Spotswood College senior girls’ volleyball team hadn’t even practiced as a full team before heading off to the National Secondary School Championships in Palmerston North.
Despite this they won gold in division four, and placed 49th out of 85 teams at the tournament at the Arena Stadium in Palmerston North, last week.
This is the first time a Spotswood College girls’ team has ever won a gold medal at the championships and the first time the school has secured gold since the boys’ team won division II in 1997.
The girls had a rocky beginning to the competition, losing their first three matches in closely fought battles which resulted in them being graded into the division four championship.
“We had a team meeting and I told the girls I was impressed with their improvement over the games, I thought we could do well in division four and a medal was obtainable,” said head coach Phil Gayton.
Team captain Laura Anderson was also impressed with how her charges reacted to their early losses. “Our team really grew together as the week progressed.”
They won their next four games, setting up a division four final against Burnside High School B of Christchurch, who they had earlier beaten in pool play.
They took out the final 3-1 (25-10, 25-22, 17-25, 25-12)
Team member Kelsey Lovegrove said seeing how much the victory meant to Gayton was the highlight of the championship.
“One of the biggest achievements of the week was bringing tears of pride to our coach’s eyes.”
This article was published in the Taranaki MidWeek on April 3, 2013