On Tuesday the 6th of August the Years 5-8 students participated in a Winter Sport Tournament, competing in several matches. Throughout the season the sports included: netball, football, hockey, and volleyball.

Football and netball were the only available sports to compete in the tournament. The purpose of this article was to interview some of the seniors, to hear their opinions on how they played and the opportunities provided.  

First, we interviewed Parker Kneale. When asked what his favourite part of winter sports was, Parker replied that his favourite experience was the first game, ‘We versed Te Matauru and won 1-nil’, a positive start to the tournament. When asked if he would have changed anything, he responded, “I would've let other people join in a little bit more because I felt that I was being a bit selfish toward the end of the games.” Demonstrating reflective thinking and what it takes to be a good sport.“ I chose football because I didn’t have the right mindset to try other sports and netball isn’t really my thing.” Which makes sense. Parker noticed that in the game against Te Matauru the team worked well together and they won the game. When discussing improvements over the season, Parker said, “I only played two games but I noticed a lot of other people in my team improving and we all worked together as a team.”

As to be expected, there were differing opinions and experiences of the competition. When speaking to Emilia Kearns, we asked her the same questions. She enjoyed playing with her friends and participating in the games. Emila felt that she could’ve been more confident in her positions, she played netball because it’s her favourite sport and it's something she feels comfortable playing. Something that went well was, “the teamwork and support I shared with my team and the support they shared with me.” When asked if she saw any improvement from when she played the first game to her last, Emilia stated that she had because her defending had improved and the team worked well together as the season went on. 

Next, we interviewed Lucia Rainey and Domonic Houghton from Whio, let's see what they have to say. When asked What was your favourite part of winter sport Lucia responded with  I enjoyed Playing and participating in the games,next we asked Lucia If you could’ve done something differently in one of your games what would you do she said   I would have tried to focus on my position rather than on other people. Similarly Dominic responded with ‘ I quite liked playing the games, shooter and trying out other positions.’ But for the second question their answers were quite the opposite from each other. Lucia wishes she would have tried to focus more on her position rather than on other people. Dominic’s answer was to change positions more frequently, so everyone could have a go and see which position they liked the most and which position they felt comfortable in. What sport did you choose and why? We asked, Lucia  chose netball because it was a sport that she felt comfortable with and she didn't have the right mindset to try out other sports. Dominic also chose netball but he chose it because it’s a family sport and everyone in his family plays or has played it, the next question asked was What went well in playing your sport?  “After the games we all congratulated each other and had good sportsmanship” responded Lucia, meanwhile Dominic thought that shooting was something that went very well for him because he got all his shots in and that is what helped him win. Did you improve from when you played the first game to your last and how? Lucia said that she has seen improvement because the first game was quite rough but the last game went really well and the teamwork was great and also improved. Dominic said that he definitley improved because at the start of the games he  missed all of his shots, and then at the end he got most shots in. But overall it was a good winter sports season.