On Thursday the 13th March 2025, 30 children aged 8, 9 and 10 years old were transported to our inter school swimming sports held at Tamahere Model Country school.  We thank all the parents who helped us to get to Tamahere and for cheering us on.

The first races of the day were the freestyle events. Our eight-year-olds swam first, heading to marshalling, then lining up along the benches to make sure they were in their correct lanes.

The whistle blew and the swimmers hopped up onto the diving boards, then the race starter smashed the clappers together and they were off. That same process happened for the rest of the freestyle races; there were some false starts. Hillcrest were the loudest cheerleaders of all the schools. We had lots of people that made it to the finals. Everybody felt that they had accomplished something from the freestyle race. If it was finishing strongly or placing in the top 4 in their final. We were proud of everyone because they tried their hardest.

The next set of races were backstroke which made swimmers nervous because it was hard to see where the end of the pool was! Breastroke was the next event and it was a close race. One person got disqualified when they had come first but everyone did a great job. Breaststroke is one of the hardest strokes and it was important to touch the wall at the end of the race with two hands.

The medley was an exciting race where swimmers had to complete lengths each of backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle all without stopping! Everybody was getting tired by their last length so freestyle was a bit messy but what an accomplishment for all of our medley swimmers who participated in this challenging event.

The relay was my favourite race by far! All the schools were serious and ready to represent their school when the clapper went! Everybody flew into the pool with a splash. On the first length we were lagging behind but no worries on the second length, we caught up nearly to second place. Woohoo, the 3rd length was when we really got into it and then it was a race only between HNS and Tamahere. We were proud of our swimmers who represented us and my throat was really sore from cheering them along.

What a successful day!

Reported by Charlotte, Maia and Aarlia