Karen Rosevear
Taieri College
Over the past 16 years, Karen has generously volunteered countless hours to ensure Taieri College netball is thriving. Whether it’s coaching/managing a team, organising events, or offering guidance to aspiring athletes, she consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the success of our netball.
Karen is the teacher in charge of netball, which consists of organising teams, finding coaches and managers, sorting netball kits, uniforms, uniform designs and registrations and tournament planning.
Her enthusiasm and passion for netball has had a lasting impact on students. Her ability to motivate and support our students, while fostering a spirit of camaraderie and sportsmanship, makes them an invaluable asset to our school community.
In addition to her role as manager of the senior A team, Karen has helped plan for teams to attend all Otago and South Island tournaments each year for netball. Her leadership and selflessness have enhanced our school’s netball programme, making it a place where all students feel welcome and encouraged to grow.
Her commitment to netball extends well beyond Taieri College to the wider netball community, such as Taieri Plains Netball which involves primary to intermediate students.
We are truly grateful for the time and energy Karen has dedicated to netball. Her tireless efforts have made a lasting difference and netball at Taieri wouldn’t be successful without her. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated and caring person in our school community.
Mount Aspiring College rugby players prepare for a game.
Kate Watson
Mount Aspiring College
I fell in love with sport at a young age. I captained the girls’ 1st XV, basketball A team and touch mixed A this year. During my time at the college, I’ve played basketball, rugby, netball, cricket, volleyball, touch and football. I have also been involved in the quad tournament each year, where we play Cromwell College and Central Southland in four different sports.
Sport has been a huge part of my life and family culture. It has implemented core values for me such as teamwork, compassion, fair play and the importance of setbacks and failure. Sport constantly builds an individual’s character as it presents us with real-life challenges; sometimes we might have to work with people we don’t always get along with and other times we may not play to the level we desire. The determination and resistance both on and off the field grows us to be mindful and strong individuals in the future.
For me, two big achievements from the past two years have been developing girls’ rugby from rock bottom to a successful, strong 1st XV, and taking on multiple leadership roles. Committing to many teams has been difficult but extremely rewarding. The tournaments, training and socialising created some core memories which made it all worth it. The connections and sense of pride, established by representing the kura, was extraordinary.
As I take the next step in life and move to Christchurch for university, I desire to continue with as much sport that I have time for. Overall, the impact sport has is both unmatchable and valuable.
Aya Oseki (Trinity Catholic College) competes in handball. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
Aya Oseki
Trinity Catholic College
Sports: Basketball, netball and handball.
Value of school sport: Sport has done so much for me. I have met so many amazing people and been able to learn so many skills such as teamwork, communication and hard work. It has meant so much to be able to give back to something that has given me so much. Being sport prefect this year gave me the ability to do this.
Lessons learnt: Saying yes to opportunities that might seem scary or hard. Doing this has led me to so many amazing experiences and opportunities.
Lauren Davey
Logan Park High School
Sports: Tennis, basketball, badminton, cross-country, multisport, duathlon, triathlon and climbing.
Value of school sport: School sports teach many life skills, including organisation, time management, and effective communication and collaboration with others. Being involved in school sports has allowed me to maintain a healthy balance of school work and sports. I’ve enjoyed building strong bonds with members of my teams and getting to know others who share a similar love. These relationships will last a lifetime.
Lessons learnt: I’ve learnt that you should always make the most of the opportunities that come your way, and have fun while you’re out there. You’re already beating everyone who did not make it to the start line or take the opportunity.
Wyatt Mallon.
Wyatt Mallon
Tokomairiro High School
Sports: Touch, hockey and rugby.
Value of school sport: I enjoy playing sports for my school and in general. Being part of a team has taught me so many skills about teamwork, leadership and communication, which really helped me further in my schooling career. It has also helped me to strive for excellence and continue to set higher goals for myself. I have valued the commitment, patience and time that the coaches have put into trying to develop and teach players. They usually notice the talent that these students have, before anyone else, and they give you feedback for you to take and improve on, which levels up your game even more. Now that I am a senior, I like to carry on this way with the new players in the team. I can see the potential and I try to help them develop their skills and confidence as my coaches did when I was just starting.
Lessons learnt: It can feel pretty daunting sometimes being a smaller school competing against larger schools, which have enough players to field multiple teams, but we hold our own regardless. It feels like we are the underdog a lot of the time, which makes being able to beat a larger school feel great, and defying the odds makes me honoured to wear the Tokomairiro emblem.
Anahera Takotohiwi
Blue Mountain College
Over the past seven years at Blue Mountain College, playing sport has truly changed me as a person. I’ve played many years of South Island Māori netball, Eastern netball and basketball rep teams, and I’ve just finished four years of playing in our BMC A netball team. Te Waipounamu Māori netball was the beginning of my sporting journey. I was first introduced to this world of netball in 2020, which not only taught me new skills, time management, courage and hard mahi but also opened a window to teach me more of where I come from and why I’m here doing what I love.
Going through all these stages of sports helped me improve both my leadership skills and my independence, which I think are two important qualities to become a great sportswoman. Because I was given so many opportunities to show my talent on the netball court it also gave me the chance to meet so many new people from all over the place that I’m still friends with till this day, and without these given opportunities I would not be the person I am today. I would not have travelled and seen the things I have and experienced the sporting culture if I never was encouraged to put my hand up for multiple camps, trials, or tournament teams.
