As another year of UHC sport draws to a close here is what Director of Sport, Sam Twomey, has to say about the year that was.

Kia ora,

I want to start with a thank you to all the school volunteers who make sports at Upper Hutt College a success. Without the parents, grandparents, older siblings, student coaches and community members, sport at Upper Hutt College would not be able to run and offer so many different opportunities. Thank you for helping our students participate.

2022 saw a sense of "normal" return to college sport. We saw the return of spectators. Weekly fixtures were played without fear of being cancelled or team sheets having to be shared between schools for tracing purposes. Parents could also attend our revamped 2022 Sports Prizegiving, which saw many students acknowledged for a wide range of impressive accolades.

However, the most significant return to normal this year was Winter Tournament Week's return. Four of our Premier teams travelled across the country this year, representing Upper Hutt College.

The Premier Netball team travelled to Hastings and played a hard-fought tournament in great weather. The Premier Boys’ Basketball team played locally in Wellington and took home some impressive wins, with Chout Chout throwing down some big dunks that left an impression on the entire tournament. The Boys’ 1st XI Football team travelled to New Plymouth and displayed our school's values with great pride. Finally, the Girls' 1st XI Football team travelled to Blenheim, where they finished 5th after beating Scots in their final game, walking away with the tournament fair play award.

This year, we saw a lot of success across multiple codes. The 1st XV rugby team won the Wellington Region Co-ed Cup. Premier Boys Basketball returned to Premier Grade, Premier Boys Volleyball placed 4th at Regionals, and our Smallbore Rifle Shooting team won the College Sport Wellington Smallbore Shooting competition, to name a few of our many successes.

The Athlete Development Programme moved into the school curriculum. After a successful four years of students participating in the programme within their own time, we have been fortunate enough to have a Year 10 class in 2022 and 2023 will see Year 10 and 11 classes. I want to make a special mention of Hayley Charles, who was the contributing factor in getting this change.

Lastly, I would like to thank my department members Chris Campbell and Shelley Shaw, I could not ask for better staff, their commitment and dedication to our students is second to none. As a department, we look forward to 2023 as we strive to offer more opportunities for our students.

Mā te wā

Sam Twomey