Cold mornings, getting dark early and rain, lots of rain, can mean only one thing.... winter Sport is here. We have record numbers of students representing UHC at the various courts and fields around the Wellington region. Sports Activator Chris Campbell rounds up of some of the highlights thus far.

Basketball

Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and the trend is certainly reflected at Upper Hutt College. You only need to open the door to the Sports Centre foyer and you will hear a symphony of bouncing balls and see students in their masses getting shots up in the river gym every interval and lunchtime. 

This popularity has translated to more and more students playing competitive basketball for the school and they are doing pretty well too. 

The Senior A boys, Junior A boys and Junior A girls have all cemented Premier status after impressive grading rounds. This is a fantastic achievement and we look forward to seeing how they get on. 

Our Senior A girls will look to be there or thereabouts in Division One and the other team to watch is our newly formed Junior Social girls who have been sweeping their opponents aside with some massive scores early on in the season. 

Netball

Netball has seen a resurgence in recent years with more girls playing than ever before and with our teams doing some pretty awesome stuff on the court here is a quick overview from Shelley Shaw:

On Thursday 18th May UHC Senior A Netball Team headed to Akau Tangi Stadium in Wellington to compete in the CSW Snr A tournament.

We had some close and competitive games which were fiercely contested. We came away in 1st place from the round robin and crossed over to meet Scots in the Division 1 Final. Scots were fired up and ended up taking the final 24 to 9. 

Our goal at the beginning of the day was to reach the final. We are so proud of the girls who played and supported us as a team. The whole coaching and management team are excited about the future of this team and are working hard to have a successful season.

Grading has finished for all other grades and team placements have been confirmed. We are very proud to still hold two teams in the Premier 2 grade. We have a total of 10 teams this year. Netball at Upper Hutt College is strong and we are very competitive on the court.

Rugby

This year, as in recent seasons, we have merged with Heretaunga College for rugby due to low numbers of players at both colleges. This year however, we have seen an increase in UHC players and it bodes well for us to achieve our goal of having separate 1st XV's in the near future. 

This year we have an U55kg team, an U15's team and our 1st XV. All of the grading campaigns have kicked off and it looks as though our U15's are the pick of the bunch, currently topping their pool without losing a single game at the time of writing this article. 

In what is labelled a rebuilding year for our 1st XV the team will be looking to do well in the Premier 3 competition after missing out on Premier 2 status. Saturday's 50-0 victory over Taita College indicates that the new team and coaching staff are starting to hit their straps and will be there or thereabouts when it comes to taking some silverware next term.

Football

We are proud to be turning out seven football teams in 2023, including three girls teams. The Wellington weather hasn't been kind to our footballers with cancellations and some pretty heavy playing surfaces but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and making the most of it. 

Our girls 1st XI have a new home, after dominating the Hutt Valley league they have stepped up to Premier 2 (narrowly missing out on Premier 1 status by goal difference). New coach Sarah Bourne and the girls have made a good start to life in the regional grade by brushing Newlands College aside 4-1. 

The boys 1st XI are in a rebuilding phase with new coach Eli Meyrick assembling a very young squad (half are still eligible to play junior football). Their goal is to consolidate themselves in the first division with an eye on promotion to Premier Reserve in 2024. 

With such a talented crop of young players the future looks bright for this team.

Tough Gal

On Friday 26 May we had 70 Girls complete the Tough Guy/Gal challenge at Camp Wainui in Wainuiomata (the most we have ever taken). Girls took on 6km of mud, obstacles, memories and more than a couple of laughs. 

The goal for most was to finish the race with their mates and have a great time doing it. However, there was one girl who had eyes for finishing first. 

Year 9 student Zoe Hilton, who was fresh from a 3rd placing at the College Sport Wellington Regional Cross Country champs earlier in the week, did an amazing job finishing as the fastest junior girl in the field, with a time of 33.41 min. This also placed her as the 3rd fastest girl overall. Congratulations to all of our Tough Gals!

Cheers to the volunteers 

Lastly, a massive thank you to all of the volunteers that make sport possible at UHC. If it wasn't for your support we would not be able to have so many students out there representing our school. We can always do with more volunteers, if you would like to be involved in UHC sport please reach out to the Sport Department, we would be happy to have you!