Kia Ora Tatou
Welcome to our Thai visitors
It is our pleasure to welcome the ECE group from Thailand to South Otago High School. The students wil be here for the next tewo weeks of school. In total we have fifteen students from many different parts of Thailand led by their teacher Mrs Thosaporn. Thank you to the Kapa Haka group for their welcome and also to Bryan Cardogan for spending time with the group. Last but not least a big thank you to our host families and buddy’s in school for making the Thai students feel so welcome.
Random act of kindness and winter sports
In assembly I talked about a random act of kindness I received over the summer as a lead into the winter sports season.
As some of you living locally will have seen, I like to go out jogging. This is now sadly fairly slow due to the aging process, however, I have found by slowing down I can go a bit further. So as a means of challenging myself I have completed a number of longer events. Over the summer I entered an ultra marathon in Christchurch. A 53km event starting on The Banks Peninsula, over the Port Hills and dropping down into Halswell Quarry, Christchurch. This includes many hills and over 2500m of vertical elevation.
As I have mentioned I am not quick so this was going to take a while. I set myself a goal of doing it in under 8 hours. All was going well, I was putting the effort in, getting tired as expected but I was keeping on track.
However, I knew the last section well as I lived in Christchurch and had biked it a number of times. So being able to see what was ahead of me and knowing the last descent was 5km to the finish it became apparent that it was going to be further than 53km. In the end it was 55.5km. So having an extra 2.5km to complete really changed the game in terms of me meeting my 8 hour goal. It became very tight. It would be fair to say at the start of the last 5km descent I was not in a good mood given the extra distance.
On the last descent a younger fit male, who was on a training run, went up the hill past me turned around and caught me on the descent. As he went past he asked a few questions about the race. I explained I was aiming for 8 hours but it was further than expected. He slowed down and ran with me for three kilometers and provided encouragement. Telling me we were picking up speed. That I could easily make it in the remaining 8 minutes. He ran ahead, opened a gate so I could go through instead of climbing over the style / fence next to it. He did so again further down the track and then with a few final words of motivation turned off and wished me well. I finished in just under 8 hours but with only 90 seconds to spare.
I am not sure if without a complete stranger encouraging me, opening gates and providing encouragement I would have achieved my goal. In turn I will aim provide similar aid to others give the opportunity. As a trail running community we are all supportive of each other and as a result we achieve more together.
In individual sports such as running, the community makes a difference. It is even more so with team sports. So as we enter the winter sports season how are you going to approach your sport? Are you going to be encouraging of others? Are you going to be motivating to people on your team that are not having their best day? Are you going to open gates for others? Not only will this benefit you but the team will lift, you will have a more enjoyable season and the teams results will be better.
Lastly, please be grateful to the volunteers that make your sport happen. Everyone on the sidelines, pitch, turf, field or court will be doing their best. There will also be mistakes, that is part of sport, it is how we respond to them that matters. Our sporting code of behaviour is included in the newsletter as reminders for us all.
Respect the coaches and managers who willingly give up their time as volunteers. Respect the referees decisions. Say thank you after the game. Set some goals for yourself and work towards them as a team and I look forward to hearing about your successes.
Finally
Congratulations to our touch team on winning the South Island Secondary School touch mixed championship. The team went undefeated throughout the tournament and dominated the majority of their games. In the final they found themselves down two tries from the beginning, however, they never gave up and fought back to win 9 - 6.
The team’s success is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and teamwork of every player and the management involved. Thank you to Trey Russell, Ben Smart, Heidi and Dan Marshall and all the supporters.
Have a great weekend,
Ka kite ano.
Nigel Scarth - Acting Principal. |
