Now in its 6th year, the Koru Games is a three day multisports tournament that provides competitive sporting opportunities for Year 7/8, students across a range of sports. Oaklands School once again took part and did very well.

This year we had teams representing Oaklands in Football , Volleyball, Netball and Touch Rugby. All of our teams represented Oaklands with great pride and it was fantastic to see the teams growing in confidence and ability during the three days of the tournament. 

The Girls Netball team played hard and finished a credible 20th out of 32 teams in the competition. 

The Boys Football team played fantastically over the three days and can be very proud of their 18th place out of 32 teams in the competition.

Our 3 Girls Volleyball teams played with great spirit and we are very proud of our top team who came home with a bronze medal. 

 Our Touch Rugby  teams played hard in every game. Our Touch B team finished 10th in their competition. We are very pleased with our top Touch team who repeated last year's result, returning home with another silver medal! Top effort boys!

Thanks to all of the parents and whanau that came along to games to support us. We really appreciate it. In the end the three days is al about the students having a great sporting time. 

Read their thoughts on the 2019 Koru Games below:

Name: Taylor

Team: A Touch Team.

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I enjoyed playing with my Friends, I also enjoyed playing against other teams that I knew. My highlights were when we came second and having a laugh with my friends. The challenge was the final against St Tomas ́s. I liked being part of a team too. I would like to say thankyou to my mum and Mrs Baker who helped us get that far in the games. It was fun.

Name: Dishti

Team: B Touch team

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru games was the best.We worked really well together as a team and scored a lot and won a game. I enjoyed the games we played as a team. The challenges I faced was catching the ball a really long distance and running a lot and trying to touch the person with the ball on the other team.The best part about my team was that we worked really well together and help each other. I would like to thank Miss Baker because she helped all of us a team and to Ana,Elizabeth and Ashley in touch when the second netball team couldn’t play at Koru Games. Koru Games were the best days ever. Thank you all our teachers for the training for Koru Games.

Name: Aysha

Team: Volleyball A team

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru Games this year was really fun because I was with a whole heap of my friends. We had lots of fun playing games and we got third place. We won 7 games and lost 1 the hardest game for me was St Annes because they were really good. We were really happy that we got third place. I also would like to thank Mr Brown for helping us train and in the holidays give up his own time to come and help us and he was also supporting us a lot from the side.

Name: Karlie Wright

Team: Volleyball B team

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru Games was a fun experience. I enjoyed playing against other schools for the win and creating stronger friendships with the people in my team over the three days. Our efforts achieved our team a placing of 7th in the girls division of 30 teams,  which we are proud of. We were challenged when versing teams of higher skills to us, as it put us in the pit. St Annes and Ashburton Intermediate were the two schools we had to persevere with. I’d like to acknowledge Mr Brown for his amazing coaching and desire for helping our teams improve in our skills, we wouldn’t have achieved the placing we did without him. 

Name: Ana Kroll

Team: Touch B team

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I think Koru Game was so fun. I really tried my best on playing and giving feedback on our team. I think that the team was improving a lot, at the last game we were working more as a team. We had lots of fun. I also think all of us improved a lot in catching the ball running and throwing. At least we had fun and that is all that it is about- having fun with friends and teammates :) I would like to thank all the teachers and parents that helped this event come true.

Name: Joey Williams

Team: Touch B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru Games was really fun this year because all my teammates improved and helped us win a game. It was more fun this year than last year because our team passed instead of keeping the ball to themselves and we had lots of fun together even when we lost.   

Name:Marcus

Team: Football

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru Games this year was a great thing to experience, from the selection and training to the games. Some parts of it were challenging like the fact that our goalie had never played goalkeeper in organised Football. Everyone in the team improved on how well they work together and it was really cool to see it all happen. Overall it was a great experience and I really enjoyed it.

Name: Keira Cust

Team: Volleyball

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I found the Koru games really fun, I also think that our team improved over the three days.

Name:Issy

Team: Netball

Thoughts on the Koru Games: It was interesting, fun and nervous. The reason it was interesting was because of how we worked as a team and nervous because I have never done Koru Games. In the end it was so much fun and I’m excited to do it next year. I would like to thank my team, the supportors and the coaches.

Name:Rose I

Team: Netball A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I enjoyed Koru Games because it was fun to play lots of different teams. We won about 4 games and lost about 5 games. I would like to thank Alexia,Mackenzie, Amber and Denver for coaching us this whole time.

Name:Ye young Jung

Team: Volleyball team C

Thoughts on the Koru Games: The thing I really enjoyed in Volleyball was meeting new people and playing against them because I liked playing against teams I’ve never played against. Something I found challenging was when people wanted to have a go at playing but since we had way more people than we were supposed to, some people couldn’t play until the next game. I am thankful to Mr Brown because without him we wouldn’t be able to go in the first place.

Name: Zoe C

Team: Volleyball team C

Thoughts on the Koru Games: It was fun because some of the teams were challenging to verse. When we did verse hard teams I know I tried my hardest. I am thankful for my team cheering me on when they weren't playing and Mr Brown being the ref for our games when the other teams weren't playing. I am also thankful for the other teams supporting us when they weren't playing their games.

Name:Harrison Stewart

Team: Touch 2

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really liked how the games were played and how there was not a long wait time and I’m really thankful for Mrs Baker for helping coach us.

Name: Maria de Schot

Team: Volleyball team 3

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Some of the highlights were getting to play different teams of all different types and ways to play, like throwing the ball in the air before serving. Some of the challenges were the bees that kept landing on me and were flying everywhere, as well as I was quite tired, especially on the third day. I would like to thank Mr. Brown for coaching three volleyball teams, which must be very hard, especially since some people like me didn't know any rules or anything about volleyball. I think that my team was quite good at playing Volleyball, especially with serving.

Name:Rani

Team: Volleyball C Team

Thoughts on the Koru Games: This year Koru Games was extremely fun and interesting.I enjoyed playing Volleyball with my team because in most parts we worked quite well together.

I was exhausted on the last day, but I managed to give my best.The highlights were when we worked together during the match and the lowlights were when we lost to a particular school.I would like to thank the teachers for organizing this event and I would like to thank Mr. Brown for being our coach.

Name: Zara

Team: Volleyball A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed Koru Games this year. It was quite different to Netball last year but I really loved playing Volley. I liked where we played and I was happy because I got to see some of my other friends. 

Name:Andre

Team: Touch A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I thought Koru Games was fun and that we played really well but St Thomas out played us in the final, but apart from that we played amazing. I would like to thank Michelle and Mrs Baker for coaching us.

Name:Ashley

Team: Touch B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: The Koru Games was fun becuase we got to play heaps of teams. I would like to thank my Dad for reffing our games 

Name: Marshall

Team: Touch A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: It was a good time because we did well as a team and we came 2nd.

Name: Ben

Team: Football

Thoughts on the Koru Games: Koru Games was really fun because we got to do what we love with our friends also with a bit of competition, I also had a lot of fun watching the other teams play football because some seemed really good with their skills and their teamwork. For me the whole experience was really cool and I think I really did improve my football skills over the three days of Koru Games. I can’t wait to do it again next year. Thanks to Mr Muller for taking care of us at Koru Games and also Hannah’s Mum for bringing oranges because it really did help our team (I think it’s what made us win).

Name: Hannah

Team: Football

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed the Koru Games because I got to play Football which I really like to play. It was really cool when we won games because it showed that we had been working as a team. I also really enjoyed it when I got to take part in the penalty shoot out because it was my first time and it was a really good experience. Over all I had lots of fun at the Koru Games and was really glad that I got to take part in it.

Name: Elizabeth

Team: Touch B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed Koru Games this year because I got to play another sport that is different to what I would want to play. There were a lot of challenges like having to run really hard and it was really hot weather and we had a really hard team to verse which was St Thomas’ and St Martins as well. We won only one game the whole competition but that is okay. We had 9 games the whole competition and we came 10th out of 10 teams. We worked really well as a team and on the last day it was the best day of the competition because we won a game and the other days we didn’t on the last day we bet middleton green. The first game we played was just the start and that game was that it made more sense to us.

Name: Vanessa

Team: Volleyball B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed Koru Games this year because I got to play Volleyball for the second time around. Our team worked really well together and we ended up coming 7th out of 30 teams. We played 9 games over the 3 days, won 6 and lost 3. The teams that we lost to were St Anne’s Blue (who ended up coming 1st), Ashburton (who ended up coming 2nd), and Hilmorton Girls. The last day was really challenging for me and my team, because the 3 teams that we versed were very good. The hardest part was losing when we were so close to winning. Overall, I’m happy that our team got into top 8, and for the fact that we never gave up, and always supported each other.

Name: Annabel

Team: Volleyball A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed Volleyball because it was different to Netball and it was something new that I had not tried before. I think we did well because we only lost one game out of 10 games. I'm really happy that we came 3rd out of 30 teams and I think my team worked well and never gave up even when it got hard. 

Name: Kaitlyn A

Team: Touch B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I think that our team went really well because we nearly won a game but the ref said that it was a tie because Mrs Baker had 4 and the other team had 3 but it didn’t really matter and it was fun and we could watch the other team and when we had a bye for Oaklands team went really well at the Koru Games an 2019 and my team came 10th. 

Name: Jex

Team: Football

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I thought it was really fun and I would go there another time. The thing that I enjoyed was the penalty shootout It was really intense.

Name:Rey

Team: Touch B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I enjoyed playing touch and getting involved. The thing that challenged me the most was when the referee didn’t count the winning try for our team so the game was a draw. I would like to thank Mrs Baker for coaching and cheering our team and Ashley’s dad for refereeing our games.

Name: Amber M

Team: Netball A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed my experience from this years Koru Games because I got to interact with people in my team that I don’t usually talk to and got to interact with some friendly people from other teams too. I also found it hard to take in the losses because I just had a mindset that we should have worked and improved on the things that we didn’t do well in the previous games.

Name:Caitlyn

Team: Volleyball A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I thought that the Koru Games this year was really good and it was heaps of fun. I thought my team was good at working together and cheering on others whenever they did something good, or if we were falling behind one of us would always cheer up the team. Some of my favourite parts of the Koru Games were, our first game because it was the first time we could put all of our training into a real game and it was the game that started the whole competition off for us. Another part of the event that I liked was our semi final game because it was a hard game for us but what I liked about this game was that we didn’t give up and we fought hard until the very last point. My all time favourite moment was getting called up to receive our 3rd place medal.Overall this has been an amazing 3 days and I would like to thank all the supporters and parents that came to watch and especially my caoch Mr Brown because we couldn’t have done it without him. 

Name: Carter W

Team:Touch A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed Koru Games. It was amazing and we versed St Thomas in the final but we lost and came second. We had a really good team and they are really nice friends and I cannot wait till next year.

Name:Harley

Team: Touch A

Thoughts on the Koru Games: I really enjoyed touch and we had a good team we all worked really well as a team. We won all of our games until we vs St Thomas in the final and lost that game. We still came 2nd I would like to thank Michelle for coaching us and helping us at the Koru Games. 

Name: Oli Blake

Team: Touch team B

Thoughts on the Koru Games: This year I enjoyed playing with my teammates. We worked really well as a team and ended up winning a game. We came tenth overall. When we had a bye we watched the other team. Oaklands A came second in the boys division and came away with a silver medal.