Since our last newsletter we have gone from Level One to Level Two and with that has come a whole lot of juggling and reorganising. Once again the Sports Office has been kept on their toes, with many future events placed into uncertainty.

Some have been cancelled outright and others postponed while we wait to see what the next few weeks bring. But as we have found, demonstrated by our Year 7 and 8 Basketballers, where there is a will there's away. It is hard not to keep on smiling with this level of fun and positivity at SMC. Go girls.

Awards
Applications are now open for the following:
Middle School Badges (winter codes)
Year 9-10 Colours (all codes)
Year 11-13 Pockets (winter codes)
Year 11-13 Honours (all codes)

Application forms are available on Student Notices. Please make a copy of the application form, complete as required and return to helen.belcher@stmargarets.school.nz or to the Sports Office by 3.00pm Monday 7 September.
All Year 11-13 Honours applications must include a completed logbook that includes service hours and sign off from Deans and Coaches for attendance, uniform and behaviour. Logbooks are available from the Sports Office.

Basketball
Last Friday we still managed to have a game of Basketball here at SMC. Our two Year 7 and 8 teams were due to play each other at Pioneer. This venue cancelled all games but in the true SMC spirit, we managed to forge ahead. A huge thank you to all those who made this game possible, especially to our Intermediate A girls who helped out with bench duty and refereeing. It is awesome once again to see our big sister little sister ethos in play here at school. Both teams had heaps of fun and at half time it was decided to change things around. This became an exciting move as it was then a well-matched game with scores going literally goal for goal. The smiles on the girl's faces said it all and it was an awesome end to the week.

Senior A:
After being undefeated for all of their games so far, the Senior A team has hit a bit of a hurdle with a few players sustaining injuries over the last couple of weeks. Thank you to those players who have stepped up to help the team out. Courtney Prebble writes;

“The Senior A-Team had a tough game against Cashmere High School on Monday. We had four of our Year 13 players away at the Otago Open day, as well as players unable to play due to injuries. Thank you to the girls from the Intermediate A team who played for us, this was very helpful and we really appreciated them stepping up. All of the girls played really well but the game just didn't quite go our way and we ended up losing.”

Intermediate A:
The intermediate A has had an amazing season so far and has won every game. Last game they played Middleton Grange at Pioneer and came away with a significant win 50-39. They played a great game and worked well as a team. The team is looking forward to another great game this Friday.

SMC Prefects vs Christs College Prefects Basketball game

“On Friday 7th August the SMC Prefects played their annual Basketball game against the Christ College Prefects. It was a fun and entertaining game that attracted a large crowd of SMC girls. Both teams enjoyed the game very much and players from both schools got to try Basketball for the first time which was exciting. SMC ended up winning but it was a close game and was more social than competitive.” Kate Zarifeh-Basketball Captain

CPS Cross Country
CPS Cross Country postponed until further notice.

Equestrian CSS ODHE
Our Equestrian team, Evie Eaton, Fabriana McQuarrie, Meg Glassey, Cass Causer, Tess Morgan, Antonia McPherson and Elysie Calder attended the One Day Horse Event out at McLeans Island on 9 August. As you can see from the photos the weather was on our side and both horses and riders had a good day out.

Congratulations to;
Meg Glassey 2nd in the Class 1 Dressage
Tess Morgan 2nd in the Class 2 Dressage
St Margaret's White team who got 3rd overall in the Dressage section of the One Day Event.

Hockey
1st XI Hockey
The following report on our 1st XI Hockey team comes from Canterbury Hockey with the headline;

“ST MARGARET'S FINDING FORM” August 17, 2020

“St. Margaret’s College is finding form at just the right time in the Canterbury Secondary School Premier (SSP) competition, winning back to back games for the first time this season as they overcame Villa Maria College 4-0.
The return of Abby Mason gave St. Margaret’s extra firepower upfront, with Mason grabbing a double as her side went into the halftime break well in control at 3-0. They added a fourth in the second half, a win that puts them equally on points with Villa but ahead by goal difference. Having won only one of their opening five matches, St. Margaret’s can secure themselves a semi-final spot with a victory this Friday against Burnside.”
We wish them luck for their game on Friday.

2nd XI Hockey
With a new-look team this season that includes 11 new players, the games in the first round of the competition have been our chance to develop our team, find combinations and focus on our strengths. Alongside this, the girls are working hard on their fitness. Our competition has five other teams of which three are 2nd XI Teams. During the first round, we have had some close losses which have given the coach and team confidence that we do have the power and determination to play against the stronger teams. With only 3.5 weeks before our team plays in the 2020 South Island Girls Championship tournament in Nelson, we are looking forward to the second round of the local competition to help prepare us for this tournament.
Trudy Keys - 2nd XI Manager

Silver Team (Div 4)
The Silver team is a great wee Year 9 team. They have made tremendous progress throughout this season and are continuing to become better players. They work well together and are an absolute privilege to coach. They had a challenging start to the season, versing a few older, stronger teams. This has only made the girls more determined to play better, which they have done. On Wednesday (12 Aug) the girls lost 3-0 to CGHS Green, however, in the first half they did a great job keeping the score at 1-0 at the break. The girls set out with key goals in mind that they wanted to achieve, and they did this! The girls had plenty of opportunities throughout the game but were unable to score. We are excited to see what the girls can achieve over the next few games and see the constant improvements.
Co-Coaches: Alice Ritchie and Molly Williams

ISSA Winter Tournament
On Friday 7 August St Margaret’s College, St Andrew’s College, St Marks’, Selwyn House, St Michael’s, Cathedral Grammar and Seven Oaks took part in the Independent Schools winter tournament. Our Year 5-8 girls competed in Netball and Hockey. All the Netball was held at Hagley on a beautiful winters day, Year 5 and 6 played Hockey at SMC and Years 7 and 8 played Hockey at STAC.

Netball
On Friday 7th August the sun was shining and Hagley Park was full of excited SMC Year 5-8 netballers. We had six teams competing in perfect netball conditions, a stark contrast to our 2019 tournament. The girls played some great netball and competed well against our Independent School opponents.
Our SMC V team was placed 5th and our SMC W team placed 8th in the Year 5/6 Grade. It was awesome watching the girls improve each game but most importantly have fun out on the court.
We had four Year 7/8 teams with our A team in A Grade and our B, C and D team in the B grade. There were some tough hard-fought games and our A team placed a close 3rd in the A Grade and just missed qualification through to the Canterbury Zone Tournament.
In the B grade, our SMC teams dominated and our B team placed 1st, C team 2nd and our D team 5th. The girl's confidence grew throughout the tournament. It was fantastic to watch!!
A huge thank you to our amazing coaches of all of our teams and our fabulous umpires. Without you, all the girls wouldn’t have had the positive netball experience that they did!! These fabulous humans all gave up their time to coach, umpire and support the girls throughout the day. A big thank you also to the fabulous parents who stood sideline for day encouraging the girls.
It was a fun morning at Hagley in the sunshine, with some great netball on display. Great job girls, you were awesome ambassadors for SMC!! Amanda Hardy -SMC Netball Convenor

Hockey
Years 5 and 6 played on our own turf here at St Margaret's while the Year 7 & 8’s spent the morning at St Andrew's. We were lucky to have perfect weather conditions and a good turn out of supporters. All teams were very competitive with our Year 7B team placing second in their section. We are very grateful for the support we received from Phoebe Spear, Sorell Shand, Poppy Williams, and Ally Booth who coached our teams on the day. The coaches were very impressed with how our girls worked together in their teams and felt that they never gave up even when faced with defeats or injuries. Everyone had a fun day and enjoyed their hockey with their teammates. From my perspective, both coaches and students were all fantastic ambassadors for St Margaret's College. A big thank you must also go to the students who umpired our games.

Results:
Year 5 and 6
Year 6 - 6th
Year 5 - 7th
Year 7 and 8
A - 6th Sec A
B - 2nd Sec B

Amanda Surridge -Convenor of Junior Hockey

Also THANK YOU to Sharon Lloyd, our fabulous SMC Sports Administrator who organised the logistics for us all to attend this tournament and was also the tournament controller for the Year 5/6 netball. Thank you so much, Sharon, we all really appreciate everything you do for us!!

Junior School
Year 5/6 Basketball
We have been lucky enough in the Junior School to have two Basketball teams playing this year - SMC Magic and SMC Rockets. The season has started off well with both teams experiencing wins. The SMC Magic is made up of girls who mostly played last year. They have made huge improvements in their ability to dribble, shoot and pass. The SMC Rockets is made up of girls who have not played before. They have made a great start to their basketball careers and are enjoying the challenges that basketball has to offer. Courtney Prebble Y13 has continued to be the Junior School basketball coach and is doing a fantastic job. Her advice and guidance are appreciated by all involved. On Monday 8th August, the girls were also lucky enough to have a coaching session with Donna Levea-Profit from the Wharenui Gators Basketball club, who is the Head Coach of the ‘Girls Got Game’ Basketball Programme’. We have incorporated all her great drills into our coaching programme. The enthusiasm from both the spectators and the girls is what makes basketball fun. A big thank you to all the parents who come and support their daughter each week.

Rowing
Our Rowers may not have been able to finish their 2019/2020 Season off with the grand MAADI 2020 event, but they have been recognised formally by a presentation last week in assembly here at school. Our U18 8 were proud to be the recipients of the Bruce Fraser Trophy. This award is to recognise the top South Island U18 Eight. Two representatives from the Canterbury Rowing Association, Gerry Dwyer and Logan Keys came to school to present our U18 8 with this trophy for the second year in a row.
Charlotte Darry has been awarded a very prestigious and historic trophy for the Top Female Rower in Canterbury. The Trophy, known as the Jubilee Trophy, dates back to 1901 where it was awarded for the first time to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first four ships landing here in Canterbury. It was presented at the Lyttleton Regatta. It was then subsequently lost for a very long time, eventually turning up in someone's garage in 2010. Hard to comprehend how a trophy of that size can be lost! It was then decided to award it to the top Canterbury School Girl Rower and since its inception, it has been won by a St Margaret’s girl four times.
A huge congratulations to our amazing rowers and thank you to Gerry Dwyer and Logan Keys for your time in presenting these awards to them. Our trophy cupboard is looking quite spectacular.

Swimming
Wow, Alice Jeffries Year 5, has done it once again. She has a huge haul of well-deserved medals after competing at the Otago Short-Course Swimming Championships approximately a week ago. A great performance given the lack of swim training recently with 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and a Bronze including 5 PB’s from the 7 events entered into. Awesome work Alice, Congratulations.

Tennis
Ruby Young Y10, has had a great month of Tennis, playing for both her club and in tournaments, one of them being a National three-day event. Ruby writes;

“I participated in the 16s Kiwi Indoor Championship. This event was on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the 7th, 8th and 9th of August and it took place in Christchurch at Wilding Park Tennis Centre. I came 6th out of 16, 16 and/or under players. This was a good effort as it is a National Tennis Event and I am able to play in this age group for 2 more years. The 14's tournament has sadly been postponed because of COVID -19 and was supposed to start on Friday the 14th of August. Recently I also played in the 2020 Tennis Canterbury Junior Winter Tournament - in the 16s/17+ Girls Graded 1. In this one day tournament held at Wilding Park, I won all of my matches winning the singles title. I also played and won the Cashmere Senior Club Champs held this month at Cashmere Tennis Club on a Sunday morning.”