There will be no battling the elements, no playing through rain or hail, and — possibly the most important — no wind to contest with.
Dunedin will host the South Island secondary schools tournament at the Edgar Centre next week.
It is a rare luxury to have all of the massive tournament’s games played indoors.
Most associations host the tournament as a hybrid on indoor and outdoor courts due to availability, but the Edgar Centre — hosting the tournament for the first time in six years — allows players to put the outside noise behind them and focus on the job at hand.
It is one of the largest secondary schools winter tournament week events with 80 teams descending on Dunedin, playing across three grades.
Thirty-two teams will compete in the A and B grades and 15 teams in C grade, and the South is well represented across all the grades.
Columba College and St Hilda’s Collegiate head into the tournament as Otago’s top two seeds in A grade.
Columba, coached by former Silver Fern Jodi Brown, are second after being runners-up to No 1 seed St Margaret’s College, of Christchurch, in last year’s final. Columba won the title for the first time in 2023.
St Hilda’s, coached by former Silver Fern Belinda Colling, are seeded fifth and won the Otago secondary schools tournament earlier this season.
Central Southland College are not far off the pace and are the sixth seeds in A grade after being the only co-educational school in the top eight last season.
They are among the 13 southern teams competing in A grade, including St Peter's College (seeded 11), James Hargest College (13) — who won the Southland secondary schools tournament earlier this year — Otago Girls’ (14), Waitaki Girls’ (17), Taieri College (19), Dunstan (20), Mount Aspiring (21), St Kevin’s College (24), Wakatipu (26) and Southland Girls’ (27).
Eleven southern teams will compete in B grade. Cromwell College are the top seeds in B grade, and Verdon College (3), Queen’s High School (4), Maruawai College (7) and South Otago High School (8) round out the top 10.
Five southern schools will compete in C grade, including Lawrence, Tokomairiro and Kaikorai Valley College.
The tournament starts on Monday and wraps up with finals on Thursday.
