Aims Games: Heartland minnows make impression

The Matahui School Aims Games team, Miah McDonald (left), Caitlin Thorburn, Rose Rayner, Olympia Magnussen, Max Campbell, Ruby Robertson, Jessica Dallas, Harry Chissell and Libby Silson (front). Photo / Jamie Troughton Dscribe Media Services

They may be dwarfed by some of the bigger teams but nine keen kids from Matahui School are banking on sheer enthusiasm to give them a memorable NZCT Aims Games debut.

The small country school near Katikati is one of a record 228 schools taking part, with 7500 Year 7 and 8 athletes from around New Zealand competing in 17 different sports, starting with cross country on Sunday.

Ruby Robertson, one of four indoor bowlers at Matahui, reckons their boutique team is over-flowing in team spirit ahead of the biggest week of their young sporting lives.

"It's been a big deal in our class and we've been practising whenever we get time," 11-year-old Ruby said. "There's an Aims Games disco, which I'm really looking forward to, and I'm also looking forward to just having an amazing experience."

The week-long championship is New Zealand's largest junior sporting festival and this year's numbers are a sharp jump from last year's 10th anniversary of the Games, which boasted 193 schools and 6500 athletes.

And while big schools like Tauranga Intermediate and Auckland's Northcross and Murrays Bay Intermediates have hefty team numbers, it's the support from smaller schools which continues to amaze tournament director Vicki Semple.

"We have nearly 70 new schools taking part this year, many of them from passionate little sporting outposts like Matahui School. They're little heartland schools with keen kids who are desperate to show they can foot it with anyone else their age in the country," she said.

Among the 17 sporting codes represented will be 96 netball teams, 62 hockey teams, 79 football teams and more than 500 cross country runners. Table tennis also makes a debut this year, attracting 59 entries from 15 schools, including 12-year-old Miah McDonald from Matahui.

Making Matahui's contingent even more impressive was the fact there were only 18 Year 7 and 8 students at the school, which had a roll of 68 and rising.

This year's record-setting Games had also been bolstered by a decent dollop of star-power. Netball star Irene Van Dyk and Commonwealth Games gold medallists Sam Webster (track cycling) and Lauren Boyle (swimming) will help open the championship on Sunday, while an impressive roll call of former sporting stars will be on the sidelines during the week helping coach and manage teams.

They include former All Blacks Rico Gear and Rhys Duggan, former Silver Fern Tania Dalton and Tall Black Dillon Boucher, rugby league coach Kevin Tamati and middle distance legend Dick Quax.

What does NZCT AIMS mean?

New Zealand Charitable Trust Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools