On Thursday 11th March, three Waitaki volleyball teams headed to Timaru for the Aoraki Championships. Most other teams had been playing regularly in the Timaru competition at nights so it was good to see that our teams were very competitive in this competition.

Games started at 9.00am with 3 rounds in pool play leading to the quarter-finals. Playing in the Division 1 competition, Waitaki A and B teams both gave strong performances to win and come second in their sections respectively. Waitaki A beat Mountainview and Roncalli Varsity while the B team beat St Kevin's B but lost to Craighead. In the quarter-final matches the A team went on to beat St Kevin’s A in a close match to reach the semi-finals but the B team lost a very tough game against Ashburton – the eventual winners. Although the A team lost to Ashburton it was a very creditable performance by the team in their first competition of the year.

The Junior team played in the Festival grade and won all their games – even the ones against the all boys and mixed teams. This was a great performance from the team which was well coached by Meliame Saulala.

Congratulations girls on a great tournament and thanks very much to our coaches, Mrs Paodi, Meliame Saulala, Vaiuku Tuipulotu-Katoa and Zahara Shah who have put a lot of work into upskilling the players so that they are able to compete at this level.