Sports Corner
Interschool
It has been a few years since Queen’s High School has had an Interschool to compete in, but in 2024, that drought has ended. Queen’s High School embarked on a six hour round trip (and for some, longer!) to Invercargill to face our new competitors and friends at Southland Girls’ High School. We had eight events in total, with badminton, aerobics, football, rugby, netball, volleyball, debating and hockey battling neck and neck for interschool glory.
Queen’s High School competed fiercely in all of the events across the day and achieved some great results. Volleyball and Football had convincing wins, with debating winning one out of two of their debates. Basketball was incredibly close, with only one point in it, and rugby had narrow defeats after playing two back-to-back games against the Year 10 and Year 9 Southland Girls’ teams respectively. Aerobics managed to pip Southland in some of their events and just missed out on grabbing points for Queen’s High School, as well as badminton winning some singles and doubles games. Hockey had a great experience playing against a well-oiled senior Hockey team, and we are incredibly proud of their efforts considering they are a mostly junior side.
Overall, Southland Girls’ won the first series and will travel to Queen’s High School next year to defend their title. A special thank you to Ash Rable and the team at Southland Girls’ High School for hosting this year, we look forward to having you on home turf next year in 2025!
A special mention to Jucinda Geddes, Meagan Stanley-Brown, Josie Abbott, Hannah Mackay-Wright, Helen Lowther, Tessa Nicol, and coaches Phil Scott, Scott Flawn, Al Walsh, Lana Morrison and all of the parents and whānau who travelled to support and care for our students. The Interschool was a really wonderful moment that highlighted just how amazing the Queen’s High School community is.
Below are some special reviews of the day from some of our sports representatives from the Interschool. We will be posting an album on the Queen’s High School facebook page for anyone that wishes to access the photos. Special thanks to Meagan Stanley-Brown and Kadince Robinson for supplying photos throughout the day.
Aerobics - Annabelle Ludgate, Year 13
The Aerobics team had the privilege of travelling to Southland Girls’ to compete in the interschool. We all really enjoyed getting to compete against girls out of our region. Aerobics is new to this interchange and we were all really grateful for this opportunity as aerobics is not usually represented at these events. It was great to showcase our skills to our peers and prepare for our regional competition next week. Unfortunately as a school we lost against Southland Girls’, but we had plenty of winning individual results and great performances that everyone can be proud of!
Hockey - Jorja Gibbons, Year 13
In Hockey, we performed well as a whole and had many chances throughout the game. Each player in the team showed determination and never gave up. We are improving every week and growing as a team. A few shout outs go to Charley Sumner who stepped up to play goalie and saved some brilliant shots, Renee Geddes who played a game of netball before coming to hockey and continued to show her skill and determination on the field, and to Ms Geddes for her commitment to coaching us and the support for the team.
Netball - Kaila Geeves (Year 13) and Lana Morrison (Senior A Coach)
From the opening whistle it was clear to all watching that this was going to be a tough, physical game. Southland Girls’ went out to a first quarter lead 6-9 due to a decisive interception made by their standout player at goal defence. Queen’s was not to be outdone, and with the defensive duo of Kaila (goalkeep) and Teane (goal defence), they snaffled some rebounds off Southland Girls’ much taller goal shoot. The second quarter score was 6-7 to Southland Girls’ and the half time score saw Southland Girls’ leading 12-16. In the second half, Southland Girls’ dominated the court and went on to win 37 - 19. The Queen’s Senior A players came away with some excellent work-ons, and this game provided the much needed challenge the team needed heading into their South Island Secondary School Tournament in four weeks. As a team, the players worked hard to achieve the best outcome possible. Despite the challenging nature of the game, nobody gave up and the team were truly determined to prove their skills. Everyone thrived when they took the court, and played to their best abilities. The team are extremely grateful that their coach, Lana, could travel to Invercargill to coach.
Basketball - Kadince Robinson, Year 13
Our Queen’s Senior A basketball team played in our first interschool against Southland Girls’. It was a tough, close game, playing four intense quarters with a running clock, just losing 24-25 in the end. We all played our best and worked hard as a team getting some nice plays. The team had some great breakaways down the court and played a tight defence. It was intense, physical and overall a fun game, we all enjoyed the experience. As one of the year 13 players in the team, I thought our girls kept their cool with the tough calls and plays during the game. They played extraordinary and gave it their all. We can’t wait to see the girls come back next year bigger and better to bring back a win!
Rugby - Brooke Ratten-Johnson, Year 9, and Tapairu Team
After our early morning start we arrived in Invercargill nervous but ready to go. We started off our first game against the Southland Year 10s strong, scoring the first two tries but then Southland managed to score, getting themselves back in the game. The remainder of the game was a tightly contested battle with Southland edging the win 26-24. It was a quick turnaround before our next game against the Southland First XV, and the first half was close with us trailing 19-12, in the second half tiredness started to show and the game went in favour of Southland Girls’.
Despite facing close losses, the experiences gained from playing with determination and resilience against strong Southland teams has taught us a lot as a team as we had to work a lot harder than usual. A big thanks to our coaches and support crew who came down to support us on Tuesday.
Sports News
Apollo Project Funding
This year, Queen’s High School has been grateful to receive a significant sports sponsorship from Apollo Projects, a leading New Zealand design and construction company with substantial experience in the Otago region and currently working on the new state-of-the-art Dunedin Health Hub.
The funding has removed financial barriers for students to participate. The underlying selection theme has been “students who would otherwise miss out.”
Some examples of the impact the funding has made include:
Students' equipment
Registration and tournament fees
Travel fees
Apollo Projects is building a legacy that supports connection and learning. Each project is another chance for Apollo to deepen their connection with the community, finding meaningful ways to contribute that extend well beyond the construction site.
To say we are grateful to Apollo Projects for this funding is a significant understatement. We deeply appreciate their genuine sense of helping the community and the impact it’s having on us at Queen’s High School.
Funding is still available from Apollo Projects if you are looking for support in your sporting endeavours. Applications can be submitted by clicking here.
If you are interested in supporting Apollo Projects and following their journey, you can follow them through the below social media links:
#ApolloProjects
Aerobics
Brooke Wilson and Isla Ludgate competed in the NZCAF Southland Aerobics Championships. Isla was first equal in the Under 19 Division three grade, qualifying for nationals. Brooke was second in the FISAF (International) Junior Women's grade. Well done to these girls who put on incredible performances.
Basketball
Yesterday we had four lucky students who participated in the Steven Adam’s Dunedin Basketball Camp. This camp is a community-focused camp which featured over 150+ kids over two sessions today at the Edgar Centre. Hanna Cowan, Miika Phillips, Georgia Cooke and Aria Williams-Palaamo all featured at the camp. It was also great to see New Zealand age group international and Queen’s High School Senior A player Elise Carline as a coach on the camp giving back and inspiring the next generation of ballers!
Big ups to everyone involved, we hope you had an awesome day!
Darts
In a previous newsletter article, we spoke about Waimania Kawua’s achievements in darts. Here is a more indepth review from her first competition representing Otago.
Last month, Waimania Kawua travelled to Whakatane to represent Otago in the New Zealand Darts Council Junior/Youth Competition. Waimania had some strong performances across the week, competing in mixed pairs, girls’ pairs and singles. Waimania and her pair came runner up in the youth grade, and she also managed to win some of her leagues in her singles competition which is an amazing accomplishment. Even though it was Waimania’s first national tournament, she made the overall youth tournament team and took home a medal and a $50 Kmart voucher. To top off an amazing week, Waimania got to meet Hopi who is considered New Zealand’s most famous darts player (pictured below).
We are so proud of your achievements Waimania, we cannot wait to see where your darts career takes you in the future.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Congratulations to Effie King who qualified for rhythmic gymnastics nationals in Palmerston North. Effie is currently the only level eight competitor from Dunedin going to nationals which is an incredible achievement. Effie competed in hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon. To qualify for the nationals, competitors must score 65 points or over.
An amazing achievement by an amazing student, well done on your efforts Effie! We look forward to hearing your results from nationals in the near future.
Southland iAM Games
Inclusive Activity Murihiku (iAM) is excited to be hosting a festival of fun and participation for young people aged 5 to 21 with a disability in Invercargill. Young people with all types of disability and levels of required assistance are welcome.
The Games have been designed as a two-day festival of fun for young people with a disability, aimed at providing opportunities to experience a range of adapted sports at venues around the city.
Sessions last an hour, and free transport is provided between activities.
Sports include football, swimming, athletics, badminton, pickleball, ki-o-rahi, clip n' climb, croquet, rugby, golf, boccia, cricket, archery, hockey, cycling, duathlon, basketball, netball, and lots of games at The Y. There's something for everyone!
Below is the link to the registration page and also the iAM (Inclusive Activity Murihiku) facebook page. If you are interested in attending, please email Tessa at sport@queens.school.nz and make sure to register using the link below.
https://www.active.com/invercargill-nz/other-endurance/iam-games-2024
https://www.facebook.com/InclusiveActivityMurihiku
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