Great pride as Upokongaro School represents Whanganui at Hastings Super Sixes

The 10-strong Upokongaro team had the privilege of leading the opening ceremony

Usually Chronicle reporters write the stories ... this time we are letting a proud parent tell the tale.

'My name is Mary Maru and I am a parent at the small rural school of Upokongaro.

When one of the teachers, Erin Browne, mentioned she wanted to enter the school in a sports tournament in Hastings, but she didn't have the money or support to do it, a group of parents got together.

Erin had never had much parents' support for sport, but we wanted to show that in such a small school are hidden talents, and the children deserve the opportunity to participate in things like this.

Unbeknown to Erin, from just one meeting, dedicated parents fundraised - sausage sizzles, raffles etc - and within three months we had reached our goal of $3000 and gone past it.

Our aim was to put our community school on the map.

So on Monday, September 17, we took our small group of 10 students - four girls and six boys - to compete in the Super Sixes tournament in Hastings.

Our children have never competed in such a thing, way out of our region. They were among about 1000 other kids taking part and we were the only school who attended from the Whanganui region.

Parent power helped get Upokongaro kids to Hastings

Our small team had the privilege of leading the opening ceremony.

We competed in touch rugby and basketball - we had wins, we had draws and we had losses.

Our children represented not only their school but themselves, our community, their families and, most of all, represented the humbleness of true sportsmanship.

Our kids, win or lose, held their head high together. We were very proud of them.

Mary Maru - 'Trying to put our community school on the map'

A huge thank-you for the support and donations from Pak'nSave; Countdown; New World; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Sunnys; Bunnings Warehouse; Warehouse Stationery; SuperValue; Mitre 10; 5L; McDonald's; A&K Prints; Whanganui District Council.

And another huge thank-you to our coaches for the continuing support."

■The 10 year 5 and 6 team members from Upokongaro were:

Ciara Barlow, Maile Browne, Katana Craven, Presteej Kiriona Hinga, Kayde Marshall, Jodeci Maru, Hunter Perrett, Legend Rowe-Sullivan, Jeremiah Tuuaga and Jayden Whareorere-Bourke.