Sport

The Preparatory School provides a wide range of sporting opportunities for our students. The emphasis is on opportunity, giving our students the opportunity to participate and the opportunity to compete. Sport is a very important co-curricular area as in many cases it allows students to be part of a team and develop several important skills that may be transferred into other areas of their lives. The Preparatory School sports programme aims to provide:

Physical Benefits • Improved fitness, strength, flexibility and co-ordination; • Increased range of motor skills.

Social Benefits • Improved communication and interpersonal skills; • Improved leadership and co-operation skills; • Opportunity for lasting friendships; • Increased interest in accepting responsibility; • Ability to assume responsible risk-taking.

Personal Benefits • Enjoyment; • Increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and general well-being; • Improved ability to concentrate; • Self-discipline, commitment, and responsibility; • Organisational skills.

In 2021, there were strong participation numbers in Years 7–8; the students embraced the sports options on offer. The new mountain biking option was well received by Year 7–8 students. We also fielded a girls’ team in the New Zealand Shield (Cricket) for a third year running. There are already 20 girls wishing to play in 2022, most of whom have no previous experience but are keen to take part. There is a strong cohort of Year 6 and 7 players coming through, and they began practising in Term 4.

Due to COVID-19, the AIMS Games did not go ahead in 2021, however the rugby team was able to tour, taking part in a Festival of Rugby at St Peter’s School in Cambridge. This was a successful tour and enabled the players to meet students from several schools around New Zealand. In 2022, it is hoped tours will again take place domestically due to the lack of certainty around international travel. Hopefully, hockey, netball, and football will take part in the 2022 AIMS Games in Tauranga, and rugby will attend the Independent Schools’ Festival of Rugby at St Peter’s in Cambridge.

Several school exchange games in basketball, rugby, football, netball, cricket, and hockey were played during the year, due to COVID-19, these were local exchanges, except for King’s School who arrived before the Auckland lockdown. Our sports teams were successful in these exchanges, in particular football and netball.

Many of our students represented their region in a variety of sports and were successful in the ISSA and CPSSA competitions in triathlon, duathlon, cross country, swimming, and athletics. The school won the Girls’ Year 8 CPSSA cross country and came third in the Boys’ Year 8 duathlon. There were also several students who represented both zones and Canterbury in cricket and tennis. The boys’ tennis team was also crowned CPSSA Champions for 2021.

Leadership opportunities continued to be very important for our Year 8 students. Sports captains applied for positions and were interviewed for the role. This was an opportunity for students to become familiar with an interview process. The role of sports captain is important as the students report back to the community, make speeches, support the sport co-ordinators, and fulfil other tasks. The students embraced the opportunity and provided quality coaching to the junior students in Years 1–3. The coaching of junior students was at a different level in 2021 as the Year 8 captains plus other Year 8 students supported coaches in delivering the programme. There was plenty of positive feedback from the community regarding their involvement. The House captains not only supported their Houses and developed House spirit within their respective teams, but they also successfully ran the sports shed, ensuring plenty of lunchtime sports equipment for the Year 4–8 students.

Coaching is essential to a successful sporting programme at St Andrew’s. As in the past, I met with Year 13 students regarding the opportunity to coach Preparatory School teams in 2022. Several students, who will study in Canterbury, expressed an interest in coaching which will bring considerable skill-based expertise to the coaching team. It is important to the school our students have access to quality coaching. Sport coaching Professional Development opportunities will again be made available to staff in 2022. We are fortunate to have several very able teacher coaches at the school. Coaching Solutions, Motivationz, and Epic Sports Project will again provide quality coaching support.

Year 7 and 8 Core Sports continued to go from strength to strength in 2021. Once again, Core Sports was used in Term 1 for winter team selections and this gave students a more substantial opportunity to impress. More professional coaches were used to improve student/coach ratios, and this also provided more effective quality coaching. In 2022, Core Sports will be extended to Year 5 and 6 students.

Sport Selection for 2021 was further improved with parents being contacted through the community portal to make their selections. This data was then quickly transferred into Synergetic. By Wednesday of the first week in Term 1, all data had been transferred into Synergetic and by the end of the week, all parents were notified of their child’s selections, both summer and winter. This was the most effective process to date and will continue in 2022.

Year 3 basketball was added to summer sport options in 2021. This reduced the demand for gymnasium space where spots in the Gymnasium are at a premium. We had four Year 3 and 4 teams competing in local competitions. We had 13 summer sports and five winter sports on offer. Futsal will be revamped in 2022, with a new indoor option for Year 5–8 students, run by an external provider. We also engaged SMA Karate in 2021 who delivered a karate programme to interested Year 1–3 students. This took place in the mini-gym. In 2022 this will be moved to the dance and drama room with an additional afternoon enabling SMA Karate to provide this option to older students. A chess club was also set up using an online coach from Dunedin. This took place on Thursday lunchtimes and focused on playing games and developing skills. In Term 4 the chess club ran a tournament to find the 2021 chess champion.

New football uniforms have been ordered for 2022. Uniforms are currently in good condition and the strong St Andrew’s brand is represented proudly through the uniforms that students wear. The repayment of uniforms is meeting the required schedule and will ensure we can update uniforms as and when required.

Sport Medley Holiday Camps were popular for students, particularly for the parents who had to work. 2021 saw record numbers in both the April and September holiday camps. The earlier drop-off time of 8.30am was appreciated, as was the later supervision to cater for the working day. These camps will continue in 2022 at the end of Term 1 and Term 3 holidays. Communication in the Preparatory School for sport is very good. Through Synergetic, the newsletter, and the app, the community is kept well informed of upcoming events and student achievement. The platform Teams was used to contact Years 7–8 students directly and proved helpful during the lockdown to provide the students with practice opportunities.

A Coach Induction Online facility gathered pace in 2021, with consultation between Mark Lane, Alex Kelley and Dave Hart. Planning continues for this and the aim is to have something in place for the winter sport season in 2022.