What started at Helensville School as a student initiated sports trip for 12 keen netballers to the AIMS Games in 2013 grew to 30 students competing in netball, rugby 7s, indoor bowling, tennis, yachting and cross country in 2015.
Open to all Year 7 and 8 students, the AIMS (Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools) Games is a week-long competitive sporting tournament held in and around Tauranga across 19 sporting codes, covering both individual and team sports. This year there were 261 schools from across New Zealand, with over 8,000 competitors participating from throughout New Zealand, making it bigger than the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the biggest youth multisport event in Australasia!
Our biggest excitement this year came from Greta Pilkington’s gold medal in the yachting competition. An outstanding achievement, Greta was the first placed Year 8 female overall in her optimist boat across 9 very technical, challenging and exciting races.
Sarah Davison, Moses Phillips-Ryder, Ben Clarke and Carlos Phillips were also awarded team player medals for their impressive performances and sportsmanship during the tournament week.
An incredible week away, it was an experience the students will remember forever. They witnessed exceptional skill on display, made friends with other competitors across New Zealand, played to their very best and had lots of fun along the way.
Left to Right Ben Clarke, Moses Phillips-Ryder, Greta Pilkington, Sarah Davison, Carlos Phillipps
The Helensville school ski team had another very successful week away for the 2015 North Island Primary School Ski Champs at Whakapapa Ski Field, Mt Ruapehu. Blizzard conditions for the first two days meant that racing was postponed, but this brought lots of new snow and then ‘bluebird’ perfect weather conditions for the final three days of competition. With strong individual performances across Giant Slalom and Dual Slalom races we had our best results ever. Our B team of Tarek Colson, Andre England, Megan Cook, Claudia Pilkington and Tom Pilkington came a very respectable 9th place overall. The A team of Ben Clarke, Kendrah Smith, Brock Colson, Greta Pilkington and Tom Pilkington won the silver medal for 2nd place overall, an outstanding team result.
Left to right: Kendrah Smith, Brock Colson, Ben Clarke, George Pilkington, Greta Pilkington