Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament, Japan 2013

Sanix World Rugby Youth Tournament

2 years ago, I was nervous going into the AIMS games tournament, taking on 31 different schools from around the country to be crowned the Intermediate Rugby sevens champs of New Zealand. I remember the very thoughts going through my mind before the grand final. "Am I good enough", "Are we going to win?", "Am I going to get injured?". All very normal feelings leading into a big game. Imagine that feeling, times ten.

After 4 months of intense training I am preparing to take off to Japan to battle it out in the annual Sanix World rugby tournament. My school won the right to do so by winning the National top four final last year against Otago boys. I am leaving tomorrow with huge excitement as well as a nervous feeling in my stomach. Knowing that I will be representing New Zealand alone is a huge honour, and I will do my very best to make sure we give others a very good impression.

We are staying overseas for the whole school holiday period of two weeks. I am looking forward to the challenge as well as being very thankful for the oppurtunity to be apart of such an event. This is an experience I know I will never forget, and I thank God for blessing me with this gift.

Thank you so very much to all those who helped fundraise for part of my trip, it means a lot to me that you were willing to bless me and contribute to this. May God bless you family, friends and teachers. Alofa tele atu.

CHAMPIONS!

Just this week our school's Intermediate athletes were given the oppurtunity to compete with the best of the best in the Eastern zone. We did exceptionally well to break three records and many more placings. We won all of the running relays and broke a record for one of them! Check this clip out to see just a snippet of how well our school did on the day! http://player.vimeo.com/video/32886693?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

Auckland Rugby League Tournament

Just last week our school League team went down to Cornwall park to challenge for the best school in Auckland at Rugby League. I was very excited about this and couldn't wait to go. I was confident that our team could go all the way, we had the right mix of fitness, speed and strength.

We already knew that this tournament would be nowhere near easy for us. We would have to dig deep and give all of the matches our best effort. We were put into a tough pool, with the big guns and reigning champions De La Salle College, a big team in Wesley College and the unknown Rosmini College. We were in for a tough ride if we wanted to make the semi finals.

We played to our potential and won all three matches, we were quite excited to be in the Semis and were prepared to go one step further. We were up against a fast moving Kedgley Intermediate.
We were unfortunate to lose by a try in extra time. I was quite stunned by the result seeing as it was the last time that we would be playing together as brothers, other than that I had an awesome time competing against other school. I just can’t wait until next year...

Aussie Rules

Willing to try out this sport that never heard about before, eager to learn and experience yet another opportunity that we were given. Room 21 were going to learn how to play Aussie Rules!

I had heard of this sport on tv before and have watched a few highlights from some of the games. It was quite entertaining to watch and when I heard that we would be learning how to play I was quite excited.

One of the things that we learnt from the instructors (Micheal and Lucy) was how to ruck the ball. I thought I knew what they were talking about but then my confidence went low after they told us what it was.We had to pair up with some one and then use another person to umpire the ruck.

The person who was umpiring the ruck would throw the ball up into the air and the other to people would compete for the ball by hitting it backwards. Moses and I were going to square off the ball Moses had an eye of a Tiger while I was almost closing my eyes with my eyes gleaming back at him. We gave each other a dirty look and crouched down hoping for the biggest possible leap.

Waiting for Zane to throw the ball into the air,.............swish, the grip of the ball left Zane's hand the ball went into the air. Our eyes bulged wide open waiting for the right moment, I knew I had the height advantage and leap at what I thought was the right moment. Moses leap at the exact same time, we jumped like frogs stretching our arms to our bodies maximum wage.....WACK!!! With all the power in my right arm I smacked the ball backwards into my possession. I had won the ruck and couldn't wait for the next turn!

Aussie Rules

Willing to try out this sport that never heard about before, eager to learn and experience yet another opportunity that we were given. Room 21 were going to learn how to play Aussie Rules!

I had heard of this sport on tv before and have watched a few highlights from some of the games. It was quite entertaining to watch and when I heard that we would be learning how to play I was quite excited.

One of the things that we learnt from the instructors (Micheal and Lucy) was how to ruck the ball. I thought I knew what they were talking about but then my confidence went low after they told us what it was.We had to pair up with some one and then use another person to umpire the ruck.

The person who was umpiring the ruck would throw the ball up into the air and the other to people would compete for the ball by hitting it backwards. Moses and I were going to square off the ball Moses had an eye of a Tiger while I was almost closing my eyes with my eyes gleaming back at him. We gave each other a dirty look and crouched down hoping for the biggest possible leap.

Waiting for Zane to throw the ball into the air,.............swish, the grip of the ball left Zane's hand the ball went into the air. Our eyes bulged wide open waiting for the right moment, I knew I had the height advantage and leap at what I thought was the right moment. Moses leap at the exact same time, we jumped like frogs stretching our arms to our bodies maximum wage.....WACK!!! With all the power in my right arm I smacked the ball backwards into my possession. I had won the ruck and couldn't wait for the next turn!

Manu Samoa Keep Their Cup Dreams Alive......

A decisive victory today has given Samoa the points that they needed to stay in the competition. Samoa played a very structured game today using penalty's very wisely with Tusi Pisi and his super boot cashing in 15 points. The Samoans look the most likely to score the first try but struggled to present continuous plays by creating errors.

Thankfully Samoa were able to back up those mistakes with some very impressive defence by keeping them scoreless in the opening half and one try in the whole game. Samoa scored to deserved tries two star halfback Khan Fotuali'i and the hard man George Stowers. The Fijians were given opportunities but could not capitalise also making mistakes.

The cool thing was that when the gave was over the two teams came together kneeled down in a circle and prayed to God, that was the highlight of the game! Fiji showed good sportsmanship and finished off the game with a thoroughly deserved try. Samoa are still in second place now with ten points. They would be helped a lot if the Namibians could pull off a miracle against a determined Wales side. COME ON SAMOA!!!! (WARRIORS ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!)

Cross Country Recount

Wow what a day, well you would have guessed by now that our school has finally had it’s annual Cross Country. It was one that I honestly would never forget. I didn’t think I would run the whole thing honestly, but my my goal was to run the whole way and I reached that goal. We ran 3.5 KM and found it very challenging.

When we were called up to get ready to run I was ready to go. I was pumped and couldn't wait to get started. I breathed as much air as I could right before the three words,”Ready, Get Set...Go!!! We were off. Everyone was careful and made sure they ran at the right pace with no one sprinting right at the beginning. After we had just run through the gate of our school grounds, we ran down to the far corner of our local reserve which is located right next to our school. I slowly worked my way past a few people and got closer to the top ten competitors. When I got to the far corner of the reserve we turned onto a path which lead us to a bush track. It was quite challenging to catch up to the top ten runners through the bush walk. The track was very difficult with a lot of steps and hills we had to run up.

When I had finally made it out of the bush track I had to run back to the school grounds. My lungs were about collapse but gladly I was about to run into the gate to finish the race. But sadly I was told to run around the reserve one more time. My lungs were about to snap by the time I started running around the reserve again. My heart struggled stress fully to gather oxygen into my body, my calves were aching and I was just about ready to collapse. When I was approximately 100 metres away from the finish line I was determined to finish strongly. I ran hard and I finally finished the race,”YEEAAAA!!!!!!!” I said in my head (Because I was so puffed I could’nt speak!). I walked over to the water fountain and had the longest drink ever. In the end I finished proudly in 6th place. I was happy that I made the top 10.

That was one of the most tiring moments in my life. Man, that’s what I call a Cross Country....`

MY Term 2 Highlights

Man,what a term it’s been! I mean it’s been one of the hardest term’s I’ve gone through! There were so many trainings I had to attend for the schools sports teams, designing signs to go around our school, producing PENN and much more.

One of the many highlights for me this term was participating in the schools Rugby team. I really enjoy training with my mates and we are doing really well this year and are hoping that we can go all the way. So far we have won the Auckland East tournament and are heading into the Auckland champion of champions tournament this Wednesday! Another thing that was related to Rugby throughout the term was some of my friends and I making the Bill Mclaren East Auckland team. I have really enjoyed the trainings and cannot wait for the tournament to come up!

Being able to go to the annual ‘I am making movies 2’ awards at the Auckland Museum was another highlight, making the actual movie was a highlight but making the finals for best documentary is a true honour. It was a wonderful experience especially getting to listen to an awesome all men choir! They were outstanding and really set the night!

Although this term would be the term where I was challenged the most physically it was still an enjoyable one. It was an amazing experience for me, especially sports. It’s been a term that I will never forget when I go onto college.

Point England VS Ferguson Intermediate

Last week on Wednesday our Point England sevens team went up against a very tough Ferguson school, we managed to beat them 29-5 although Ferguson's defence was very strong we scored five tries! Check out our highlights!!!

Pt England v's Ferguson Intermediate from SchoolTV on Vimeo.

My Term 1 Anamation

This term we had to work on an animation that would represent the Point England values, I choose to work on Co-operation, I created an animation based on my favourite team. Take a look

and leave a comment for feedback!!!

Tech Has Started

On the second week of school (just yesterday) we went to our very first tech lesson for the year. As some of you may know we walk down to Tamaki College for our Tech lessons and come back to school at interval. When the first week of school was almost done I learnt that I was taken Electronics as my first tech subject!!! I was excited yet wondering what electronics would be like............

The next week I was ready and eager to learn new things, we walked down to Tamaki and met the teachers, my teachers name was........HE DIDN'T TELL US HIS NAME!!!!!!! Most of the time he told us about what exciting things that we could create throughout the term, sound sensor lights,automatic window closers,fan hats, lazer alarms and way more awesome things.

Next week we are going to start our actual projects and I am looking to really get into it next week. TAMAKI TECH IS AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!a

On the second week of school (just yesterday) we went to our very first tech lesson for the year. As some of you may know we walk down to Tamaki College for our Tech lessons and come back to school just in time for morning tea. Electronics is one awesome option for Tech at Tamaki. Looking forward to our next lesson. Maybe I'll get to make a transformer!

Market Day Reflection

“YES!!!” I yelled our Point England market day had arrived we were excited an ready to go for the day. Our product that we were selling for the day were Bug Shakes (Milkshakes) and we were confident that our product was going to be a sell out!!!While the day was hot and the market day on we were sure we would gain a lot of money from the milkshakes.

We had three different flavours which were Scary Berry(Strawberry) Bugs In Mud (Chocolate) Butterfly Delight (Tropical). Our price for one large cup was $2.00 and we had a special, 2 for $3.00. We had loads of orders pre ordered by the way which meant that we had to get busy!!!

With customers surrounding our stand and people thirsty we had to work as fast as we possibly could. The favourite (Milkshake) was bugs in mud while butterfly delight and scary berry were also being ordered often. At the end our stall was all sold out raising close to $200!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the day we were happy with ourselves selling most of our products in the day. I really liked Market day and am hopefull that we will have more events like this soon...............Click on the link to watch how our market day went...........

http://player.vimeo.com/video/17540603"