With many achievements under her belt, year 12 student Ella Holmes is a driven person with a penchant for sport.

Recently Ella was involved in the Top of the South Regional Regatta for sailing, where she managed to surpass even her own expectations. “We did way better than I expected. We ended up at the bottom of the gold fleet. I personally didn’t even expect us to get into gold fleet, so I was pleasantly surprised we did," she said.

Ella is a woman with a long list of achievements, such as breaking the 1984 senior girls javelin record at this year’s school athletics last month. She was also named the overall senior girls champion at that event. 

This was followed by a second placing in javelin for the Nelson/Tasman Athletics Championships, as well as second in the U19 girls section in the Port of Nelson Top of the South Triathlon Championships. 

However, Ella's achievements are not just limited to the sporting world. In academics she shines through as well, having gained NCEA Level 1 with Excellence last year.

Despite the number of her achievements, Ella doesn’t speak much of them. “I mean as anyone I like to get a bit of credit out of it. I feel as if it’s always a good feeling but I’m pretty humble about my achievements and stuff. I don’t go around worrying about it,” she said.

Sports are just as much an obligation as they are a hobby to Ella. To the point that if they’re not on, she often will feel lost about what to do. “If I have a day where my sport is cancelled, I’m at home and I’m like ‘what am I going do with this free time?’,” she said.

As well as sailing, the team sports she does include basketball, netball, rugby and ki-o-rahi. Frequently she has to do all she can to make sure they don’t clash. “It’s quite busy,” Ella said. “Often working with coaches to make sure I can attend my training and they’re not clashing with another sport, [it] is sometimes challenging.”

When it comes to her competitive spirit, Ella embraces it fully. “I’d say I’m a very competitive person, so yeah, striving to win is definitely something I enjoy.” Along with this, she likes seeing results come from her efforts. “I like working hard, then seeing a result out of it.”