One of the best things about being a Principal is that people want to talk to you!

I was in Gym 2 watching one of our girls' basketball teams earlier this term when I caught up with Grace and Charlotte O’Brien and Sian Read’s mums who were there supporting the team. We talked about all kinds of things and I really value the chance to get feedback from our whānau and bend their ears on things that I would like to run past parents. In the course of the conversation I became aware that we have a New Zealand Development Team representative cheerleader in our kura. How cool! I caught up with Charlotte last week about her cheerleading career and how she is settling into Hagley as a Year 9.

Why cheerleading? Why not! And I’m talking competitive, judged cheerleading routines, not half time at the rugby cheerleading!

Charlotte is on a mission, with her goal to attend a World Championships for cheerleading. She is training ten hours a week all on week days and comes across as very committed and motivated towards her goals. She didn’t seem phased at all by that amount of training! Charlotte has been cheerleading since she was 7 and surprisingly, for me at least, she doesn’t come from a gymnastics background. She described to me that she has always loved doing flips and things, and her Mum found a cheerleading tumble class and she started with that. Her passion and energy for cheerleading grew and grew as she got older and had more and more success.

One of the challenges Charlotte is finding is that her team, sometimes up to 14 cheerleaders, often have people away sick and with COVID-19. This has made working on routines as a team very difficult, and we all know that teamwork makes the dream work.

I also learnt some cheerleading lingo... Charlotte is a 'base'. This means she does the lifting of the 'flyer'. She used to be a flyer but as she has gone up the levels she has moved to a base. The flyer is the person thrown up in the air.

After some excellent performances, Charlotte was selected as part of the New Zealand Development Cheerleading squad that was due to travel and compete in Florida this year! Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, this has had to be cancelled, but there are plans to compete in the United States next year, which will be an amazing opportunity. Charlotte sees this achievement as being the highlight of her career and I can see why. We wish her all the best with her short term and long term goals.

If you are a Year 8 parent or student reading this and you have enrolled at Hagley next year, this piece of advice from Charlotte might be of interest to you. I asked Charlotte what advice she has for Year 8 students going into Year 9 here. Without missing a beat she said that the most important thing is to have a big group of friends and meet as many people as possible. That is excellent advice - the best way to meet people is in your class, kete wana and to join a club or activity or sport. We have a very big range.

The highlight for Charlotte is that everyone is really nice here and we have lots of choices. She is really enjoying Hard Out PE and Do the Duke, which are her current Kete Wana choices.

I always say this is the best part of the job! To meet students doing their thing and doing it very well and talking so positively about our kura is a big bonus.

Thanks, Charlotte, for sharing your story - it was great to get to know you better!