Swimming Sports 2023

This year at the Swimming Sports we had some amazing results with eleven school records being broken - wow!

You can tell how much hard work has gone into it - not just the boys, it’s also the staff making it all possible with them putting so many hours in to make sure it goes smoothly.

We had some outstanding results. Whenever the boys did not get the place they wanted, they didn’t put their heads down - they were more than ready to have some fun and get ready for their next race.

A really big surprise was when the teachers came out in their swim gear and there were some big smiles, and the boys were laughing. We were having an awesome time with most of the boys chanting ‘Mr Bath, Mr Bath’!

We would like to congratulate the cup winners this year. In Year 3, Finlay Douglas; Year 4, Josh SomervilleSmith; Year 5, Louis Tian; Year 6, Toby Bush: Year 7 Sam Maxwell and Ollie Brown; and Year 8 Zac Hibbs.

Congratulations to these boys, and also to Ilam House, winners of the George Abbott Cup.

Zac Hibbs, 8D

Swimming at Medbury this year was an absolute blast! We had the ISSA and CPS competitions, things got pretty intense. But our teachers did a fantastic job of getting us ready for the challenges ahead.

To begin, we held prelims, with the top eight swimmers in each event advancing to the finals. Despite feeling exhausted after my 50m freestyle sprint, I managed to achieve a great time. Just as we were about to start the Year 8 relay, four of our teachers stormed into the pool area. We were all gob-smacked! But they wanted to join in the fun, and we couldn’t say no. The energy was electric as they entered, with Mr Bath doing a Manu that splashed to the ceiling and would have made even the Olympic judges smile. And then it was time for the race. The students were up against the teachers, and let me tell you, it was chaos! But it was also so much fun, and we all cheered and laughed until our throats hurt. In the end, Hamilton emerged victorious in the Year 8 relay.

The ISSA competition was next, where we competed against other independent schools in Canterbury (Louis Tian, Brad Khemarangsan, Pax Read, Ollie Brown, Ryan Ma, Sam Maxwell, Zac Hibbs and I). I managed to come first place in both my events: 50m freestyle and butterfly. I couldn’t believe it!

The CPS competition was the big one, and I was so excited to qualify for the freestyle and butterfly events. Also attending were Louis Tian and Brad Khemarangsan. When I got to the Aquatic Centre, Mr Ogston was there to support me. I was a little nervous. But I had a perfect dive in both events, even though I messed up my turn during the butterfly. Still, I managed to come in second. And in the freestyle, I nailed it! I had a perfect finish and came in second again. The relay race was like something out of a sports movie. We teamed up with two swimmers from St Margaret’s College, and the tension was palpable as we took our positions on the pool deck. The starter’s gun went off, and I dove in. We pushed ourselves to the limit as we battled it out with the other teams. But in the end, it was our team that emerged victorious, leaving the competition in our wake. It was a moment of pure adrenaline and triumph that I’ll never forget!

I have to give a huge shout out to the Medbury staff who helped us get ready for the competitions. These memories will stay with me forever!

Tennis Exchanges

The Medbury Top 8 Tennis Team had an impressive season this year with great wins and some upsets.

Our first exchange was against our Christchurch friends, St Andrew’s College Preparatory School. We started off the exchange with a rain delay, but thankfully we only had to wait for 15 minutes, finally starting our games at 10.30am. We put up a close fight against their strong team, with many of our players having closely contested games. The final game of the day ended in a three-hour battle in 28º heat.

Roger Federer once said, “Tennis is a tough sport - there are no draws”, but in the case of the last game, there was a draw as, unfortunately, the StAC bus had to leave, ending in StAC beating us overall.

One of the great things about exchanges is that you get to meet new people who enjoy the same hobby as you, people you have seen in different tournaments, and people you will maybe meet again in senior school. Exchanges also keep the fun element in sports, which is really what sports should be all about.

Our second exchange was with the North Island school Huntley. Huntley School is one of the oldest preparatory boarding schools in New Zealand and is in Marton, half an hour from Palmerston North.

It was founded in 1896 and after 117 years as a boys-only school, it became a co-ed school in 2014. Having boys (and girls) stay in our homes was one of the highlights of this exchange. We met our billets at Medbury on Sunday evening and I’m sure a few of us had some late nights up chatting!

The following morning it started to rain heavily and this time it decided to stay so we had to make the decision to go to Wilding Park for our tennis matches. This made it more exciting and also kept us dry. It was good to be able to play on hard courts.

It was a fun day, with Medbury winning most of our games. We had pies for lunch and even got to play mini cricket while waiting to play our games. The games that we won, we won easily but Huntley put up a good fight against some of our players. When we were finished we headed back to Medbury in the mini-bus where our billets were collected to go to the airport. They gave us a gift of a jar of honey made at Huntley school which was cool.

In the end, we had a confident win against Huntley School.

Our last exchange against Cathedral Grammar didn’t go according to plan! We lost to their particularly strong team but there were some great games to watch.

They won in the end. As Rafael Nadal says “If you don’t lose, you cannot enjoy the victories. So you have to accept both things.” We accepted our loss but had a fantastic season of tennis.

Cricket Exchanges

The first season was a blast, but the most fun part of the season is the exchanges.

We first played St Andrew’s College Preparatory School on home ground. When StAC arrived, there was a 15-minute delay because of rain. All the boys were thrilled and excited to play, then the two captains came to the middle for the toss. The coin flew up and it hit the ground. StAC had called right and chose to bowl first. We had a quick warm up and both teams were ready for the first ball. The first runs came quickly as Medbury were 10 for none but then we lost a wicket. All the boys were anxious, but we still had good batters to come. After the first innings Medbury set a respectable score and the standout was Angus Schmack with his half century.

After a good lunch and some more warming up the boys got back to playing, with Medbury rolling StAC for a very low total. Next, we played Huntley School. Before the game we picked up our billets and they came home with us. This was fun as we hadn’t billeted anybody yet. Then, in the morning the rain took the show, and we did not play cricket until 2.00pm. We went to the indoor centre and had a blast. Even though it was indoors it was still so much fun. We played four games and both groups won and lost. We ended up drawing with Huntley. However our last exchange was coming up against Waihi School. We were sent into bat and then did not fool around, with another great score and another half century from Angus. We were in the driving seat and we had bowled them out for below 50! We were excited and were proud of each other.

Then the Second XI took on Cathedral Grammar. It was a blast of a game, with almost everybody from Medbury scoring a half century. In the end Medbury won the game easily. The Medbury boys celebrated and Cathedral Grammar went home in defeat.

Jack Percy, 8S, Head of Cricket