Six senior students competed at the NZ Area Schools Tournament which were held in Rangiora during the first week of the July school holidays (Monday 3 to Thursday 6 July).

The students were representing Oxford Area School in Top of the South Island (TOSI) teams, competing against teams from three other zones.

Abby Taylor - football
Earl Cacho - rugby
Jon Smoothy - football
Noah Crew - basketball
Oliver Sillars - basketball and football
Billy Hollard - basketball and football

Football was played at Maria Andrews Park, Rugby at the Rangiora High School fields and Basketball at Mainpower Stadium. 

Following the round robin, students were selected for South Island teams to play their North Island counterparts on the final day. 

This was a successful tournament for our students, with all of them being names in NZ Area School Tournament teams:

Abby Taylor - football
Earl Cacho - rugby
Jon Smoothy - football
Noah Crew - basketball
Oliver Sillars - football
Billy Hollard - basketball and football

Abby Taylor shares her experience:

This year at NZAS I just played football. Our team was probably the best team I’ve played in out of the three teams I’ve played with for NZAS. We won all of our games which I was absolutely stoked about as I had never bet Central because they always had a very strong team. We also won the North vs South game which I hadn’t won either so I was very happy about that. I loved playing with people that hadn’t played much before because I could help them and give them feedback on how to do better. I also enjoyed being able to practice my footwork whilst versing these other teams, because I had the confidence to.

It’s hard to give highlights of the tournament because I enjoyed the whole thing but if I was to give a few then it would be getting to see all of my friends in the space of four days, winning all of our games and TOSI winning the trophy.  

It was great to have this tournament held locally this year and the students had a lot of support from friends, family and staff. There have been a lot of positive comments about how awesome our students were. We also had current student Nicholas McKinney and former student Ashley Riley refereeing basketball games which was fantastic.

Special thanks goes to Rachel Taylor for managing the team and Sonya Sillars and Lisa Hollard for coordinating the transport and providing photos.