Sports News
Christchurch Rugby Festival Kristin’s senior Rugby squad travelled to Christchurch during the ďŹ rst week of the April holidays to compete in the Christchurch Boys’ High School Rugby Festival where they played four games over three days against a variety of teams from across New Zealand. The players were greeted at a powhiri on the Friday evening where teams performed their respective haka or School Song. It was a fantastic way to start the tour. The players also enjoyed a Super Rugby game at AMI Stadium and attended a formal dinner where they were seated with the students from competing teams who shared their same position. The young Kristin team started the tournament in impressive style, ďŹ ghting through the driving Canterbury rain to win convincingly, 33-0, against Christchurch Boys’ 3rd XV. Kristin then faced a very experienced and powerful Rangiora High School’s 1st XV team who proved to be too strong on the day, winning the game 50-3. Not to be disheartened and still carrying the conďŹ dence of winning their ďŹ rst game, Kristin took on Fielding High School’s 2nd XV who they dominated for large parts of the game. Kristin had a golden opportunity to seal the game from a penalty in the dying minutes with the scores tied 7J ;79> >EM;L;H J>; 87BB IJHK9A J>; KFH?=>J 7D: Fielding capitalised, countering with a runaway try at the other end, which resulted in Kristin going :EMD 7J J>; R D7B M>?IJB; The ďŹ nal game of the tournament was always going to be a challenge with the Kristin boys playing a Rathkeale College 1st XV team who represent their school in the prestigious Press Cup competition throughout the regular season. Rathkeale ran away with the game scoring 8 tries in the ďŹ rst half. However, the Kristin players showed great character and battled right to the end with a much-improved second-half defensive performance, especially in the last 10 minutes of the game where they simply refused to let Rathkeale cross the line again. The tour undoubtedly challenged the team to the extreme, both mentally and physically, but the lessons learned both on and off the ďŹ eld have provided the team with invaluable experience and laid a foundation that will give players a platform on which to grow and develop a successful team culture going forward. Thanks to everyone involved who made this such a special tour, especially the coaching and management team of Ross Burgess, Brett Craies, Reverend Rodney Ramsay and Josh Van Wyk. Graeme McKinnon Sport Manager, Rugby
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AUTUMN/WINTER 2013
Pre-season Preparation
on the Courts
W
ith over 100 Kristin Netball players participating in pre-season training this year, the atmosphere has been pumping. The opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Netball season is one in which everyone can participate, whether you are a beginner or a more advanced player. The girls all enjoyed the same beneďŹ ts of our exciting pre-season programme. Speed and agility coach and Olympic sprinter James Mortimer, teamed with Silver Fern and ANZ Mystics Captain Anna Harrison, made early-morning training seem effortless. The players were warmly greeted by the brilliant coaching duo each morning and in return the girls worked hard on applying their new skills. Anna had a very smart approach to her sessions, implementing passing accuracy, technique and receiver control of the ball on the hand and the ability to catch a hard ball outside of your body. These skills were progressed and made interesting by challenging the girls to receive consecutive balls in quick concession from different angles, adding coordination with more than one ball and using core strength and stability along with balance work. It was a fun and challenging preseason build-up, the fruit of which we look forward to seeing throughout the winter season. Stacey Morgan Head of Netball
A Talent for Football Congratulations to the Kristin footballers who have been selected for the Northern Football Federation Talent Centre training squads. Name
Team
Ana Ross
15th-grade Girls
Nicholas Thom
14th-grade Boys
Zara Felstead
12th-grade Girls
Hannah Reddy
12th-grade Girls