Aims Games: Kids learn lessons from champs

Te Puke Intermediate's Teao Himiona breaks a tackle on his way to the line during the Aims Games Sevens tournament. Photo / John Borren

Mount Intermediate Sevens captain Melino Fotu was hoping a little bit of world champion lustre would rub off on his team at the NZCT Aims Games in Tauranga yesterday.

Fotu and his teammates were interested spectators as the world champion New Zealand women's Sevens team trained at Waipuna Park, taking notes as national coach Sean Horan put his squad through their paces.

With Mount sneaking into the championship round of the tournament with 11 other teams, they were anxious for any tips they could pick up.

"Some of the big things we learned were how to run from deep, how to improve passing and catching and how to run on to the ball," Fotu said.

"They were also great at talking on the field, which is something we've got to work on too."

Horan recognised the opportunity presented to the Aims Gamers, which is why he put his team on display.

"Even if we can connect with one or two of these young ones to let them know this is an Olympic sport, it'll be worth it," Horan said.

Tauranga, Hawera, St Peter's (Auckland) and Pukekohe won their pools in the boys' sevens, with Glen Innes, Peachgrove, Royal Oak, Randwick, Northcross, Fairfield and Bucklands Beach joining the Mount team in the championship round.

Hawera also benefited from the presence of the national team, with player Gayle Broughton giving them a pre-game pep-talk before they continued their unbeaten run with a 39-5 win over Matamata.

"Gayle is from Hawera and we're pretty close with her," team captain William Guthrie said. "We saw her at the hot pools last night with the team doing a recovery session so we were chatting and got a photo with them. She told us before the game today that every game is a new game and we've got to keep playing hard and have fun - that gave us all a big lift and we knew they were watching so tried that extra bit harder."