districts T20 Finals. Mount Maunganui College batted first and scored 169 for 3 off their 20 overs with major contributions from Kade Smit with 57 and Tobey Weis 63 not out. Papamoa were unable to match our score finishing up with 141 for 4 off their 20 overs. Harry Burns and Stefan Heuberger both finished with 1 for 24 to seal the win.

Off to Pukekohe for the Northern Districts Round and the first game was against St Johns College of Hamilton. Our team batted first and finished with 90 with contributions from Kade Smit with 27 and Stefan Heuberger 22. St Johns passed the score with 3 wickets down with Ethan Chamberlain taking 2 for 27 off his 4 overs. Unfortunately this knocked Mount Maunganui College out of the hunt for qualification for Gillette Cup

The final game was against Pukekohe College where we batted first and were all out for 131 with Harry Burns scoring 33 and Kade Smit 24. Pukekohe finished at 124 for 9 with Ethan Chamberlain 3 for 27 and Harry Burns 2 for 19.

Thanks are to Hayden Burns and Matt Golding who have taken the teams on the journey.

The school is very grateful for the assistance provided by Cooney Lees Morgan. Their contribution will be used to increase the profile and facilities for cricket at Mount Maunganui College.

Derek Beard - Person In Charge Cricket

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School Sport NZ

The board of School Sport NZ, in partnership with National Sporting Organisations (NSO’s) and event providers, has announced that due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19, the National Calendar of Sanctioned Events will be further suspended until 20th July, the beginning of Term 3.

The government announcement that NZ will remain at Alert Level 3 pending a review on May 11, along with the requirements for sport at Alert Level 2 yet to be determined, the degree of uncertainty and lack of lead in time required for schools and sport to prepare and plan will not enable a resumption to national level school sport at this point.

For more information, please see School Sport NZ website http://www.nzsssc.org.nz/

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Netball

Please note all Representative Netball is cancelled this season and the focus will be on our Community netball with trying to salvage some type of Netball competition for our members this year.

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Rugby

New Zealand Rugby continues to work closely with the Ministry of Health and Sport New Zealand on Return to Rugby protocols for the 2020 season. Presently they are working through what rugby activity can occur under Alert Level 2 and will provide more guidance on this as soon as possible.

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Football

NZSS Football will continue to work with School Sport NZ to explore more regional opportunities possibly in the Winter tournament week window should the situation allow and schools be wanting to take part.

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Hockey

Tauranga Hockey Association will release a revised season plan, which includes a 2 week period for clubs/ schools to hold trials once the government confirms the date at which team sports can resume.

Hockey NZ has cancelled all representative hockey for the year, although the NZ secondary school's tournament week has NOT been cancelled at this stage.

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Volunteer Focus

I am sure some of you know who Joe Broughton is. He is never far from a basketball court and yes he is Shalom and Salem's Dad. He's also married to Pauline who helps coach the Senior B Girls Team, He is all things basketball at Mount Maunganui College.

Joe and his family have been involved with basketball at Mount Maunganui College for 6 years. He has twin girls who hopefully will be attending Mount Maunganui College as well so fingers crossed he will be involved for a wee bit longer. Joe enjoys passing on his love for the game to our students and loves seeing families and the community coming together, building strong bonds that support our school. He has been involved with the basketball fundraisers for the new outdoor court and new hoops inside the gym.

However, there's a few things you may not know about Joe.

Did you know his favourite colour is purple, he has a cat and he loves Andersons Mince pies? He also wanted to be a Policeman growing up.

Joe was quite the all-round athlete growing up. His worst sporting memory he can recall was his BMX bike racing in the National BMX Championship competing for first place and falling off at the last jump (hump) with his best memory was being selected to play for the NZ Cricket Team.

As a young lad growing up Joe also got a few sporting titles in a wide variety of codes under his belt, notably:

1985 Hawera Swimming Club Freestyle Champ

1988 Hawera Intermediate School Squash Champion

1989 Taranaki Badminton Secondary School Champion

1990 Patea College Senior Tennis Champion

1996 Taranaki Rugby Rep Player

Joe also played Cricket for Taranaki and won the Fonterra Golf Open in 2009.

Joe credits having his dad as a coach as his inspiration and which he found was a motivating factor growing up.

When asked how has Lockdown affected him, Joe's reply was "It has helped me assess what is really essential. It's been great as a family to do family! We are involved so much in the community that we don't always get this kind of family time. It's been a blessing for us really!"