Term 1 is now at an end and what an action-packed term it was. From Archery to 3-on-3 basketball and everything in between. Our participation numbers have been excellent as have some of our achievements. Sports Activator Chris Campbell sums up a great start to 2023. Also see articles on Zoe Hilton and our great tennis team.

On behalf of Upper Hutt College, we would like to extend a massive thank you to all of the parents, caregivers, coaches, managers and glorified taxi drivers for affording our students the opportunity to represent our school.We are doing things slightly differently this year for the "Sports Wrap" and will be including articles from our athletes and sports committee members. Enjoy!

Futsal

Upper Hutt College entered a whopping 11 teams into the local Hutt Valley futsal competition, the majority of which play for the social benefits and as a way to connect with their mates outside of school. However, we have a few teams that take it pretty seriously. Congratulations to the senior girls Miracles and Aqua teams for winning their respective divisions.  

Girls Futsal

By UHC Miracles co-captains Katie and Maia.

This term the Miracles Girls' senior futsal team competed in the College Sport Wellington (CSW) Hutt Valley Senior Girls Div 1 competition. The competition was made up of two round robins seeing our girls go undefeated in the first round. The second round started just as strongly with the girls having back to back wins going into the final game of the season with an outstanding goal difference. 

In the final round the Miracles went up against long-time rival Heretaunga College. It was a well fought game with it being 0-0 till the last 30 seconds when an unfortunate goal went in.

Although we may have lost this game the girls' outstanding dedication and effort throughout the season still saw them win the overall Hutt valley senior girls division 1.

On Wednesday the 15th of March our girls' premier futsal team competed in the CSW futsal regionals. 

The day started strong with the girls winning the first game 2-1 against Wellington High School. Our next game challenged the girls, who went down with a loss to eventual winners Wellington Girls' College. 

Going into our next game, tension was high against local rivals Heretaunga College. The girls fought hard ending the game 0-0, however fell short in penalties meaning we had to play off for 7-8th place. 

Our play off was against Sacred Heart College, a team we had come up against many times, we won 2-0 taking home 7th place, the highest we had ever placed at futsal regionals. 

Boys Futsal

By Hamish Sheterline

This year's futsal Nationals were my first for the school and an overall great experience. We were placed in a group with Rongotai College, St Andrews College, Christchurch & Mount Albert Grammar School, with Rongotai College being the only school we had any knowledge of. 

Our first game was on Wednesday, a close fought draw against St Andrews, a game we had the potential to win. Our final two group stage games required at least one win, and that’s what we managed against Rongotai. 

We knew they were a strong school but also knew we were capable of producing an upset. It was our most intense and thrilling game of the whole tournament, with us winning it with a goal in the dying seconds to make it 3-2. This set us up nicely to make it out of our group and into the top 16. Our third and final group game was against Mount Albert Grammar School, who outplayed us physically and mentally. We put up a hard fight but the match ended in a loss for us.

From our group games, we went through to the round of 16 against a strong Rotorua Boys' High team, who were one of the best teams at the tournament. They were composed and able to contain us, knocking us out of the running for a top 8 finish.  

Our final three games were all on Friday, with all three ending in grim defeat for us.  Overall, we finished 16th in the country with a team that was 70% Year 11 or under.  Having such a young group of players leaves us with potential for the coming years to achieve even more than we did this year. 

A huge thank you to Eli for his hard work and dedication to coaching a young group of players and a special thanks to Kaito and Enok who played in their last futsal tournament for the school, two players who were a core part of the team, on and off the court. 

Floorball

If you are wondering if floorball is a typo and that I actually mean football, you are incorrect. Floorball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and as it turns out, UHC are pretty darn good at it!!! 

We sent a mixed junior team to compete in the Junior Boys' grade at the New Zealand Secondary School Nationals held in Wellington over the first weekend of April. Our team well and truly exceeded their expectations by placing 2nd in New Zealand, going down in the final to St Pat's Silverstream. A fantastic achievement! 

Individual Excellence

It's great to see so many UHC students doing so well across individual sporting codes. Here is a quick rundown of the achievements of some of our solo sport stars! 

Jess Nicol - Queen of the Mountain 

Jess Nicol competed at the Karapoti Classic mountain bike race in March and did extremely well. For those who are unfamiliar with the race, it is the oldest running mountain bike event in New Zealand and participants flock from around the country to Upper Hutt to compete. Jess rode through 20 km of bush, hills, rivers and trails and placed a commendable 6th out of 93 entrants, Well-done Jess. 

Lily Candy – The World is her Oyster

It has been a busy and successful sporting term for our Head Student Lily Candy!

Lily juggles futsal, touch rugby and her true passion – BMX. Lily has won Silver at the Capital BMX Champs, the women’s elite Hutt Valley Champs and the Wellington Regional Champs and she placed first in the Kapiti Woman’s elite. These are great achievements but it is her qualification for the World Champs in Scotland later in the year that is the major achievement. Awesome work Lily!