This year’s visit from Tawa College for the annual sports exchange between the two schools took place on the 14-15th May. 

Though Tawa came out on top of the scoreboard for number of overall wins, there was a clear improvement for Nayland over the last several years. 

The exchange involved approximately 260 students from both schools. It has been running since 2009, with the schools alternating venues each year.

This year showcased the growing strength of Nayland netball teams with wins for four out of the seven games. New Nayland College sports coordinator Dayna Whiting puts this down to the efforts of netball coordinator Faye Eden and stellar team coaches.

Building on a strong year in volleyball, it was also a successful exchange for Nayland volleyball teams, with both the boys’ and the girls’ teams winning their games.

The “fiercely competitive” senior boys’ basketball game was a highlight of the exchange. “There was a massive crowd there,” Dayna said. “There was a lot of support. It’s the first time that Tawa’s beaten us on that one.” The score was 77-67 to Tawa.

Other games included the girls’ football where three junior boys had to be called in to make up the numbers on the Nayland team. This meant that Tawa won by default.  However, the score was drawn at 3-3. “The Tawa coach didn’t care,” Dayna said. “He thought it was a really good game.”

Overall, Dayna Whiting was happy with how the exchange went, after only a couple of weeks in the job. “Nayland played in good spirit and with fair play. We had a lot more success than in past years,” she said.

To prove that sport doesn’t have to always be physical, the Nayland College debating teams also proved their mettle against their Tawa opponents, winning two out of the three debates.

Teacher in charge of debating Duncan McKinlay conceded that Tawa was disadvantaged by only having one team who had to compete in each debate. However, the Nayland teams performed strongly on a variety of topics spanning migration, university graduates being required to work in NZ before going overseas, and the issue of pay for housewives and househusbands.

Results are as follows:

• Badminton (Boys) - Tawa
• Badminton (Girls) - Tawa
• Basketball (Boys) - Tawa 67-77
• Basketball (Girls) - Tawa 27/77
•  Football (Boys) - Tawa 8-1
• Football (Girls) Tawa 3-0
•  Hockey (Snr Boys) Tawa 1-0
• Hockey (Mixed) Tawa 7-0
• Netball (Snr A) Tawa 25-40
• Netball (Snr B) Nayland 25-23
• Netball (Jnr A) Nayland 25-14
• Netball (Nay Snr A vs. Tawa Snr B) Nayland 59-18
• Netball (Tawa Snr A vs. Nay Snr B) Tawa 19-42
• Netball (Nay 10A vs. Tawa Jnr B) Nayland 43-17
• Netball (Nay 9A vs. Tawa Jnr A) Tawa 22-12
• Debating Nayland 2-1

Thanks to school photographer Oonagh Riddiford Graham for covering the day.