WINTER OLYMPICS 2011 REPORT
On Monday 27th June a group of 29 enthusiastic and energy filled students were taken to Totara Springs Camp, for the annual Winter Olympic Competition. This was a fantastic experience for all the students involved as they were given the opportunity to participate and observe in over 20 sports from petanque through to rugby, and compete against other schools from Tauranga, Waikato and Auckland.
Our school in comparison to others is a lot smaller and therefore the students are required to develop a wide range of fundamental skills that they can transfer from one sport to another. This was evident in a number of their preliminary games.
By the time Friday came around and the bus returned to school, there were some very tired but proud students (not to mention the exhausted teachers and parents who were looking forward to a full night’s sleep). Overall the camp was very successful with the children bringing home 3 first places and 2 runners up. We look forward to next year’s camp and encourage all children who are interested to start practising now and come along to the trials.
Cups won: Croquet, scram ball and draughts.
Runners up in basketball and volleyball.
Croquet
Luke Finnerty and I made up the MIS croquet team. All the MIS Olympic team came to watch us play in the Final.
Plink, plonk, yeah! Plink, plonk, yeah! Is all that you could hear until I got the winning shot.
Everything was silent; you could even hear a pin drop. Plonk! Went my mallet as it hit my ball. It seemed like ages before my ball got through the pegs.
“Yeah!” yelled the whole team from the sidelines. We won our game 7-2. It was a great day.
By Bradley Barton-Reese
Basketball
Our first basketball game was our last game of the day and we were super tired but we ended up winning 39-0. Yes we won, and it was the beginning of a winning streak that was hard to beat. Over the new few days we ended up winning our games quite comfortably and made the semi finals. We played Otumoetai, When the ball went up in the air it was hard for Kennedy to reach as she jumped against their tallest player (she was taller than Mr. Keegan). Once we got into a groove of scoring we were unstoppable. Then the final buzzer went “YES WE ARE IN THE FINALS!” everyone rushed up to congratulate us and we yelled with excitement.
Before the final we all felt nervous, even Mr. Keegan, Mrs. Bassett and our supporters, but when the ball lifted from the starters hands the intensity lifted. The atmosphere was amazing. Unfortunately I was injured in the first 30 seconds was off for most of the first half. Even with everyone putting in the amount of effort that was bigger than the world itself we were down. After a motivating speech at half time, we were ready to make a come back in the second half. We played our hardest but lost by 4 points. It was the most challenging week and this game we will remember forever
Volleyball
In our first game we played Peachgrove. We served better than we ever have before but found the rules were way different to how we had been taught. We quickly got into the rhythm we needed to play well. As the week of games went on we came second in our pool and made it into the semi finals. We played Blockhouse Bay and it was one of the hardest games we played that week. We won the serve, stayed nice and calm and with our top seven on we won our first set. We rotated and began the second set. It was their serve but we did our best and ended up winning the second set. We made it into the finals. We were so surprised.
After a hard game of basketball we had to regroup and play our Volleyball final against Otumoetai. Our tiredness gave them an advantage but it was the best game of volleyball we‘d played in a long time. We would win a point then they would win a point. Unfortunately we lost the first and second sets by only 2 points. Overall we tried our best in all the games we played and had a great time.
Basketball and Volleyball written by: Sita Latu
Draughts
On the second day at Sports Camp, after dinner, Bradley and I went off to draughts. People were sitting down quietly. My first opponent was Otumoetai Intermediate and I won that round. Matamata was my next opponent. I won all my games until at last it was the semis. “North Cross and Melville” the lady called out. I won the first round and the second was a draw. I won the game 2-1.
Mr. Keegan and my friends were watching and after I won Mr. Keegan massaged my back, but it didn’t feel good at all. Then it was the Final, Melville vs Peachgrove, my heart was beating really fast. I beat Peachgrove in the first round. I was lucky as I only had 3 pieces left. Round 2 was the longest game I’ve ever played but at the end I had 3 pieces left and double jumped Peachgrove. I won a trophy for the school and was so excited because I thought it wouldn’t be this easy. My mates and Mr. Keegan came and massaged my back again, and this time it felt good because I was the champion at draughts!
By Dara Heng