South Island SS Junior Basketball Championships

The girls and boys junior basketball teams have just completed a fantastic week competing in the South Island Junior Basketball tournament in sunny Nelson!

The girls playing in B grade lost to Greymouth by four points in a very physical first up match but then went on to win their next three round robin games against Nelson College, Rangi Ruru and Westland. The girls then played Nelson College again in the semi final winning convincingly in the end. We played Waimea in the final, which was always going to be close. The atmosphere was electric in the stadium as the A and B boys and girls finals were all getting played at the same time. Trinity got off to a flyer but Waimea clawed their way back and it was point for point through most of the third and fourth quarter.  The girls dug deep and finished strongly, taking the momentum in the last two minutes to win 63-56. We should be very proud of these girls. The strength and resilience they showed throughout the competition was outstanding. We’re not used to playing against teams with such height and physicality, yet not once did they give up. A quick dip in the freezing pool was a great way to celebrate!

The boys playing in A grade have had a tougher time with a number of close losses. They were in a particularly tough pool against some of the best and biggest Christchurch high schools like Shirley Boys, Cashmere and St Andrews.  The standard is very high but the team has fought hard and taken lots of learnings away, which will help them in the future. The highlight for them was beating Waimea 73-64 in their last game. Waimea had beaten them earlier in the comp so this was a great way for the boys to finish their campaign and showed lots of character.

Overall the weather was amazing, the Teapot Valley Christian Camp was a great host and the way our boys and girls teams interacted and supported each other was a great example of Trinity College spirit alive and well.

A big thank you to Mike Mackenzie for his organisation, Kyra McEntyre, Piata Rapata-Hanning, Will Hopper and Oli Pali for their coaching and LJ Patston who was an amazing manager.

The future of Basketball at Trinity is bright!