Winter sport has come to an abrupt halt at the wrong time for many of the UHC sports teams - as they close on various titles. Sports Activator Chris Campbell gives us the run down.

The unknown in terms of what will happen for the last couple of competition games coupled with the loss of Winter Tournament Week is very disappointing, and we sympathise with the students, coaches and families who were looking forward to rounding off their season at various places around the country. 

For now, we wait; chances are that the situation may have already changed in the time that it takes for this article to go live. 

It isn’t all doom and gloom though, despite the term being in its infancy we have still seen some awesome achievements across an array of sports. Here are our Highlights for the term thus far.

Netball

Our Premier One side are poised to claim the crown of Division 3 Champions after qualifying for the final, now it is a time to play the waiting game to see how that will pan out.

The Collegiate One grade was completely dominated by UHC with the final being played between our Premier 2 team and our Junior A's. The highly anticipated final was played in front of a capacity crowd in our gym. To the victor the spoils and it was our Premier 2 team who took the silverware in what was an incredibly skilful encounter. The future is looking bright with such talent coming through.

Our Junior Premier team (a combination of all our junior students who were eligible to play) participated in the Regional College Sport Wellington Tournament. This was a great opportunity for UHC to play against the best teams in the region at the ASB stadium in Kilbirnie. Although we missed out on a major placing it was a great day of netball and learning for the team.

Our Senior Yellow team were also in the hunt for silverware in their Collegiate final but were pipped at the post by a very good Sacred Heart side.

We are excited for next year and developing our players even further. Thank you to all our coaches and managers, without you teams can’t always go ahead. It is always great to see students working hard and giving back to the College and the sport through coaching and umpiring. Our students are doing a great job by creating an environment for other students to play.

Football

We have our Girls 1st XI, Girl’s 2nd XI, Junior Girls and Junior Boys sides all crossing their fingers after making it to the top of the pack in their respective grades. It is now a matter for College Sport to determine how the league winners will be crowned post lockdown. Our 1st XI Boys team have also found their groove with big wins in recent weeks over Kapiti College and Tawa College.

On an individual note we had 3 boys trial for the New Zealand Secondary Schools team on Monday 16 August. Kyle Willams, Angus Prinsloo and Harry McMahon all represented themselves and the College well, we wish them all the best for selection!

Badminton & Table Tennis Regional Champs

Both badminton and table tennis are sports that we offer in a social and competitive setting at UHC. 

Whilst many students use the late start on a Friday morning for a long lie in after at the end of the week, our gyms are packed with students playing and perfecting their skills before school starts. Both codes have recently held their Regional Championships and we had great representation from our school at both events. 

Although no medals were won it is great to see UHC represented against some of the best players in the country!

Rugby

Our Under 65kg and U15's teams have concluded their seasons and again it is impressive to see the talent that we have in the code, expect a few new names in the 1st XV for 2022. Thanks to the players, coaches, managers and families for another great season.

The 1st XV wait like the other sports finalists to see what will happen, as they look to defend their Premier 2 crown against St Pats Silverstream. 

Our boys have dominated the grade for the second year running and will be hoping to send off the departing Year 13's as back to back champions. Thanks to Ross and Roseanne for the hours of work that you have put into Rugby at UHC, it is no secret that the success is largely down to your hard work. A special mention to Flyn Morgan who currently sits proudly as the top points scorer in the region after a season of precision kicking and a fair few tries, excellent work Flyn!

Individual Achievements

The Newest members of the Upper Hutt Honours Club are:

Sean Harvey – 50 1st XI Football Games

Sifa Palu – 35 1st XV Rugby Games

Keisar Vailalo – 35 1st XV Rugby Games

Representative Honours

Basketball

U17 Regional Tournament Team - Arthur Pilcher

U15 Regional Tournament Team - Taku Banya

Netball

Hutt Valley U18’s - Inez Tuhoro-Robinson, Dayshana Reremoana

Hutt Valley U16’s - Isabelle Ingerson, Shylah Neilson, Casey Cotter

Hutt Valley U14’s - Megan Stokes, Kharma Teepa, Sam Nukunuku, Paige Garwood, Noah Rawiri, Kathleen Paikea, Ella Ramsay

Rugby

U18 Wellington Centurions - Joziah Eneliko

U18 Wellington Samoans (Captain) - Keisar Vailalo

U18 Wellington Samoans - Pene To'o

U18 Wellington Maori - James Oti

U18 Wellington Maori - Arthur Pilcher

Wellington Under 16 - Zion Chalmers-Miller, Sione Mafi