Zespri AIMS Games: Long-time volunteer spectator for first time in 17 years

Jill Weldon got to sit back and watch the Zespri AIMS Games this year for the first time in 17 years. Photo / Jamie Troughton / Dscribe Media Services

Jill Weldon has been involved in the AIMS Games since its inception 17 years ago.

But this year, for the first time, she has been able to sit back and watch the games she helped to create.

And her schedule is packed.

From morning to night, Weldon has been whipping from one sport to the other. She will cover basketball, rugby sevens, hockey, netball, and more all in one day.

"It is exciting. It has been phenomenal."

The Te Puke Intermediate School principal and AIMS Games trustee was part of the initial conversations to host the intermediate-aged sporting tournament in Tauranga in 2004.

That first tournament was co-hosted by four intermediates: Tauranga, Otumoetai, Mount Maunganui and Te Puke.

Weldon was the netball co-ordinator for years.

"I used to do the draw all by hand," she said.

The draw included about 128 teams and would be put up for the netballers to see each morning.

"The draw would go up on the wall in the morning and there would be lines about 100 deep of athletes wanting to see who they were facing next.

"There would be queues waiting for me."

When the AIMS Games started, just 17 schools with 700-plus competitors played across four sporting codes: Football, netball, hockey, and cross country.

Now, the 2022 Zespri AIMS Games has 323 schools and 10,000-plus students competing across 23 sports.

"From four codes it just went boom into this," Weldon said.

"It has got so big because the foundations were strong and the ethos fits with people. They get it. If you provide the opportunity, people will come."

Weldon said it was "a beast" to organise a tournament this size and there was so much going on behind the scenes.

She remembers early starts to beat the traffic and setting up the gear before the teams started to arrive.

She would bring students with her, pick them up at 6am, and drop them back off so they could experience the games too.

"My husband and my kids helped too."

Weldon said some of her big memories were the atmosphere created between games.

"We would end up with hundreds of kids in a massive circle, and inner circles, somebody had a UE Boom they had a particular song and dance and everybody would know it."

"It was the camaraderie and the social nature of it all."

She also remembers an "incredibly close" final between Te Puke Intermediate and Mount Intermediate. Weldon's daughter was part of the Te Puke team.

"We lost it by one goal."

Being able to enjoy the Games as a spectator this year, Weldon said she was "massively proud" of what it had become.

"It's the vibe. It's just the people.

"The vast majority of people go home at the end of the week and they have had the most amazing experience. That is important to us.

"I hope that inspires them."

Weldon hoped that when the students get to secondary school, they would be inspired to get involved with sport at that level too.

"For many, this will be the beginning of their sporting journey."

Tournament director Kelly Schischka said Weldon had been such a core part of the AIMS Games since its inception and had spent many countless hours working tirelessly in the netball pavilion over the years.

"It's been so nice to see her get out and about and see exactly what she's helped to create; the scale and the enormity of an iconic sports event."