At the close of the term, winter sport at UHC is heating up with many teams poised to be there or there abouts come the business end of their competitions. Sports Activator Chris Campbell has a quick look at the highlights from the term and what exciting things are on the horizon.

Heretaunga Exchange

The Heretaunga Exchange took place on Wednesday the 23 June at UHC and Maidstone Park. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go our way with Heretaunga picking up their second shield win in 20 or so years. The highlight from a UHC perspective was our girls' hockey side getting up to win at Maidstone turf against our neighbours for the first time in recent history! 

The other encouraging sign was the depth that we have coming through within our junior cohort. The signs for the future are bright and we hope that we will be able to get the shield back in our trophy cabinet next year. 

A huge thanks to all of the students, volunteers, officials and caregivers for making it another successful exchange (despite the final result)

Athlete Development Programme

The Athlete Development Programme is designed to support student athletes who are achieving well within their chosen sport. The group train together on a Wednesday and complete functional fitness sessions, then on a Friday work with some high calibre coaches to do their code specific work. Our group have had a very busy term and have had some amazing opportunities to hear from professional athletes and ask them questions in an open forum. 

During the last week of Term Two the group were lucky to hear from Kenneth Tuffin who currently plays basketball for the Wellington Saints and from UHC Old Boy Matt Luamanu, a professional rugby player currently applying his trade in the top French Division. This was a great experience for our students who engaged extremely well and took a lot from the sessions. A huge thanks to Kenneth & Matt for taking time out of their busy schedules to chat with our students.

Winter Tournament Week

Winter tournament week is the jewel in New Zealand Secondary School Sport’s crown with thousands of young people taking to the various courts and fields the length of the country at the end of August. Our school will be very well represented with our boys' & girls' football teams, boys' basketball team, girls' netball team and girls' hockey team all taking part. This is a massive opportunity for our students to test themselves against the best from around the country and enjoy staying away from home with their team. We look forward to bringing you a detailed rundown in the next newsletter. Good luck to all of the teams!

RUGBY

The first XV continue to assert their dominance on the Premier 2 division with big wins over Wairarapa College, Bishop Viard and Naenae in recent weeks. Some great team performances and individual brilliance sees our boys as hot favourites to go back to back as champions this year. The majority of their games have been on the road so it will be great to have a few home games in the run in to (fingers crossed) another final.

50 Club

Congratulations to the following students for bringing up their 50th top team appearance for Upper Hutt College. This is a great achievement that shows tremendous dedication to their sport.

Inez Tuhoro-Robinson – Netball

Danielle Fitness – Hockey

Emma Howie-Buckley – Football

Oliver Whalen - Football