Sarah began playing indoor bowls for the Roxburgh East Bowling Club at the age of 13 with her grandmother, and also ventured outside to take up the outdoor version. She has received encouragement and coaching from club members and practises at least twice a week, exams permitting.
Sarah's first success came when she was selected as a reserve for the Central Otago bowls competition. She did not play, but the coach, the late Bill Kitto, encouraged her to keep playing, and a bowler was born.
For the past three years, she has qualified at Central Otago level to play in the zone 6 secondary schools championships, and has been the zone's singles champion.
Sarah qualified in each of those years to play at the New Zealand secondary schools championships. In the first year she placed 10th, and in the second year she placed 6th, which qualified her to reach the playoffs in the championship.
Sarah hopes to finish in the top three at the national schools championships in Dunedin next month. Alexandra coach Robbie Wyatt has had a huge influence on Sarah recently.
Young athlete qualifies
Courtney Martin, a year 9 pupil at East Otago High School, is excited about her prospects at the national schools athletics championships in Hastings next month. Courtney is attending the event for the first time, to compete in the discus and shot put events in the hope of gaining some vital experience and of making the top 10 in her age group.
Last year, Courtney broke two Otago records in the 12-plus age group, throwing 25.29m in the discus and 8.59m in the shot put. She is now in the under-14 age-group, where she came second in the shot put at the Otago championships and qualified for the South Island championships, where she threw 9.59m to finish fifth.
Once Courtney heard that she had qualified for the national competition, she got straight into training, changing her technique and building up her speed in the circle. Courtney has to balance a busy lifestyle that includes horse riding, surf life-saving, hockey, rugby and school work as well as athletics training.
She broke the Otago under-14 shot put record recently with a massive throw of 11.19m - shattering the old record of 10.33m. Courtney's discus ability has also improved and she is now throwing more than 30m consistently.
Outdoors at Mt Aspiring
Finn Fairbairn, of Mt Aspiring College, was first in all three rounds of the New Zealand sportclimbing cup recently. Finn competed in the under-14 age group in both the lead difficulty and speed sections. He was first in both the national and Oceania championships, and has also got through the initial selection process for representing New Zealand at the world youth championships in Austria next year.
At the beginning of October, a team of five Mt Aspiring pupils took part in the South Island schools mountain bike championships.
Phoebe Coers (under-15 girls) was third in the hill climb, second in the downhill and fourth in the cross-country, and third overall.
Hannah Lane raced in the under-19 girls section and finished fourth in the hill climb, but crashed in the downhill practice and was not able to compete for the rest of the weekend.
Alex Dodds raced in the under-19 boys grade, placed 10th in the hill climb and cross-country and 31st in the downhill. He was 10th overall.
Adam McClintock and Greg Cochrane both raced in the downhill, placing 15th and 9th respectively.
Mt Aspiring finished 8th overall.
New Zealand football
A squad of New Zealand under-15 boys football players will tour Singapore and Malaysia next month. The squad is dominated by North Island players, but has three locals involved in the management.
Dougal McGowan is the tour leader. McGowan, who is deputy rector at Otago Boys' High School, has had a long involvement in New Zealand schools football. He is a board member of New Zealand Football and chairman of Footballsouth.
Gareth Hore will travel as goalkeeping coach. The South Otago High School teacher has in the past two seasons managed and coached the goalkeepers in the Otago United team that competes in the national league. In 2000, he was selected in the New Zealand Schools team, but was forced to withdraw due to a serious back injury.
Tim Dalman, of Back in Motion Physiotherapy, completes the local contingent, as the team's physiotherapist. This is Dalman's sixth tour.
The team is coached by Alex Metz of Auckland Grammar.
King's cricket to the fore
The OSSSA year 9-10 cricket tournament in Dunedin last week saw several King's cricketers return some good performances. The recently established Nathan McCullum Academy is proving a winner already, as some excellent skills were exhibited during the three days of play.
The King's XI beat OBHS year 9 and then OBHS year 10 to claim the title after a two-wicket loss to Kavanagh.
The second match saw King's score 246 for four with Joel Meade scoring a fine 104 and Felix Page (49).
In the final game, King's beat OBHS year 10 by eight wickets after restricting Otago Boys' to 166 for nine from their 50 overs. King's finished 167 for two.
Dunstan cricket
The New Zealand Community Trust year 9 boys competition will finish with the national finals next year.
In the Otago Country preliminary rounds, Dunstan had a default win, followed by an encounter with neighbour Cromwell College. Batting first, Dunstan reached 202 for five, with Luke Turfus scoring 19, Drew Van Boxtel 59 and Nathan Connor an excellent 110. Nathan and Drew showed a lot of patience in hot conditions, and gave Dunstan a formidable total.
In reply, Cromwell batted very well but Dunstan was able to hold on for a 15-run win. A tight period of bowling in the middle stages from Bradley Stringer and Hayden Marsh helped restrict the run rate and put the pressure back on Cromwell.
In a low-scoring game against Wakatipu High School, Dunstan reached 122, with Michael McBreen (50) and Drew van Boxtel (29). Wakatipu was dismissed for 79 with Cody Laing bowling consistently well, and Drew being the main wicket-taker. Dunstan will face the winner of the Southland schools section.
Meanwhile, the school senior side is unbeaten in the Vincent Cricket Association reserve grade competition, nearly six points ahead of its nearest rival.
Jayden Attfield, Will Meehan, Liam Mulvihill, Aidan Smith, Bryce Smith and Drew Van Boxtel have been selected in the Otago Country Under-16 squad for a tournament next month.
Bowls
The New Zealand secondary schools championships will be held in Dunedin from December 12-14. Headquarters will be at the Northeast Valley club with greens at both the St Clair and Northeast Valley clubs being used.
Regional playoffs covering all of New Zealand have been completed, resulting in the selection of six girls and six boys to represent each of the six zones.
Seven pupils from Otago will be representing region six, which includes South Canterbury, North Otago, Central Otago, South Otago and Southland schools.
They are Brooke Craik, Alex King, Cameron Craik, Elliot Mason, Oliver Mason, Sarah Davidson and Lanah Craik. This event is the nursery for the next generation of bowlers.
Special Olympics
This term has again been a busy one for pupils involved in the Special Olympics secondary schools programme. The recent athletics ribbon day saw 110 athletes from 14 schools compete in track and field events at the Caledonian Ground.
This year has been the final year for a number of pupils, who have competed at this event since its inception four years ago. Simon Greene (St Kevin's), Matt Aitken (OBHS), Ben Owen, Chris Tavite, Meghan McNeil, Courtenay Wytenburg, Doug McCraw and Todd Whyte (all Sara Cohen) will move on from school, and some of these pupils have taken part in the Otago secondary school athletics championships where they have competed with courage and bravery.
Ricky White (Sara Cohen), Simon Greene and David White (King's High School) were the standout athletes on the track, while Jade Nicholson (Logan Park High School), Natasha Harborne (Taieri College) and Eve McCoy (Queens High School) dominating the girls track events.
Division 3 of the shot put featured some outstanding performances, with Ben Crawford and Chase Henderson (both Logan Park) and Gabe Lehman (Sara Cohen) all throwing well over 7m. Jade Nicholson and Anna Anderson (Kaikorai Valley College) took out the awards for the girls shot put.
Also, two equestrian events were held in Otago last week. These were held so Special Olympics New Zealand could gauge who is riding and who is working with developing and coaching athletes as a lead-in to the 2013 National Summer Games.
In Wanaka, 12 local riders competed, with Anna Freeman (Mt Aspiring College) first in the working trail and barrel race and Jorden Alexander (Alexandra) first in the working trail. Volunteers came from Central Otago schools, Wanaka and Alexandra, the Wanaka Pony Club, Wanaka Rodeo Association and Timber Creek Equestrian Centre to make sure the riders had the best possible support.
In Dunedin, 42 riders from schools and Special Olympics clubs took part in an event at the Taieri A and P showgrounds.
Top performers in the working trail were Teana Warden (Taieri College), Anna Anderson and Doug Adams (Kaikorai Valley College) and Philippa Henderson (South Otago High School).
