Southern Area Schools
Area schools across the country have a unique sporting opportunity to represent at a national level. Schools compete at a zone tournament where teams are selected from the attending schools to represent their zone at a national tournament.
Last week the selected pupils from the various schools representing South of the South came together in Dunedin to have a team-building and skill development day. The day covered team bonding activities, waiata, skills and drills for rugby, netball, volleyball, ki o rahi, football and basketball along with fitness challenges. Sarah Cairns from The Catlins Area School is the regional co-ordinator who led this sport development day along with staff from the supporting schools.
Jenaya Thompson, a pupil at Lawrence Area School, said, "It was an awesome day. I learnt lots of skills and got to know my team-mates from other schools. I’m really looking forward to nationals and excited to be representing the South of the South area schools region."
Taieri College
A big highlight of the sporting term was an inspiring visit from three winter Olympic athletes, Adam Hall, Corey Peters and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. The pupils and staff had the privilege of hearing from these athletes, even getting a glimpse of their impressive medals they carried with pride around their necks.
Hall was feeling at home in his old stomping ground, as Taieri College was where he spent many of his years and was awarded sportsman of the year in 2006. He spoke highly of the college and the time he spent here.
Sadowski-Synnott spoke about balancing school alongside her training and travel for snowboarding through her school years and the great support she had. When she was at school, she solely focused on school, meaning that when she was snowboarding, all she needed to focus on was snowboarding with no distractions.
One of the key takeaway messages from these three was to find your passion, whatever that may be, and if you have the drive and work ethic, then you will succeed and most importantly enjoy it.
Having the opportunity to hear from three incredible athletes was a privilege and certainly a highlight for many pupils and staff.
East Otago High School
East Otago High School has created a sports academy to develop a pathway for pupils. The academy is being run by Patrick, a student at Otago Polytechnic who travels up every Wednesday to lead the programme that helps pupils develop better fitness for their sports.
Our sports academy had the chance to travel to Otago Polytechnic for a morning of fitness testing. Pupils looked at the functional movement screen (FMS), a screening tool used to evaluate seven fundamental movement patterns in individuals. Some pupils chose to do an inbody screen test, a body composition analysis used to provide detailed information about fat, muscle and water levels. They finished off with a circuit session using the gym equipment at the polytechnic.
Pupils will have the opportunity to go back to Otago Polytechnic at the end of the year to see if they have improved in any areas.
Logan Park High School
On June 27, 20 Logan Park High School pupils travelled to Berwick Camp to participate in the Sport Otago Voice of Rangatahi Leadership event focusing on physical recreation.
The pupils who attended were in years 11 and 12 and are all involved in sports and leadership within the kura and community.
Ki o rahi, a traditional Maori game, was a hit with pupils. They enjoyed the challenge of learning the game and finished with a tournament. Many happy faces showed how much fun it was. Logan Park pupils will bring ki o rahi back to their school to play as part of their Friday pupil-led lunchtime activities.
Pupils participated in other physical team-building exercises including golf (hitting a target), frisbee golf and challenging themselves on the confidence course.
Another standout was an event planning workshop in the afternoon. Two pupils said coming together to learn all about planning and organising an event was a highlight. They left the leadership event enthusiastic and inspired to continue meeting and planning more fun, inclusive events at Logan Park in the future.
Over two days, about 80 pupils from different schools attended the event. The programme was made up of physical group activities and korero/talking time.
