It seems we are having the most fabulous Autumn weather. Our Cross Country day was a testament to this and all of our runners were treated to the most glorious day. Hagley park put on a great display of colours and sights as the whole school made their way around the course.

Years 1-13 all took part according to their respective levels and age. Whether they were running competitively or simply for fun to say that they got around, it was quite a special day. Thank you to all of our helpers who made things just that bit easier. It always gives us such joy to see the big sister little sister relationships in action. The photos tell a marvellous story. It is great to hear from you about your sport and your competitions, please keep them coming  louise.eder@stmargarets.school.nz

Athletics
In the 'Genes' or was it Coached?
Lily Cockram Y13 our Captain of Athletics has been involved in SMC athletics since Y9. She has represented St Margaret’s many times at a senior level, working her way up, attending South Island meets as well as competing across the country in the New Zealand Secondary Schools competitions.
Lily Cockram is pictured here with her father, Dougal Cockram who still holds the Canterbury Secondary Schools U16 100m record - set in 1984, and Bev Peterson (Lily's coach) who still holds the U19 100m record set in 1974.

Lily has regularly medaled at the CSS and SISS Athletics Champs. Her best performances include 1st in the U14 200m SISS 2017, and most recently 2nds in 100m & 200m. Lily also anchored our Senior 4 x 100m relay team to 2nd place at the recent championships. Congratulations Lily you have been an inspiration to our athletes here at SMC.

Cross Country
We had the most perfect autumn day for the annual SMC Cross Country. Well done to everyone for taking part and congratulations to our winners and qualifiers for the Canterbury Road Race and Cross Country, both coming up in the next few weeks.
A table of results from the day is attached.

Fencing
Mika Neil Y11 has only been fencing for six months, but already she is showing a remarkable talent for the sport. She writes: “I’m Mika, I fence as a member of The Fencing Institute and I am an epeeist. I have been fencing for about 6 months now, and couldn’t believe I would be able to make it far in any major competitions so soon. Recently Cadet (U17/U15) Regionals were held in Christchurch, where I placed 2nd equal against fencers who are years more experienced than myself. Over the last weekend of the holidays, eight fencers from my team went up to Wellington to compete in the Cadet/U15 Nationals, where I placed 8th in the U17s and 5th in the U15s. I’m incredibly proud of myself, as I was able to score quite highly against the number one and two ranking fencers in the country for both age groups. It was really tiring as both events were on the same day, and I spent almost 11 hours at the venue, from the time we arrived to warm up until the time I left. I have had so many amazing opportunities to train with both Olympic and national champions, and learn many valuable skills and techniques that I can use to further progress my fencing. This year there are a lot of competitions planned, like Oceania zone/U20s in Auckland that I hope to go to, and South Island Champs in Dunedin. A regular training session includes a warmup or a game to get us awake and moving, footwork or drills, putting all of our gear on to actually fence, and then some warm-down stretches. Occasionally we do some less practical stuff like weapon care/fixing broken equipment, preparing for competitions and going over rules for formal events. I’m grateful that I have a great team and some really good coaches supporting me and helping me to become a better fencer, and I’m excited to see what this year has to offer.”

Gymnastics
Cherry Zhu Y7, recently competed in Dunedin. On the first weekend in May, Cherry and her family went down to Dunedin for the 2012 Otago Rhythmic Championships Competition. She won 1st in Hoop,1st in Ball,1st in Ribbon, and came 1st overall in the level 6 individual competition. Cherry, alongside five other girls, won 1st place in the Grade 6 group. Over the next two months, Cherry will take part in a few such events hosted by different Rhythmic clubs around NZ to qualify for the National Championships Competition on 20 July 2021 in Auckland. We wish Cherry all the very best of luck in these competitions.

Lilly Eastmure Y7 has had a busy April. Her achievements so far;
2nd Team Glory AGG Shoin Cup Japan (online comp)
2nd Group in Washington Spring Cup (online comp)
3rd Ribbon Delta Competition
1st Group in Delta
2nd Freehand Otago Championship
3rd Rope Otago Championship
3rd Clubs Otago Championship
3rd Overall Otago Championship

You may notice that a couple of Lilly’s results have been through online competition with Japan and the States. Covid has taken travel out of the equation. Online international competition is much the same as the usual one, just from the comfort of your own gym and not leaving the country. No suitcases or passports are needed. The gymnasts are still being judged by international judges and they get to compete against other countries. It's a fun way to gain confidence and experience. With technology, Lilly’s International squad can compete and get their name out there. Usually, the club is invited by overseas clubs for these competitions. The date and time zone is taken into consideration and a live zoom and live stream on youtube goes ahead. The gymnasts are then judged by international judges from around the world and if they are placed, the medals come in the post in two weeks’ time. What a great way to keep the sport alive and the competition going in these unusual times.

Hockey
“In the last week of the holidays, a squad made up of both the first and second 11 players travelled to St Cuthbert's school in Auckland to be part of the ANZAC festival tournament. We had the opportunity to play teams from all over New Zealand, experiencing a high level of hockey. Although the team only won one game against Hamilton Girls (2-1) we were able to have extremely close games against really high-performing teams including Wellington Girls, St Cuthberts, Whangarei Girls, and Auckland Dio. Throughout the three days, we as a team and as individual players developed dramatically, thanks to Coach Sunjay Ganda. Both Sunjay and Ms McLaughlin created such a cool environment for the team and were a big part in the three days being heaps of fun throughout the tournament.” Issy Story 

Netball
Congratulations Caitlynne Hill (Y13) on her premier netball umpire debut on Tuesday night at Bishopdale!! This is a stunning achievement - good on you Caitlynne.

Rowing
A huge congratulations to SMC's Olivia Studholme, Felicity Pye and Jemma Burrowes, along with cox, Ashlee Tacon, who trialled for the South Island U18 Rowing Team to represent in the North vs South Regatta. A huge congratulations to Jemma Burrowes Y12 who was selected in the four and eight. Jemma has been racing up at Lake Karapiro where her South Island boats have had a clean sweep, winning in the four and the eight on the first day and again in the eight on day two. It is fair to say that the South Island took a convincing win overall. Jemma gives us an insight into her rowing journey so far; “I started rowing in term 4 last year. I had thought about rowing sometime in year 9 and 10 but was pretty busy with water polo so started rowing as a Senior novice. We trained nine times a week, which included four on-water sessions, two ergs, two gym strengthening, and a yoga session. I was expecting to find the amount of training too much but settled into the routine quickly. I got to know the girls really well, spending so much time with them both on and off the water. There was lots of time to socialise with regular bus rides out to Kaiapoi for training and longer bus rides to camps at Lake Rotoiti, Lake Ruataniwha and the Wairau River. At the start of the season, I wasn't sure if I was going to row, but I went along and gave it a go a few times and started to love it. I had good strength and fitness from my water polo and hockey but knew I had a long way to go with my rowing technique, however, I learnt a lot from the coaches and watching the senior rowers and seemed to pick it up relatively quickly. Being the only new rower in my year I started with the year 9's just learning how to row but was soon put in some boats with the seniors which I loved. This helped me improve a lot and become a better rower. I got motivated after I won my first medal down at a regatta in Twizel in the U17 8. From then on I knew rowing was for me and made a personal goal to be in the U18 8 at Maadi. Our whole squad trained very hard and all pushed each other in the next coming months leading to the South Islands and Maadi. Towards the end of the season, I felt the intensity and amount of training increase. Unfortunately, the South Islands were cancelled due to Covid. Luckily Maadi wasn't also cancelled (unlike last year) and we had the opportunity to race and win some medals. My results at Maadi were, silver in the women's U18 novice 8, bronze in the women's U17 8 and bronze in the women's U18 8. I was absolutely stoked to win a medal and celebrate all the squad's successes. All five of the age group 8's made A finals and then went on to medal which was incredible. I thought Maadi was going to be the highlight of my season but then I managed to get a South Island U18 trial and couldn't believe it when I was named in the team to travel back to Lake Karapiro and vs the North Island team. Amazingly, the South Island team managed to win the majority of the races and the overall trophy. I was in the four and the eight and won both races. Now I can't wait for next season and another Maadi. A gold medal at Maadi would be my dream come true.”
Great work Jemma, you have come so far in such a short space of time. We wish you all the best for the future.

Tennis
Savannah Dallison Y6 did exceptionally well at the Canterbury Junior Tennis Open at Wilding Park over two days of competition recently. She was the winner of the 2021 Canterbury Junior Tennis Girls Singles (10 and under) as well as the winner of 2021 Canterbury Junior Tennis Girls Doubles (11 and under). Both finals were a marathon and were won after a 3rd set tie break. Her parents write; “She was so happy and we are very proud of her progress with tennis and sport in general.”
Great work Savannah.

Trampolining
Renee Martin Y13 has been trampolining since she was 10 years old. She writes; “I am Renee Martin and I have been at SMC since year 7 and am currently in year 13. I have been doing trampolining for eight years and I started when I was 10 years old. I started trampolining because I had a garden trampoline and I really enjoyed playing on it and doing gymnastics in the backyard. One day I went onto the Christchurch School of Gymnastics website to sign up for gymnastics but then I saw that there was a sport called trampolining so I immediately got mum to sign me up for that because it sounded so fun! I spent about two years doing recreational trampolining and then I started competing when I was 11. In the beginning, I wasn't the best and it felt like in every competition I was getting 4th, but then with a lot of hard work, the results started to get better. I won my first national medal in 2016 when I came 2nd in Synchro in the 13-14 age group which was at my first nationals ever. I then became a national champion in 2017 when I got 1st on Trampoline and I also got 3rd on Double Mini Tramp (DMT) in the 13-14 age group. Then at 2018 Nationals, I got 1st in Synchro and 2nd on Trampoline in the 15-16 age group and finally at Nationals in 2019 I got 1st on DMT and 1st in Synchro in the 15-16 age group too. I have managed to accumulate over 70 medals throughout my six years of competitions and become the South Island Champion many years in a row too, including this weekend when I got 1st on DMT and 3rd on Trampoline (I think I have too many results to list them all!). I train three times a week at the Christchurch School of Gymnastics and each training is 2.5 hours long so 7.5 hours a week. My goal this year is to go to Nationals again and hopefully get some more national medals!”
Check out the photo below, Renee, that is an impressive amount of medals.

Water skiing
“The waterskiing season has just wrapped up with both Ellie Rogers Y11 and Emily Milner Y13 competing in many tournaments over the season. Over the Easter break, both Ellie and Emily travelled up to the annual New Zealand water skiing Nationals at Lake Wiritoa, Wanganui. This was a week-long event that consists of four key events of slalom, tricks, jump and overall, over a range of age categories.
It was a successful week for the two of them, with Ellie receiving bronze in U17 girls jump and bronze in U17 girls slalom, trick and jump overall.
Emily received gold in U17 girls slalom, gold in U17 girls trick, gold in U17 girls jump and gold in U17 girls overall. She also received silver in open women's jump, bronze in open women's trick and bronze in open women's overall.” Emily Milner

Congratulations to Emily has also been selected into the U17 and U21 Worlds squad's to travel to Florida in August which is subject to change with COVID-19.