Winter sports seen Mairehau have a successful season during Term 3 and 4. COVID-19 put a lot of doubt for sport around the country and we were fortunate enough to work around the restrictions and allow our students to participate in their selected sport. With a lot of hard work behind the scenes making sure our health and safety was paramount, our students were able to see some normality and express themselves through our sport programmes.
Basketball
2020 was a successful year for our Mairehau basketball program. Our Senior A basketball team played in the ‘Thomson Trophy Cup’ on Tuesday nights. Thomson Trophy Cup is the top schools basketball competition in Canterbury that is run by the Canterbury Basketball Association. Our boys worked extremely hard throughout the season and took away a lot of learnings each game. We were fortunate enough to have tremendous support from the Canterbury Basketball Association and Canterbury Rams and as a school we just want to thank both parties for this. Personally, the Mairehau Legends and all staff would like to thank Max Wright and ‘Fraame Health Care’ for your continuous support as well as Coach and Canterbury Rams player Fletcher Arnold for your expertise and knowledge shared amongst the boys. We thoroughly enjoyed the journey and are looking forward to next year already!
Friday Night Basketball also saw Mairehau High School enter 4 basketball teams. The talented Year 9 boys went on to finish 3rd in their respective grade. We are excited to see this team's development and with a lot of hard work, I'm sure most will be selected for the Senior Team in their years to come. The Player of the season went to Aogan Clark who scored at least 15 points in a match. Here is a picture of our awesome Year 9 team, coached and run by Matua Ru Kawenga.
Our Intermediate Boys went on to finish 3rd as well. With most of the team Year 10 and 11, they fought hard each game and gave it their all. Their player of the season went to July Evagelia for consistently displaying excellent skills each game. Our open Mairehau girls team focused on fun and enjoyment throughout the season to which they thoroughly did. The girls came up with a motto, which was “you play your best when you’re having fun”. These girls improved as the season went on and finished an exceptional 4th place. Lastly, our Mairehau senior boys team went on to dominate and show skill on offence and defence and finished Friday night basketball in 3rd place too! Just like to thank the coaches and any staff that took the time to help support our awesome basketball program, it definitely couldn’t have been done without it. Bring on 2021!
Badminton
2020 was a fantastic year for all our Mairehau badminton teams. Each team gained confidence and skill as the weeks went on. They put in the hard work during their training and tested each other's abilities against each other too. Our Senior A boys team was led by Ryan Agpalasin, who shows tremendous hand eye coordination and leads by example in all that he does. This team featured Ryan, Hensley Sampang, Yash Soni and Arjem Malit. Our senior A boys team went on to finish 1st in the Division 1 section and played a close final against Shirley Boys High School. Well done boys! The Senior B boys featured Chetan Budhathoki, PK Smith, Shushant Joshi and Chesrille Battiw. These boys got better as the weeks went on and really focused on executing their shots throughout the season. They went on to finish a remarkable 2nd place in the Division 2 section. Both girls teams, Senior A and B both showed growth and development throughout the season. The players filtered in and through both teams. These girls were Ruth Amores, Rocel Nicolas, Kate Nasayao, Aizelle Fernandez, Kyla Nasayao, Takamiya Sugihara, Kako Yamashita and Kokona Kimura. Both teams went on to finish 3rd in their respective grades. Lastly, this year we had a wonderful Junior girls team run by Miss Glass. This team featured Belle Jackson, Arti Arti, Jessica Singh, Olivia Aronsen and Aesha Martin. It was the first year these girls had played badminton and they definitely stood up to the challenge. They played extremely well as the weeks went on and got better individually and as a team too.
This photo below stars some of our Senior Badminton teams. Big thanks to all those that supported our badminton teams and they’re already eager to get back into things for next year.
Football
Our 2020 Football team took huge learnings each week. Due to COVID-19, meant there weren’t many player interest around the Canterbury Region. This forced different divisions to join together meaning all ages were playing against one another. Our Mairehau Football team was made up mostly of junior players and they did exceptionally well to hold their own against senior and skillful players. Each week we progressed and developed skill sets individually and as a team. Even though they didn’t gain a win throughout the season, they were still able to gain memories and friendships that can be remembered throughout their high school season. Massive thank you to Mr Ben MacDonald for expressing and showing your expertise in this area and supporting the boys along the way. At the end of the football season, we decided to have a Staff vs Students Indoor Football match. Of course, the staff walked away with a 7-3 win!!!! Check out the photo below:
Term 4 Sport
Term 4 Summer Sport has kicked off this week starting with volleyball. This term we have 3 teams in the Monday Night competition - Senior Boys, Junior Boys and Senior Girls. Our teams were hard at work during the holidays and have been putting in the hard yards together to hopefully have a successful season ahead. Below is a picture of our Senior girls team training on the beach. Massive thanks to Easter Savelio for taking the reins on volleyball this term!
Rams Basketball Mentoring Program
CRBF (Canterbury Rams Basketball Federation) have kindly offered Mairehau a spot in their term 4 basketball mentoring program in support with the Canterbury Rams in conjunction with Sport NZ. It is funded by 'Tu Manawa Active Aotearoa' for community organisations and schools to deliver physical education opportunities for our rangatahi. We look forward to the next 6 weeks gaining incredible skills and creating a Talanoa environment for our students here at Mairehau High School in partnership with the Canterbury Rams. Here are some photos from our first week of the mentoring program.
Charntay Poko
Sports Coordinator
