The Koru Games is an annual 3 day multi sports tournament for Year 7 & 8 students. Now in its 5th year, the tournament continues to grow and this year saw 3500 students competing in 13 sports, over the three days of competition. The Koru Games experience is now entrenched in our Year 7/8 programme. Oaklands School sends most of our year 7/8 students to the Koru Games each year and we are one of a small, select group of schools that has been present at all 5 of the Games to date. This year we sent Football, Netball, Volleyball and Touch Rugby teams to the Games. Read what the students thought of the their experience below. 

Touch Rugby 1:

We won 7 out of 8 games in the tournament, which was good and we worked together really well as a team.  We were really surprised how well we did in the semi final. Our Highlight was beating Saint Thomas's in the semi finals 2-0; that was our proudest moment in the tournament. Our lowlight was losing to Queenspark 4-1 in the final, which was hard, but we were all proud that we made it that far into the tournament. The pizza was good from Dominos down the road. Micah's Highlight was the pizza which he gave a 5 star rating. We couldn’t have made it this far without Michelle (Taylor’s Mum) because of her awesome coaching and helping us throughout the tournament. Thank you Michelle and we hope to see you coaching the touch team next year.

Touch Rugby 2:

Every game we played we got better and better. We were learning from our mistakes in each game. On the final day we were passing to each other, running up together, talking more and scoring tries! We played against some really challenging teams, but we never gave up! The first team we played against we lost by lots and then that team ended up winning the entire competition! We liked being able to see people that we knew from other schools and to be able to talk to them. Our game against Belfast meant we played against Josh’s old school friends. Our biggest highlight was working together as a team and winning our first game. We enjoyed the feeling of finally winning a game. Another highlight for us was spending time with the other team on the bus and between games, and also listening to music and singing  on the bus. 

Volleyball 1:

This year was our very first time participating in a volleyball tournament. We won 7 out of 12 games and we were lucky enough to place 18th out of 32 teams. The most challenging team that we versed was Ashburton. They worked very well together and ended up placing 2nd. We improved very well over the 3 days with our team work and skills. We persevered through the rough times when teams were not very honest with the scores. Our highlights were winning lots of our games and spending time with our team mates. Our proudest moments were being able to start a rally between the schools we were versing. Also to be able to watch one of our best volleyball teams place 3rd and get bronze medals. A low light was we versed Ladbrookes twice, but only won one of the games.  Another low light was that the tournament seemed to go so fast. Overall, we had a great time at the Koru Games and enjoyed every moment of it. 

Volleyball 2:

This year at the Koru Games we were very anxious at the start because it was our first time playing competitive Volleyball. We ended up winning 8 out of our 10 games, we won the five game is a row. The first game we lost was to Rolleston, but we ended up versing them in our last game playing for 3rd and 4th. We beat them because we figured out their weak spots and because our fabulous captain won paper scissors rock for us a lot. In the semi finals we lost to Prebbleton but we are very proud because we had both won a set each and it was down to the last set where we only lost by 2 points. It was gutting but made us more determined to try harder against Rolleston. In the finals between Prebbleton and Ashburton Intermediate we put up a harder fight because we lost 2-1 and Ashburton Int lost to them 2-0. Overall we could probably improve on our communication because we sometimes ended up having no one go for the ball in the middle and letting it bounce. At the beginning of the tournament we didn't strategize our starting line up, unlike the end of the competition when we realized that this was a good idea. At the medal ceremony we were very pleased with our final results because we didn't expect to place that well. In between games we found it very entertaining when Mr Brown pranked Sadiyah and Dania by blasting the speaker. Over the three days we all enjoyed ourselves and made some great memories.

Volleyball 3:

It was fun and very competitive and the lowlights were when we lost and when we were really close to winning. The highlights were that we won some games, and when we got the ball over the net when we were not serving.  Another highlight was when we set properly, also when some people who didn’t usually serve it over the net got it over. It was our first time going to Koru Games and it was really fun. It was challenging when we played against some of the teams like Queens Park, Prebbleton, S., Martins, Lincoln and Cashmere  - yeah we know that's a lot of teams that we found hard to beat. We didn’t really talk to the other teams so that was sad and we liked how we could bring our devices and we enjoyed chatting with each other and it was an awesome experience.

Netball:

We found some of the umpires challenging, but we had a great time together. Our highlight of the tournament was cheesecake, music, the skatepark and beating Darfield, as they were the game that determined if we got into the top four or not, and we beat them by 2. We all improved so much individually and we improved as a team as well. It was such a shame that we lost the playoff for 3rd and 4th against Swannanoa but we tried really hard and only lost by 3. We were also unfortunate to have a player injure herself on the first day so we were only left with one sub, but she was a great cheerleader and motivated us to keep trying and win. We never gave up and ended up coming fourth out of 32 teams. We would like to thank our coach Ang and our umpire Denise for giving up their time and helping support us as a team.

Girls Football:

Highlights: as a team we got to know each other more.  Another highlight was that as a team we got better after each game.

Challenges: when some people from the other teams were trying to annoy us. 

Achievements: We placed seventh out of ten teams. On the last day we won 3 out of 4 games.

Fun: spending time with our team mates, listening to music on the bus, eating a lot of pies and lollies, watching people dance in front of the whole class.

Best part: when we won our first game against Cashmere 2.
Worst part: losing against Clearview because they were really rude and were talking about our team mates.

Thank you to Katy for helping us out over the three days, even when you were sick. It was great to have your support and help and you made things much easier for us ( and Mr Muller.)

Overall the Koru Games tournament was a fun experience and even though we had a couple of rough patches on the field we really enjoyed it.

Boys Football:

The highlights of the tournament for us were that we did win some games and that we had fun. It was fun playing the games. Some of the games were hard especially when we played John McGlashan, who ended up coming second overall. They were really fast and beat us 6-0. It was challenging when we got really tired, but we kept on going. It was challenging playing some very skilled opposition. We placed 23 out of 32 teams. We are happy with this. Top moments of the tournament were scoring some goals (Oleg and Ahmad), showing team work in some matches and winning two games.We are proud of giving it a go and getting involved, showing resilience and trying our hardest to win.We improved in every game. We would like to thank Maxim’s Dad Marat for helping us at the tournament. Other things that were fun were meeting new people from other schools, playing granny on the bus, eating pies, listening to the Netball Girls sing (NOT REALLY), working as a group and playing boys vs girls football while we waited for the bus. Next year we need to work more as group and stick to our positions. Not everyone can play striker.

From the Year 7/8 teachers:

The Koru Games is  a fabulous opportunity available to our students. It is rewarding to see both personal and team growth in both the lead up to the event and also over the 3 days of competition. 

The Games also provide a great opportunity for us to interact with the students in a relaxed and informal setting outside of school. This fosters positive relationships which we then build on in the classroom. 

Thanks to Angela Laing, Michelle Foster, Katy Wallace, Marat Nurpeisov, Lizzy Williams and Pete Shaw who gave up their own time to support our Koru Games efforts. We cannot do what we do without the support of our fabulous whanau. 

Bring on Koru Games 2019! We'll be ready!