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Summer Sport Summary
In what turned out to be a challenging time for all our Kristin summer sports, the Kristin School programme still produced plenty of highlights. Congratulations to our three Auckland Secondary Schools Champions for 2020: Senior Boys’ Water Polo, Senior Boys’ Tennis and the Senior Girls’ Tennis team. All three teams were unbeaten and thoroughly deserved their championship titles.
In Water Polo, our Senior Boys team were undefeated and claimed the Senior A Auckland Secondary Schools title for 2020. Along with the Senior Girls team, they had both qualified for the tier one NZ Secondary Schools Championships which were scheduled for Wellington in April during the second week of the holidays.
Likewise, our Senior Girls and Senior Boys’ Tennis teams were undefeated also. The Senior Mixed Tennis team had qualified for the tier one NZ Secondary Schools Championships to be held in Christchurch during Summer Tournament Week starting 28 March and we were also sending a Senior Boys team to the division two championships, also in Christchurch, as well.
Our Colts Cricket team were undefeated too, and clearly won the division of their competition. The boys have had a great season training with intent and developing their skills throughout the term. The 1st XI were unbeaten in the second round of their competition as well.
The school-wide Swimming Sports and Senior School House Sports Day were completed in Term 1 and our students also represented Kristin at both these events as part of the North Harbour School Championships. We are delighted to report that two of our students won their events: Worren Li in the Senior Boys’ Triple Jump and Finn Burridge in the Intermediate Boys’ Javelin. 10 students qualified to compete at the Auckland Secondary Schools Championships. In Swimming, Belle Li and Rebecca Wilkins gained top-three placings in their events.
Hats off to Ruby Horwood, Emma Hoseason and Zoe Ries for competing in the Auckland Schools Head of Harbour Rowing regatta and the North Island Secondary Schools Championships. They collected medals as a novice double scull crew representing Kristin. Their training was part of the North Shore Rowing programme which starts at Year 10.
KRISTIN SPORT SETS PACE
In Term 3 last year the Kristin Sports Office team had a meeting with Simon Walters from AUT. Simon is a lead researcher and educator in sport and PE. His latest research has been around drop-out rates in youth and sport, and he said: “A key focus was to have research-informed conversations with parents, coaches, volunteers and teachers, as well as with the organisations that put the structures in place, about what makes a quality sporting experience for a young person.”
At the end of 2019, we surveyed our Year 7 - 13 students about their sporting experiences at Kristin. At the secondary school level (Years 9-13) we asked the students to rate their coach on the following attributes:
a) Ability to create a positive culture and environment. b) Ability to run engaging well-planned training sessions.
As you can see from the graphs at the top of the following page, the responses were overwhelmingly positive. The Sports Office team have worked hard across all sports to ensure there is a consistent delivery of training programmes that embraces Mr Walters’ research findings. The word ‘fun’ is used by many in this debate. When youth athletes are asked to describe what fun is, they overwhelmingly reply that it is about playing with their friends, in a competition that they have a chance in and with a coach who knows them and the game. It is not just about winning.
We asked our Year 7 and 8 students the following:
a) Did you have fun playing your main sport for Kristin? b) Did your coach make training and playing enjoyable for you?
As you can see from the graphs at the bottom of the following page, there was again a positive response from our students.
No. of students
80
60
No. of students 80
60
40
20
0
Not at all satisfied Sometimes satisfied It was OK Satisfied Highly satisfied
We have made it a key focus for our sports programmes that we create a positive culture across all sports where playing sport and being physically active are encouraged and supported at all times. Coaches within our different sports are given clear guidelines and direction to generate a positive environment within their team. Coach education programmes have run pre-season in the different sports here at Kristin. Our sports staff have attended professional development courses and will lead the introduction of new learnings and initiatives within their sports.
It is pleasing to note that this year we have 15 Water Polo teams, which includes six Flippa Ball teams in the Junior School. This is an increase of three teams overall on last year.
In Tennis, we have an extra Senior team playing in the Saturday competition.
A final message from the sports researchers to all parents and caregivers for keeping our children in sport and having fun; while
20
0
Not at all satisfied Sometimes satisfied It was OK Satisfied Highly satisfied
you encourage your children to ‘play’, make sure you recommend sampling multiple sports. Additional research shows that sampling multiple sports in childhood and specialising in a single sport at a later age (around 15) are linked to greater success, longer careers and lower injury rates.
At Kristin, we encourage a wide participation in sport. An example of this was our Junior (Year 9/10) 4 x 400m relay team who placed 2nd at last year’s NZ Secondary Schools Athletic Championships. Between the four students, they had represented Kristin in eight different sports: Athletics, Orienteering, Touch, Volleyball, Hockey, Tennis, Netball and Beach Volleyball.
Rob Taylor
DIRECTOR OF SPORT
No. of students
60
40
YEAR 7 & 8 SURVEY RESULT EXAMPLES
60
40
20
0
No Not at all Enough of the time Yes All the time 20
0
No Not at all Enough of the time Yes All the time
