It was great to have staff, students and parents at the annual Sports Awards evening on 6 September to celebrate the high level of sporting achievements at Otago Girls’ and to see girls being recognised for their commitment and dedication.

Sport has really thrived at Otago Girls' this year and it was exciting to be able to share, celebrate and look back on the past season’s sporting successes. This year teams have won tournaments, girls have made national teams and there has been a high level of participation across all sports.

Our guest speaker for the evening was Natalie Visger. Natalie is the coach of our Senior A Basketball team, the development officer of Basketball Otago and has also coached and played to a high level overseas. Natalie presented an intriguing speech about different attitudes and habits which contribute to success. By having a disciplined attitude and developing good habits, we set ourselves on the path to reach our potential. It was a great message that is not only applicable to sport but also to other aspects of our lives. Having her present this speech was awesome, and it was particularly cool to have her not only as a guest speaker, but also as a part of the Otago Girls’ sporting community.

There were many categories being recognised at the awards, including Juniors in a Senior A team, five years participation, referees and coaches, outstanding achievement and blues. To gain these awards all students needed to show commitment and dedication to their sport as well as level of leadership and they need to display our PB4L values. We would like to say another huge congratulations to all girls who were recognised at Sports Awards. It really shows that your hard work, dedication and commitment does not go unnoticed.

We would like to acknowledge all the staff who put in huge amounts of time and effort behind the scenes to make the event happen! We would especially like to thank Mrs Cook and her catering students for providing a range of delicious nibbles. Another big thanks goes to Mrs Mackay and Ms Ward who made an impressive slideshow of some of the sporting highlights we have had, and it made the presentation of awards very engaging and effective.

Also congratulations to John Fisher and Mrs Davidson who were the two winners of the sports challenge.

Overall it was a very successful evening, and a great way to celebrate all the sporting successes over the year.