By Louis Johnston – Year 11 at Mount Maunganui College

Every year the AIMS Games gives intermediate-age kids a chance to showcase their sporting talent on a national stage. 

This includes aspiring athletes from small towns and schools, who get the opportunity to compete against players and teams they otherwise would never come across.

Some of the events at AIMS are also live streamed, which helps to bring more attention to the competition and to the athletes. 

This year there are more than 11,000 participants from more than 350 different schools in New Zealand and overseas, giving the competing teams and individuals a chance to come up against some of the best sporting intermediate schools in the nation and the Pacific.

Some of the girls from the Pompallier Catholic College netball team said: “It’s been challenging but fun, we all like a challenge. We come from a small town so it’s hard for us to show what we have, what we can do.”

It’s not just them who are finding some of the match-ups difficult either. St Peter's School in Cambridge has a sevens rugby team at AIMS and they admit they’ve struggled in some of their early matches.

“The games have been really difficult but fun. In grading it was really hit and miss, some pretty easy teams, some really hard ones, but it's starting to even out now,” one of the players said.

“It’s good that St Peter’s is finally bringing out a rugby team, but it's quite hard to show our skills when we're versing kids the size of trees.”

Despite this, the team said that most competitors, coaches, and parents are happy to be in Tauranga for this national event.

“Everyone’s been really nice, we’ve even had the chance to make some new friends. Some of the Fijian boys – the flying Fijians – whenever they see us, they come up and hug us and watch our games.”

The team also shared news of a win against one of the schools that was previously unbeaten, giving them a proud and memorable moment to return home with this weekend.

Teammates from Monrad Te Kura Waenga o Tirohanga, Petra Fell and Oliver Small, also shared their experience of the AIMS Games week, and how the AIMS culture has taken over Tauranga. 

“We’ve been talking to a lot of the other schools from around Manawatū and Palmerston North,” one of them said.

“Whenever we go past another team out in town we’ll always wave. It’s definitely a different culture from Palmy (Palmerston North), everyone’s a lot different here.”

AIMS has brought together different teams, different cultures, and even different nations this week, all with something new to bring to Tauranga.

With the competition wrapping up this Friday, there is one more day to shine in what has been another successful Zespri AIMS Games week.

Article added: Thursday 07 September 2023