2023 Sports Academy

The students have shown amazing leadership skills, perseverance and cooperation with their fitness goals, classwork and the delivery of lessons and games. It has been a year of growth, friendship building and of course lots of laughs.

In the classroom this year we have learned about who we are as an athlete, nutrition, and how to fuel our bodies. We went to the food tech room where the students designed a breakfast or snack with certain nutrient-dense foods and there were some amazing meals. Next was learning about how the body works, looking at our muscles and bones, and how to best stretch and manage injuries.

For fitness, we have done a number of challenges including our weekly skipping warm up. The students have showed amazing perseverance and can now skip for 5 minutes plus without stopping! We have also worked on speed and agility as well as some strength exercises. Their motivation to improve and work hard in these fitness sessions was awesome to see. We were also lucky enough to attend a few sessions in the new strength and conditioning centre up at Ōtūmoetai College with Mr Ridgeway. These were definitely a favourite of the students.

Lastly, the students worked on developing lessons that they were able to deliver to classes at our school and Ōtūmoetai Primary. This was a highlight for me as I got to see the students in their element, leading sports lessons designed by them. The students also played a crucial role in assisting Te Kura O Manunui in running their sports events.

We finished the year with an amazing trip to The Pinnacles in Thames. We stayed the night in the hut and tramped out the next day. It was a pretty challenging climb up with all students required to carry their own gear up for the night including sleeping bags and food. They did an amazing job, it was the fastest time yet up to the hut!

I wish the sports academy students all the success in their future endeavours in sport and encourage them to continue to show sportsmanship, leadership, and perseverance in all areas of their sporting lives. I thank them for always making me smile, showing kindness and most of all, just being awesome.

Mrs Duncan