Sports Update
Junior Tournament Week
Junior South Island Volleyball Championships
Last week, our Junior A Volleyball team took part in the Junior South Island Championships. This is one of the biggest participating school events for Year 9 and10s, with a record number of teams entered. Playing in Division 3, it was a great opportunity for our team to compete hard and hopefully make Division 2 for next year.
Day one saw the team take three wins against Villa Maria B, Roncalli A and Craighead B. Day 2, the team played Central Southland A, Wakatipu B and OGHS 9A. There were some close nail biter third sets on this day, but the team handled the pressure really well to take wins on all games and to head to a semi final on Day 3 against Taieri. After a slow start and dropping the first set, we won the second and went to another 3rd set game. This was such a close set which we won 13-15 and led to the final against Queens 9A. Our serves got over, our returns were great and nifty touches on the net meant the team finished the final in an easy two set victory. This was a great tournament for the team which has a number of new players to the game.
Junior South Island Water Polo - Blenhiem (written by Kat Harpur)
Our Junior Polo Team competed in the South Island Secondary School's Junior Water Polo Tournament last week. We kicked our tournament off with our first game against Columba managing a 10 - 7 win in a close game. Marlborough Girls' College provided us with a bit more of a challenge, being the top team of the tournament, consisting of most of their regional representative players. Our girls fought hard and learnt a lot, managing to squeeze four goals against Marlborough was seen as a victory! We also played two games against Villa Maria, another strong team, but we held our own and put up a solid fight. The highlight was our final game against Columba where we came back in the last quarter to draw 8 all. The game went to penalty goals which we managed to win, to come third overall in the tournament. The girls worked hard and learnt a lot!
A big thank you to Ben van Heerden, our Coach and the terrific Tracy Havard, our Manager. Another highlight of our tour was getting to meet Christopher Luxon at Wellington airport, although this did not overshadow our victory against Columba.
Rugby 7s
We took a Year 9 and 10 rugby squad to the Highlanders 7s in Alexandra on Wednesday for Tournament Week. Playing four games in very hot conditions, the girls won three going down 17-10 to an experienced Central Southland College and achieving 2nd place overall.
The coaches have been delighted with the effort shown from the girls that have played rugby this season and would like to thank all the parents that have come to support the team.
NZ U20s Development Camp - Charlotte Va'afusuaga, Hannah Lithgow and Grace Hastie attended the camp in the weekend.
Otago Primary Athletic Championships
Last Tuesday, our Year 7 and 8 athletes competed in the Otago Championships. It was a beautiful day and our small group competed incredibly well! Congratulations to Mia Braithwaite who came first in long jump with a distance 4.45m. Elzanne Hamman who was first in hurdles and long jump (4.15m) and Vicky Aburn who came 3rd in 800m. Well done to Māia Koni for making the hurdle final and to Ruby Burgess for competing hard in the 800m.
Student achievements:
Congratulations to Aya Moetaua, Perri Hore and Ruby Flannery who have also been selected to attend the New Zealand Secondary Schools' Netball Development Camp this summer. This comes after being selected in the Netball South Accelerator Squad earlier this month.
Sports Council - positions available 2024
The St Hilda's Sports Council have two vacant positions for 2024. If you are interested in being involved please fill in the form on the link below. Applications close on Friday 1 December 2023.