NZCT AIMS GAMES - Day Five Media Release

NZCT AIMS GAMES DAY FIVE ACTION

Athletes enjoy all that the games has to offer

As much of the tournament comes to a close on day five, the teams, coaches and managers reflect on an excellent week of competition and great spirit.

Tania Reid, year 7 and 8 teacher from Kaiapoi North School said “the whole tournament has been amazing – well worth the $28,000 fundraised to bring the teams up.” The Kaiapoi North School competed in basketball and netball. Mrs Reid went on to say – “a huge thank you to the Mount and Tauranga – it’s been such a great week”. The team drives to Auckland tomorrow to enjoy Rainbow Springs before flying back to Christchurch.

Andrew Ferguson from the Knox School in Melbourne is very impressed with the NZCT AIMS GAMES. Andrew says “the week has been so smoothly organised, and the competition varied. It’s great to bring the teams over here because we don’t have this sort of school tournament in Victoria. The Knox School team is made up of students who were keen to come but haven’t played in a school team together. The first time they played together was when we got here!” Natalie Kingsmith from The Knox School who plays for the U14 Victoria basketball team says “the games were really fun, especially the Opening Ceremony. I’d love to come back next year.”

Andy Mackay, Basketball coordinator, was delighted to welcome 2 Breakers development coaches to the games this year - they presented a coaching clinic this morning to 30 basketball coaches. Ang Perrot-Hunt and Dave Mackay from the NZ Breakers passed on their knowledge along with resources for each coach that attended. NZ Breakers donated 6 basketballs per coach and Basketball BOP also presented each coach with a coach’s board.

Erica Third, Gymnastics Coordinator was still buzzing from the group performance night held last night at the Bethlehem College Performing Arts Centre. Last year there were 20 teams which increased to 36 in 2012. Many of the gymnasts competing and performing will be attending the National Championships later this year, so the NZCT AIMS GAMES is a great opportunity to compete at a high level in preparation for the NZ Championships.

Badminton finished today after a total of 244 matches played over 4 days! The girls’ doubles finished today with the top seeds Sally Fu and Jasmine Xue taking the gold over the second seeds Rebecca Ye and Nuwandi Palmada. The upset of the day was the unseeded pairing of Jessica Chen and Emma Wu from Murrays Bay Intermediate who took out the Bronze medal.

The netball umpires got together this afternoon for a friendly game with lots of laughter from both sides. The top 8 teams have been decided ready for the finals tomorrow. Rotorua, Feilding, Murrays Bay, Maeroa, Northcross, Hutt, Te Puke and Holy Cross schools. Jill Weldon the netball coordinator said the game between Fielding and Te Puke – with Fielding taking the win in extra time. Finals begin at 12pm tomorrow at Blake Park.

What a day of football at Blake Park! The standard of Football has got even better with all games played to a finish, no extra-time straight to penalties. In the Semi’s, Murrays Bay booked their Final spot by overcoming John Paul College of Rotorua whilst in the other semi Glen Eden had a hard fought win over a well organised Blockhouse Bay. With both teams now looking forward to tomorrow’s final, which kicks off at 10.30am. In the Girls Draw the final will be contested by Hamilton’s Peachgrove and St Cuthberts’s from Auckland. The Girl’s Final Kicks off tomorrow morning at 10.00am with the 3rd and 4th Place play off between Blockhouse Bay and Glen Eden kicking off at 8.30am. Highlight of the Day must go to Callum McCowatt of Albany who scored in a new games record of 3 seconds, giving his team an early lead in the 3-1 win over Balmoral.

Tennis started this morning with great conditions for the finals and 3rd/4th playoffs.

Boys top seed Macsen Sisam from Kristin dropped just one game in the whole tournament to win his final in around 35 minutes 6/1, 6/0 against Liam Stoica from Bucklands Beach. Daniel Andonov Fairfield beat Hone Collier-Waiomio 6/3, 6/3.

Girls final had a similar result but it took a little longer - Nina Paripovich top seed beat Louise Waite 6/1,6/0. Third place was Holly Matson from Heaton beating Lily Bray from Cobham 6/2, 6/2.

Macsen is Year 7 – he has been in tennis coaching since he was 5 years old. Tomorrow he's off to Barcelona Spain for 6 weeks to attend a tennis academy. He has been over there 2 or 3 times previously and he likes the clay surface. He will probably go back again next year for the whole year. It will be interesting to follow what he does in 6 or 7 years time.

Doubles followed and the boys top seeds Macsen Sisam and Hector Fleming from Kristin has a cracker match against 2nd seeds Bucklands Beach Liam Stoica and Andrew Hislop. The Bucklands Beach boys won in a supertie breaker - 3/6, 7/6, 10/5. Murrays Bay Bailey Sutton & Matthew Saunders beat local Bethlehem College boys Henry Nam & Benjamin Jones 6/3, 6/3 for 3rd place.

Girls from Heaton in Christchurch Holly Matson & Kirsten Swindell beat Murrays Bay Dominique Matich-Reynolds & Micheala Coe 6/4, 6/4. In a very tight and close match for 3rd place Tauranga Intermediate Kalais Going & Julia Newman beat Charlotte Williams & Sarah Munn 4/6,6/4 16-14 in the super tie breakers.

Vicki Semple, Tournament Director commented on the Coaches and Managers evening last night with guest speakers Calvin Ferguson, High Performance Coach, NZ Rowing and Warriors player Jerome “it was great having speakers from both sides of the line – a coaches and players perspective which was well received by those that attended”. While the Coaches and Managers meeting was taking place in the Tauranga Intermediate School Staff room, the competitors disco was held in the school hall. There was a wide selection of confectionary, chips and drinks available, Ella and Toma from Christchurch South Intermediate in Christchurch said, “they had a really good selection of food. It was good how they gave out prizes, like CD’s and stuff. They had really good music and fun dancing. It was a fun night overall”. Ella and Toma also said it was a good opportunity to meet other tournament players. Geena from Chisnallwood Intermediate, also in Christchurch, agreed the food and music were “good” and also enjoyed meeting other players in the games.

One day to go with finals of the Football 10.30am, Waterpolo 11.30am, Netball 12pm and Hockey 2.40p. (times are approximate and subject to change). All sports codes will hold their own medals ceremonies – just like the Olympics. Perhaps these athletes will be at the Olympics in the future?