Lots to report from our sports super stars this week!

Inter-school Swimming

On Thursday a group of year 5 and 6 children represented Westmere at the Central Auckland Zone Inter-school Swimming competition.  The children did really well with many getting into the finals.  We also made an epic comeback in the relay coming in second in the end.  Each and every student represented Westmere in the best possible light displaying all of our values and most importantly, everyone had fun!

Oscar Tainui-Hernandez reports:

On Thursday last week, we were back at AUT Millenium stadium for “the Zones”. I could feel the excitement in the air from all the kids there, from 11 different schools.

I was quite nervous of all the shouting and cheering in the background. But each time as I got into position on the diving board I focused on the race ahead: Breaststroke, Backstroke, Freestyle, Medley. Our Westmere team all dressed in our cool school jackets were supporting each other with cheering, high fives and hugs after each of our races. It was a great day and everyone was excited when team mates reached the finish line in a place or first! Go Westmere!With a first and two seconds I felt very happy and that all my training before school had paid off. All of our Westmere team swam hard and it was a really great day. Our relay team raced speedily and came second overall - a great effort! I was pretty tired after all the events, but to celebrate my dad bought me a jam doughnut and an ice cream! It was a brilliant day. 

Basketball

Kia Ora Westmere Whanau,

The basketball season kicked off this week for term 2. Fantastic to see the fastest growing sport in the country leading the way at Westmere too - we have 7 teams in the league now! 

MASSIVE SHOUT OUT/ KIA ORA/KA PAI/ VINAKA VAKALEVU/ THANK YOU SO MUCH/ FAAFETAI LAVA/ MEITAKI/ MALO 'AUPITO/GRACIAS/ TACK to our coaches and managers for all their communication, subbing, singlet locating, ball carrying, early morning coaching sessions, last-minute filling in, encouragement, player wrangling and mouthguard reminders - we know there is a huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to make the games possible so thanks for providing this awesome opportunity for our tamariki to play.

• Kimberley Hill - The Hops (Year 5)
• Jacinda Ryan - The Nets (Year 5)
• Belinda Grocott/Karen Duggan - The Rockets (Year 6)
• Natasha Symonds - The Pelicans (Year 6)
• Cate Densiova - The Taniwha (Year 4)
• Sarah Clark/ Jess Bartlett - The Gorillaz (Year 3)
• Dallas Pickering - The Bucks (Year 6) one of the many many teams Dallas has coached over the years!!

Term 2 Basketball at Westmere:

Monday night saw the Westmere Gorillaz (our year 3 team) play Newton Hawks. Tom Clark LS7 says the game was so cool to start the season again, it was fun and a good challenge because the other team was really good. The Ref helped us play more fairly' - and the first outing for the Westmere Taniwha (year 4) vs the Newton Clippers. 

Poitūkohu nā Liza Denisova

The basketball game was really fun but we were one player short so the other team let us have one of their players to go on our team. I knew the player that joined us.

I was so excited when we won but the main thing is that we had fun. I really enjoyed playing with the other kids in the team and I am looking forward to meeting the rest of the kids that were not there last week and I am so excited for Monday . This is a Māori proverb - Kaua e mate wheke me mate ururoa. It means don’t die like an octopus, die like a shark. In other words, it means give it your all and that’s what I think we did last Monday.

Friday Night Basketball:

Westmere Rockets (Year 6 boys) Thanks to Betsy and Miro for filling in for us! The first basketball game for term 2 was exciting. We all had so much fun. The score was 9-12 to the opposing Westmere team and it was really close. Congrats to the Pelicans!! We look forward to next week's game! - Sam Peters

The Bucks (Year 6 boys) 'I was really proud of our defense against the Ritimana Warriors' - Miro Pickering 'I think we did good at defense and marking but I think we need to do short and easy passes to get around them. Except for that, we played good' - Joe Graham

Westmere Hops (Year 5) 'Cool game, best sport ever and keeps me motivated' Te Kaia Ramsay

Basketball runs throughout the year - If your child is interested in playing get them to talk to friends - need 7 players for a team (5 players and 2 subs). Will need a mouthguard. Ball size is 5 until children are intermediate age.

Flippaball

The Westmere Dolphins had another fun but tough game this week. Lexa (Year 3) says I enjoyed training before the game and my favourite part was when I got to throw the ball.

The Westmere Marlins had a great win against the Dio Sharks scoring 6-0.

The Westmere Sharks had another strong game, winning 3-0 against SKBS Flipper Fives.  One Dad was heard saying ’Toby’s right arm is like a rifle’ and a player commented that ‘we ate them 'cause we’re the sharks!’.  

Community Sports Opportunity - Football

Western Springs Football Club is looking for 11th Grade players  (children born in 2011) to join a team. If your child is interested in playing, please contact Renai by email: coordinator2011@wsafc.org.Nz. 

Interschool Rugby

Looking ahead at inter-school activities we have rugby league coming up in week 7. In order for this to go ahead, we will need a parent who is experienced in rugby league/tackle rugby to coach the team. If you're able to do this please contact Simone at simone@westmere.school.nz.