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Regulus
Values and Culture
45
In the
Year 13 student Natalie Allen ends
her time playing netball at the College
on a high. The team was placed
tenth in New Zealand at the National
Secondary Schools’ tournament. They
earned a place in this top competition
for the first time in history after their
fifth place finish at the South Island
Schools’ Tournament.
Natalie started playing netball in
Year 9 and has been in the team for
the last five years. She says going
from languishing in the B grade of
the Canterbury Schools’ Competition
to finally making it through into the
country’s premier school netball
tournament is a reward for some hard
effort. “When you have people in the
team working hard, everyone raises
their standards,” she says. “We were
the underdogs no doubt, but it was a
great experience for us.”
Fijian shooter Kelera Nawai and
goal defence Charlotte Elley, who
was vice-captain of the New Zealand
Secondary Schools’ team this year,
and a member of the Tactix wider
training squad added the attacking
power that kept them off the bottom
of the table.
Season highlights
Charlotte Elley and Natalie Allen
(both Year 13) were named in the
South Island Secondary Schools’
Tournament team and the
Canterbury U19 team.
Charlotte was also named in
the U21 New Zealand team and
selected for the 2015 Canterbury
Tactix train-on squad.
Holly Matson made the Canterbury
U14 team.
net
Commonwealth experience
Two St Andrew’s staff members
were part of the New Zealand team
that travelled to Glasgow earlier
this year to take part in the 2014
Commonwealth Games.
For Year 8 teacher Brad Shaw, who
is a member of New Zealand’s Black
Sticks hockey team, and who has
been to two Commonwealth and two
Olympic Games, it was disappointing
not to bring home a medal. But the
experience did provide a valuable
teaching opportunity. “I’m a process
person, so I don’t worry about winning
and losing. It’s about how many
tackles I’ve made and what I need to
work on to play better next time,” he
says. It’s a concept he talks about with
his students. “They want to know how I
can lose and still look happy.”
He also worked with the class before
leaving for Scotland to set up OneNote
and IT systems. “That way I could set
up some Commonwealth Games tasks
and share with the class what the life
of an athlete is like.”
It was school counsellor John Quinn’s
first Commonwealth Games and he
travelled with the New Zealand Bowls
team as their mental skills coach.
“It’s an amazing experience because
you are spending time with athletes
who work hard to achieve their goals.
Then being able to watch them
perform at their peak gives you that
‘proud to be a Kiwi’ feeling.”
John says being around the athletes
village was a highlight thanks to
the great culture set up by Chef de
Mission Rob Waddell. New Zealand
finished sixth in the medal tables
bringing home 14 gold, 14 silver and
17 bronze medals.
John says the Games are an
opportunity to talk to students about
how to achieve their best.
“High performance is a continuous
state of improvement. If you don’t get
better, you get kicked off the team,”
he says.
The team gave it their all in Palmerston
North where they played against New
Zealand’s top 16 school-aged netball
teams. After a number of close games,
losing two games by just two goals and
one goal, respectively, the girls finished
10th in the tournament, the third
placed team from the South Island.
Natalie, who has been a member of
the Christchurch U16, U19 and the U17
national age group title team, says it’s
been an incredible journey watching
her own performance, and the team’s,
improve steadily over the years. Since
starting as goal shoot and moving
to goal attack in Year 10, Natalie’s
shooting percentage is over 80 per cent
and she earns praise from Senior A
coach Kirsty Carline for the amount of
turnover ball she wins.
John Quinn and Brad Shaw
Madeleine Foster (Year 13)