Our A and B senior teams travelled to Palmerston to do battle with 98 other girls teams.

The A Team

The A team had six matches that went five sets so about two hours on court for each of these.

One day we had two matches that went to five sets and then did two duties that went to five sets - around eight hours in the gym.

It is no wonder the girls spent time sleeping during the day when they could!

The A team finished 23rd out of 98.

Coach Roger Bleyendaal challenged the girls to work hard and pushed them to produce their best.

Training finished for 2018 on 20 December and he began again on the 6 January working with the girls three times a week for around two-hours a session, which showed the awesome dedication of the coach and players.

The B Team

The B team played in division 6 and competed strongly.

They gave the final winner of their grade their best game.

We take this team to give them the opportunity to see what tournament play is like so they are better prepared if they are lucky enough to get selected the following year.

They had one day in the gym from 8:30am to 6:00pm without leaving it.

Mia Jenkins, their coach and ex-player from last year, did an amazing job. She developed a good relationship with the team and improved their game knowledge.

Both teams showed great spirit on and off the court and were a pleasure to be involved with.

Back in Christchurch, we had two teams playing in the Satellite tournament.

The Senior C Team co-coached by Kelsey Butland (another ex-student giving her time) and John Punio year 12.

They had a number of epic battles and just missed out on making the semis on a count back. They finished 5th in Division 1.

The Junior Team

The junior Team pictured below played in division 2 and finished 6th.

Most of the teams they played were seniors so they did well to win a couple of games.

Many thanks to Chelsea Gray from year 13 who was main coach for the team with some support from Courtney Dyson another ex-student who has continued to give her time.

The efforts of the senior students and ex-students means we can give opportunities to younger students to play tournaments. Drawing from the school motto, they have "learned so that they can serve” and they are providing an awesome service to our teams.

Thanks to Brie sister and Lorraine Neve's grandmother for helping with supervision of students at the Satellite Tournament.

Shorter lunchtimes