Kauri's Big Splash

Yesterday we had our annual swimming sports. It was a lot of fun. This year we didn’t have any of the normal, competitive races like freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke. Instead, we had novelty challenges like the noodle, kickboard combo. The only rule was that you had to get both noodle and kickboard from one end of the pool to the other. How you did it was up to you. We also used a bucket as a flotation device.

Another popular event was the clothing relay. Contestants had to swim fully clothed, not an easy thing to do. In the seal race, contestants pushed a ball with theur nose, It sounds easy but it is much harder than you imagine.

It was a great day. Everyone had lots of sunblock on. You can’t be too careful in New Zealand’s harsh sun. Burn time was down to less than 15 minutes. Thanks to Mr Pressnell for organising the day and Whaea Puhi for taking the photos.

We Are The Champions

Congratulations to the two Owairaka Netball Teams that competed in the Eden/Albert Netball competition last week. Both teams won their grade. 150 players from 15 schools compete in this tournament. Well done Ms. Karaka. Well done girls. You are all stars.

Pro Sport Rugby

On the eighteenth of August, Pro Sport Rugby came to our school to teach us some basic rugby skills.

Altogether there were four instructors; the two that took the boys were called Brian and David, and the other two that took the girls were called Noah and Tyson.

The boys and the girls were split into two different groups.

To start off with, the boys had to do some fitness and 25 push-ups. Unfortunately some people cheated so we had to do 10 more. The girls started with a running race and then they had to tackle a punching bag. Then the boys had to tackle each other. The girls had to try and catch a ball that one of the instructors had kicked. The boys then had to tackle two of the instructors, Brian and David, who were holding tackling bags. At the end, they gave us all prize packs with puzzles, lollies, tattoos, and more.  

The next day lots of us were still feeling sore from all the hard work we had done on the rugby field.

We had a fun day with the Pro Sport instructors and we hope they come again.

Written by Paddy B.

Video made by Shaquille W. and Helen M.

Barbarians Rugby Day 2009 & 1996

Here is the Owairaka Rugby Team that played in the 2009 Barbarians Rugby day at Ngataringa Naval base in Devonport on Sunday 7 June. We had to be up early and meet at school at 7am. Not all of us made it. We had to rush around the neighbourhood knocking on doors and getting  boys out of bed. Eventually we had a team. It was a great day. We played three games and had lots of fun. One of the parents put on a bbq off the back of a truck. It was great to see so many parents turn up and support their sons.

For the record, we won two games and narrowly lost the third.

Here is a photo of the 1996 Owairaka School rugby team. They were a champion side who also won the Auckland Rugby League title.

The captain holding the ball is Sonny Bill Williams. The player to his right is Paul Faleva’ai, Mrs Faleva’ai from Room 8’s son. Who are the other players from that team? We all know what Sonny Bill Williams is doing now but what about the rest?

Do any of you out there reading this post know anything about these boys?

Which boys from the 2009 photo will we be talking about in 13 years time because they have done great things in life?

Ayan thinks I look alot different in 1996. She’s right. But what did Ayan look like in 1996?

NRL 2009

I predict the NZ Warriors will go all the way this year and be crowned Grand Champions of the 2009 NRL. I think they will play Manly Sea Eagles in the finals. The North Queensland Cowboys, The Bulldogs, and the Brisbane Broncos will go close. What do you think?

Ethan, Paddy, Geleta, Mr Pressnell and Celia have made their predictions. See the comments… We also have a prediction from Ninos, a Manly fan that the Sea Egales will win the NRL again. We will see Ninos, we will see. Only time will tell!!

David Beckham

On Friday 5^TH December ten lucky children were chosen to see David Beckham train with his team L.A Galaxy. Unfortunately we couldn’t get his signature. The most interesting thing is that we actually get to see him and his team play. The cool thing was his long passes. He is only playing for the L.A Galaxy because he wants’ soccer to be more famous around the world. David Beckham is a sporting legend. Beckham has been around the world just to play soccer and train with kids.  

 

 

We also saw the Oceania All Stars train as well. They were also pretty good but lost the real match by 3-0 to the L.A Galaxy. It was a really good experience. I was really happy and proud we were chosen. We saw him in one of the best forms of his life. He played really good at practice but he didn’t want to get injured. The Oceania All Stars let us get their signature. We also got free lunch       (Doughnuts).

The Owai Game

Written and starring Kofi and Segun. Video footage by Bronwyn. No actor was harmed in making this movie.

Ali was the first to comment on our video which you can also see on youtube. He showed it to his family and they said what a good actor Segun was. I thought it was an excellent header as well.

Ricoh Rugby Semi Finalists

On Wednesday 3 September Owairaka School challenged Robertson Rd School at rugby. It was the first game of the knockout round in the Ricoh Auckland Primary Schools Championship. We won 15-5. We scored some good tries. The try scorers were Kofi, Kaytel, and Charles. All our tries were scored in the first half. We have made it into the semis and I hope we make it into the finals.

 

Rippa Rugby at Eden Park

A couple of Sundays ago the Owairaka School Tag team played a game against Waiheke Island at Eden Park as a curtain raiser before the Taranaki Ranfurly Shield challenge. Owairaka won 55-25. The team really enjoyed the experience of playing on the same field that the All Blacks played on the week before. They got to play in front of a reasonable crowd at the stadium and their game was also shown on the big screen. They had their photo taken with the All Black, Joe Rokocoko and the Auckland Blues player Benson Stanley.

Tag is a fun game that anyone can play. The object of the game is to score a try without having the opposition tear off one of the two tags you have velcroed onto your belt. 

 

 

I couldn’t pick a player of the day but Sekeriye thinks it was Letuituia. How would he know? He wasn’t even there.