Heretaunga Exchange

On Wednesday 26 July we hosted Heretaunga College in our annual sports Exchange. The weather was less than favourable in the week leading up to the big day and a last minute reshuffle of venues meant that all games could proceed, without being rain affected. 

This Exchange is eagerly anticipated by staff and students alike. Since the start of this millennium Upper Hutt College have only failed to secure the coveted shield on three occasions. Last year’s exchange was pretty one sided in favor of the Blue and Gold but we know things would be closer this year. With Badminton added for the first year there was some fear of the unknown…. Here is how we got on:

• Junior A Netball – Win 28-8
• 1st XI Girls Football – Loss 0-2
• 1st XI Boys Football – Loss 4-2
• Basketball Premier Girls – Win 27-25
• Basketball Junior Boys – Win 69-18
• Basketball Junior Girls – Win 52-22
• Netball UHC Blue – Win 27-21
• 1st XI Boys Hockey – Loss 7-0
• Netball Senior A – Loss 25-33
• Badminton – Draw 1-1
• Basketball Premier Boys – Win 97-59

UHC Win overall 7-5

The Shield is locked away for another year! Thanks to all of the players, coaches, managers and supporters for what was an awesome day! 

Finals Fever

There have been a huge number of Upper Hutt College teams involved in sports finals and, at the time of writing this article, there are still two teams yet to play their final's. Here’s a brief look at how we got on…

Rugby

Rugby U55 kg – Our under 55’s boys have probably been the pick of our three rugby teams this year. After overcoming Wellington College in the Semi Final it set up a showdown away to Mana College. The two best teams in terms of league form had made the final and the better team won on the day, unfortunately it wasn’t us. Mana won 36-5. On the whole it was a great season. The boys even managed to secure some silverware for the year, The David Scott Challenge Cup (played for like the Ranfurly Shield). A massive thanks to team coach - Dave McGregor! On behalf of the College we thank you for all of your hard work. A quick note to the Under 15 team who picked up the Plate in their division.

Netball

Of our 10 teams we had three make the major final on Saturday (UHC Purple, UHC Aqua and UHC White) They were all very close games. The UHC Purple Team (who are a social - non training team) finished runners up, they did so well to make the final in such a competitive grade. Our Aqua team went from strength to strength and finished top of the table after the round robin. Unfortunately, it wasn't their day in the finals and went down to a very competitive Naenae team.

UHC White, coached by our own Miss Hannah de Bruin has been such a hard working team. They have committed to training every week and to every game which saw them win their Final and take out the Collegiate 3 grade. They were down for most of the final, but dug deep and showed patience and took the win over Hutt Valley High School. It was a very exciting game.

Our Senior A team made it into division 2 for Regional Super League this season, which is a huge step up. They are preparing for Winter Tournament Week starting this Sunday at Akau Tangi in Wellington. We wish them all the best.

One last massive thank you to all the coaches, managers, umpires and parents who help us every week. We cannot have this many teams without these people. It can feel tough at times on freezing mornings but please know that we are extremely grateful to our volunteers. Keep an eye on your emails as I will start recruiting for next year.

Shelley Shaw

Football

Unfortunately, there were no finals for any of our girls' teams this season however, it is of note that they were all in more competitive grades this season after so much success last year. The 1st XI girls have one more crack at silverware as they travel south to play in a National Tournament in Blenheim. The team narrowly missed out on semi-finals action at this competition last year so the girls will be looking to finish in the top four this year. Good luck girls!

Out of the 4 boys' sides we put out this season all but one made it into the semi-finals of their respective grades. The Year 9 boys went down in a close one away to St Pats Town 6-4 and the 2nd XI boys were out gunned by a strong Wellington College side 4-1. 

We did have success with the Year 10 side who managed to overcome a spirited Kapiti College 3-2. The Year 10’s sights now shift to finals footy this Saturday at Rongotai College against Wellington College. All the best boys!

We also wish the boys and girls 1st XI’s all the best for tournament week.

Basketball

The Senior B boys’ basketball team, made up of mostly Year 10 and 11 students, qualified for the Division 3 semi-final against Taita College two weeks ago. The Taita side are older and more physical and proved too strong for us in pool play. 

However, in semi-finals anything can happen. Our boys executed coach Jacob Collis’s game plan to perfection and ran away 107-104 winners to rightfully earn their spot in the final. Despite never giving up in the final and scrapping for every point against Rongotai College our boys went down 94-68.

Basketball continues to be one of our most successful sports at UHC with the Senior Boys playing in the Premier Division and chalking up big wins against the likes of St Pat’s Town and Scots College. There is some real talent in both the boys and girls space so this success looks like it will stick around for a while yet.

Badminton

Best of luck to our Junior A Badminton Boys (Marcus Lim, Duc Matthews, Vetri Senthilkumar, Koh Than and Hunter Wilks) who are competing in the Regional Final against Wellington College this week. The boys took out the Hutt Valley division at a canter without dropping a single match. Keep an eye out on UHC Sport Facebook and Instagram to see how they got on. 

Winter Tournament Week

It is a very exciting time of year for our premier sports teams heading away to national tournaments all over the country. Our Senior Boys Basketball are heading to the Hawkes Bay, the Senior Girls Netball are playing in Wellington, our 1st XI Boys Football team are headed to New Plymouth and our 1st XI Girls Football are competing in Blenheim. Thanks to all those people who have made these trips possible, it takes a lot of time and effort to put everything in place, these don’t just simply happen. Best of luck to all of our teams, I hope to be reporting success stories in my next instalment of the “Sports Wrap”.