On Monday 12 August, a group of 60 Year 9/10 students travelled down to Gisborne to compete against fellow Catholic School, Campion College, in a variety of sporting endeavors.
When we arrived at Campion College we were welcomed with a powhiri from Campion College Students. Once the formalities were completed, students were introduced to their billet families and the games begun.
Aquinas College performed strongly in both the Girls and Boys Basketball, taking wins of 66 – 17 and 75 – 9 respectively. Our Basketball students should all be congratulated on the way they played together and operated their subs without their Season Coaches present.
Campion came close to a win in Volleyball against a group of AC Year 9 girls, but we managed to hold the lead and win in two sets 25 – 18, 26 – 24.
Campion had a great start to the Rugby, however with some fine coaching from Marty Lee, the AC Boys managed to score an awesome amount of try’s and conversions. The end score was 62 – 33.
AC was blessed to have Donna Williams (Coach) travel with the team to coach them during the hockey match. Another great display of teamwork for our mixed team, who have not played together before. AC bought home yet another win 3 – 1.
Terry Hay (Coach of the 14/15 grade Football Team) attended as expert van driver and Football Coach. Campion had a great football team with many strong female players, who were not afraid to give our boys a good run for their money. It was fair to say however that our shots at goal were more accurate and the game finished at 9 – 0 to AC.
Netball was another great match. The first quarter saw just a 2 goal difference. With a shuffle around in positions and some motivation from the sideline “Need a ball, Need a ball!!”, the girls came together well and came out on top with a 32 – 22 win.
The day finished with some very exciting games of Futsal. The Girls started us off. Campion bought on a very skilled team. AC made up a team of keen girls, may who had not played football or futsal before. The first few minutes had the crowds on their feet with AC scoring the first goal and set in goalie, Mariah Gardiner-Hano saving many shots at goal. Unfortunately the great start was not to last when Campion realized they needed to step up their game. The end score was 10 – 2 to Campion, a well deserved win.
To finish the exchange off the Boys took the court. This was probably one of the more competitive games of the whole exchange. A little underprepared, AC took the court wearing an assortment of sneakers and black school shoes, to put up a good fight against Campion. The stand out moment of the game was a brilliant header from Josh Pinto that resulted in a goal from half way.
Thank you to all of our students who competed with passion and won with humility. You are a credit to yourselves and the school. Thank you also to the staff who supported the trip, Marty Lee and Isobel Jefta, and also to Terry Hay and Donna Williams who took time out of their busy lives to travel 4 hours each way to coach teams.
