Pahīatua student Liam Brown’s achievements

Liam Brown, from Tararua College, was named champion student official male at the Steve's Tyre Service Manawatu Secondary School Sport Champions 2024. From left: James Deans (Steve's Tyre Service), Mark Rule (Mid Central Podiatry), Liam Brown, Nina Williams (Mid Central Podiatry) and Sport Manawatu CEO Kelly Shanks. Photo / Kim Sargent

For Liam Brown, the number of awards he has been given through Tararua College and sports has been pretty overwhelming.

“It’s quite surreal getting a ... big range of acknowledgements.”

In senior prizegiving at Tararua College, Liam was awarded the Tararua College Parents’ Association prize for first in health, the Te Rau Kaka Proxime Assessit (runner up to Dux) Beech Cup, the Kakahu prize, and the Woodville Rotary Cup for best all-round student.

At the Steve’s Tyre Service Manawatu Secondary School Sport Champions 2024, Liam was named Student Official of the Year (male) for refereeing rugby and was a finalist in the Active Recreation category for his work with the Manawatu Rugby Union and Club of Origin.

Liam’s achievements didn’t end there; he also took on the role of an academic leader at school and had an excellence endorsement in his NCEA levels.

“I’ve been offered a lot of opportunities, both in sport [and] academically.”

Liam says he’s enjoyed participating in a range of activities at school, including a group trip to Samoa for a cultural exchange.

He says the trip’s purpose was not only to learn about another culture but also to learn about working together, building leadership and building character.

“It was interesting going to see a different culture,” he says, adding they were able to learn about Samoan culture and teach Māori culture.

He also found the lifestyles of students his age to be very different.

“It was quite a cool experience. We made a lot of connections with kids our age.”

It was his second time winning the Official of the Year award; he also won in 2022.

Liam says he’s done quite a few things in sport, such as refereeing the national Condor 7s in Mount Maunganui and had the opportunity to be a water carrier and an assistant substitution controller for the All Blacks vs Argentina game in Wellington earlier this year.

His job was to support them making substitutions on the sidelines and carry water for the referees during the game.

“I got to meet a few international referees.”

He has a long-term goal to make it internationally.

“I’m just sticking to it and progressing each year,” he says, hoping to make it in 10 to 15 years’ time.

Next year, Liam is off to Canterbury University to study health science, majoring in psychology.

He says he’s looking into going into rural mental health, potentially becoming a psychologist.

It’s always been an interest, especially growing up in a rural community.

In the meantime, he will work on the farm over summer, hoping to earn some money to help pay for his expenses at university.

While he has been able to get some grants to help with some of his costs, he is already aware through friends how expensive it is, but he’s excited to be going.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Jazmin Dean, from Woodville, won the Female Official of the Year for basketball refereeing and Brodie Bennett, from Pahīatua, was a finalist for Champion Male Athlete.

Dannevirke Smallbore Rifle Club was also a finalist for Champion Team of the Year.