Winter sport is well and truly underway in 2022 with fantastic levels of participation and positive results on the various courts and fields. Sport Activator Chris Campbell reports on the various codes.

Sport at our school is in a real boom period and it is not possible to have so many students engaged without the help of all of our volunteer managers, coaches and officials. Here is a quick overview of how our seasons are shaping up;

Football

We are incredibly proud to turn out seven Upper Hutt College football teams in various College Sport Wellington Competitions this season. Here is how they have been getting on:

Recent results suggest that our Girls 1st XI are set to have another stand out season and the team will be there or there about when the finals are decided. After a disappointing loss to local rivals, Heretaunga in their first game, the team have started to hit their straps with impressive victories in recent weeks. The side is a great blend of youth and experience with six junior girls in the side.

The Girls Purple and Junior Girls' teams have already broken away at the top of the pile in the Hutt Valley Division 3 competition. The Senior Girls claimed bragging rights in their most recent game but somehow I think they will meet again in the final next term. Watch this space.

Our Junior Boys' team have dominated their grading pool thus far and will likely be moved up a division in the coming weeks. This is an incredibly well drilled side and we are fortunate to have the services of Greg Wilks and Steve Mosley. It would be hard to mention this team without acknowledging Flynn Mihaljevich–Groves, who scored 11 goals in one game!!!! The future is bright with such talent coming through.

It has been a contrasting start for our Boys 1st XI who have been hampered with injury and Covid throughout their grading campaign and with one grading game remaining they look destined to play their football in Division One this season. This is an extremely talented team and I am sure when coaches Steve Thomas & Ben Wood have a full complement at their disposal the results will come!

Rugby

The 1st XV rugby team have cemented Premier 2 status again this year. What has been labeled a rebuilding season may just prove to be more than that. The team have won their first 2 games with relative ease dispatching Tawa College 47-7 and Naenae College 33-21. The father and son coaching duo of Ross and Kemara Tukukino are doing a fantastic job and have managed to pull a young squad together exceptionally well.

This season we have also managed to field a Girl’s 1st XV (combined with Taita College) who compete in the College Sport Wellington Premier 2 competition. The side are off to a flyer with a 75-10 demolition of Wellington Girls College in the season opener and they looked to hit a similar score line against Bishop Viard College, however the match was abandoned after 10 minutes due to a serious injury. The score at the time was 12-0 to UHC.

Netball

We have had a great start to the season, with 11 teams registered for 2022 including one mixed team.

The Premier One girls went into ASB Stadium on Thursday 19th May and were placed in pool A against some very talented schools. The girls finished 2nd in Pool A behind St Mary's College who went on to win the tournament. 

The team played good, hard netball and were positive the whole day. We then faced Naenae College in the playoffs in which we won by 3 goals and this took us through to the 5th and 6th playoff. It was a fantastic game against HVHS and we lost by only 2 goals. Finishing overall in 6th place out of 24 teams.

This is a very successful result and the best we have placed in a number of years. We are looking forward to Winter Tournament and repeating our success.

Basketball

Our Senior A Girls' team got their season off to a fantastic start reaching the semifinals of the Silverstream invitational tournament, claiming a win over local powerhouse St Mary’s College in the process. This team will hope to be at the business end of the Division 1 ladder come the end of the season.

It is a case “Prems all round” for our Junior and Senior A boys’ basketball sides who have both achieved Premier One status for 2022. 

It certainly is not by chance that these sides are where they are when you look at how much effort and work these players put into their sport. 

It is great to see so many players involved in what is a major growth sport in our region.