Reporoa College v Otamatea High School Senior Exchange

By Tina Holst

Sunday 15th – Tuesday 17th August (54th Annual Exchange as the exchange last year was postponed)

The 54th Annual Exchange took place at Otamatea this year with 36 Reporoa students  travelling up for the occasion. 

Reporoa arrived right on cue at 2.30pm where the Otamatea Kapa Haka group welcomed our guests with a powhiri. This was followed by students finding out who they were being billeted with.

Sunday afternoon, in front of a packed crowd, the girls’ basketball teams tussled in the first quarter but Otamatea found their form in the second two quarters to gain a 18 point lead. Reporoa held their own in the last quarter but could not close the gap enough. The final score being 46 – 35 to Otamatea. The boys game was a comfortable win to Reporoa with their skills out on the court outclassing Otamatea. The final score being 45 – 12 to Reporoa. Thanks must go to the Otamatea coaches Bruce Alison and Paul Chambers and to our referees Kalem and Jeremiah from Kaipara Basketball.

The basketball was followed by a yummy shared meal provided by the Otamatea staff and students.

Debate: The debate was the first event on Monday morning with the moot being “This house believes that everyone has the right to own guns” with Otamatea debating the affirmative. Sarah Campbell-Winter, Billie Le Mesurier-Cowbourne and Alana Yardley presented a convincing debate taking the win over the Reporoa students. Thanks must go to Huia Coll for doing such a great job of mentoring the Otamatea Team.

Thanks also to the adjudicators Lockwood Smith and John Cunningham.

Volleyball: With volleyball being a new sport for the exchange, the gym was full with exchange students keen to see how the game would unfold. The game was exciting to watch with great sportsmanship shown on both sides. Otamatea had the dominance of the game coming away with a 74 – 47 win. A huge thanks to Samid Buksh for his many hours of coaching the Otamatea team. Thanks also to Kalem Tana and Alex Kelly for Refereeing.

Netball: The court conditions were good and the sun was shining which made a great start to the game. It was good to have many spectators watching with the game running during interval. Again, the final score does not reflect how great a battle the game was. Otamatea won 58 – 17. Thanks go to Nikola Kemp for her hours of coaching. Thanks also to Mirna Manuell and Taira Phillips for umpiring.

Futsal: This was the second sport to be new to the exchange and it was an action packed game with plenty of excitement. The final score certainly does not show how close the game was. Reporoa had many shots on goal but just couldn’t get the points on the board. The final result was 11 – 0 to Otamatea. Thanks go to Alex Kelly for her many hours of coaching and to Samid Buksh for refereeing the game.

Rugby: For a team that hasn't played together in a serious game of rugby our boys performed well. The game was 10 a-side and it took both teams some time to find their rhythm. Otamatea opened the scoring in the first half with a try out wide to Kevin Kim. Kevin went on to score 4 tries out on the wing through some great play from midfielders, Tawhetu Phillips and Brandon Edwards. Jack Hodgson played a great game at halfback with some beautiful passing, he scored 2 tries himself and his last try in the corner sealed a great game for Otamatea. Some other standout performances were from Nasah Cullen, Gareth Fergusson and Cameron Fitzpatrick; their play at the breakdown and set piece was awesome. The final score was 47 - 0 to Otamatea. Thanks go to coach Bruce Alison, team manager Dave Burnell and referee Ken Finlayson.

At the prize giving it was lovely to see the bonds between the students had grown even more with a happy relaxed atmosphere along with a wonderful spread put on by the our Duke of Edinburgh students. 

The overall result from the seven events, Otamatea came out with a 6 -1 win to secure the Hathoway Family Shield.

To finish off the exchange a social was held in the school hall with the AIMS netball tournament team running the tuck shop. Here all students got to mix and mingle again.

All in all the exchange was a huge success with a wonderful group of students who made everyone proud to be part of Otamatea High School.