Students focused on being best they can be

Otago Daily Times

17-06-2025

Every high-achieving sportsperson has a story to tell. The Otago Secondary Schools Sports Association profiles some more southern students doing interesting things. EAST OTAGO HS Samuel Paton (17)
Sport: Netball umpiring.
Highlight: Year 9 final at Otago schools tournament and being awarded a national volunteer of the year (youth) highly commended award in 2022.
Training regime: Walking every morning for 40 minutes to one hour out on the farm or indoors on the treadmill. I also make an effort to go through a thorough stretching regime every morning and night. This is a new aspect of my training after feedback from an umpire coach. I umpire a few games through the week, which helps to continue to refine my calls and positioning/vision during the game. After each game, it is important for me to journal about my game, what went well, what I was working on and what I can improve for next time. Self-reflection is essential to my growth as an umpire. Another aspect of training is reading through the netball rulebook as it is ever changing and adapting.
Sporting dream: To umpire at an international level.
Motivation: Knowing that the individuals who are playing in a game I am officiating have an umpire that cares and works hard to make sure the game is fair and safe. The gratitude expressed by players, parents and coaches outweigh the critical remarks and continue to bring me back to the game I love and have been umpiring for the last four years. Paige Walker (17)
Sport: Touch refereeing.
Highlight: Going to two national tournaments in the 2024-25 season: the youth nationals in Auckland and the masters nationals in Christchurch. Both tournaments were over four days with several games on each day. During these tournaments, I met many different people and made so many connections across the country.
Sporting dream: My dream with touch refereeing is to gain the qualifications to go to Australia to represent New Zealand as a referee, or even higher, to qualify for a Touch World Cup competition.
Motivation: Umpiring opens up variety and challenges me to get out of my comfort zone and be myself. The hardest thing I have had to overcome is my lack of self-confidence. I am a different person from the person I was in 2023, and I am still continuing to grow. OTAGO GIRLS' HS Lyvia Nilsen (year 13)
Sport: Diving (eight years).
Highlights: Competing in the Dubai international aquatic championships with some impressive results. Competing against athletes from five other countries, including the Russian Olympic team, she placed fifth in all her events — 1m, 3m, and platform. Lyvia also had an outstanding performance at the Otago diving championships where she placed first in the 3m event and first in the synchro event, as well as securing second in both the platform and 1m events.
Training regime: Lyvia has a vigorous routine, training five days per week as well as two days weight training in the gym. Her diving training consists of a 15-minute warm-up, body weight conditioning, perfecting specific dives, learning new dives and numerous drills and skills relative to diving. Sunday is the rest day.
Sporting dream: Lyvia's sporting dream is to firstly gain a scholarship overseas associated with her diving and to compete internationally at big diving events such as the world championships.
Motivation: Lyvia's motivation comes from her love of her sport and her dreams of competing at the World Games. She enjoys the atmosphere and the camaraderie of her fellow divers she has grown with over the last eight years. She also enjoys the company of her coaches who have gained success with the diving team. Lyvia assists OGHS with their swimming sports and puts on displays of her diving techniques and also helps judge the diving events. JOHN MCGLASHAN COLLEGE Josh Grieve (17)
Sport: Cycling.
Highlight: Winning the individual pursuit and under-19 3km time trial representing Otago at track nationals.
Training regime: Riding about 375km a week on the bike with additional gym sessions.
Sporting dream: To make the Olympics in either road or track cycling.
Motivation: The feeling of riding, the freeness and beauty of the environment and success. KING'S HS Kairangi Koni (16)
Sports: Golf and touch.
Highlights so far: Fifth year in King's 1st golf team, remaining undefeated in matchplay (20-plus matches) for the school and part of team qualifying for New Zealand schools finals for first time; various wins in provincial tournaments such as under-19 Central Otago championships and under-16 Otago championships; top-10 placings in NZ age-grade championships — North Island, South Island and NZ championships; represented Otago under-19 team (third year), finishing runner up at national interprovincial in 2023 and 2024; top-five placings in open provincial championships such as Lakes District championships and Queenstown Open; debut for Otago v Southland, winning both matches; three years in Chisholm Links senior A pennants team; NZ Order of Merit events — three from six top-10 finishes; three years in Golf NZ South Island junior talent programme.
Training: Spring/summer — five to six trainings/games per week with King's/Otago touch teams, five to six golf trainings/games per week, three to four gym sessions per week on flexibility, balance and core conditioning; autumn/winter — seven-plus golf trainings/games per week, five gym sessions per week on flexibility, balance, strength and core conditioning.
Sporting dream: My long-term goal is to play golf professionally and continue my love and enjoyment of the game. My mid-term goal is to play golf at college level in the US and study civil engineering during this process. My short-term goal is to perform well in NZ Order of Merit events, gain World Amateur Golf Ranking points and continue to lower my tournament scoring averages.
Motivation: My parents inspire me to aim high, do my best and not give up on what I want to achieve. I'm lucky to have great support from them and also the guys at Chisholm Links, my coach John Griffin and provincial coaches and managers. Keeping my goals in mind motivates me to prioritise my sporting and academic preparation and performance over other things. Ultimately, the love of the game of golf motivates me every day. It's always challenging but it doesn't feel like hard work, but rewarding when you're doing what you love. BAYFIELD HS Madeline Hage-Sleiman (14)
Sport: Karate
Highlight: Getting the opportunity to train with Masaji Taira Sensei. He specialises in form applications (bunkai) and I have gone to two of his annual Dunedin seminars.
Training regime: I go to training four times a week: Mondays, one hour of fighting; Tuesdays, one hour of kobudo (weapons); Thursdays, two hours of kata (forms) and Saturdays three hours of sport karate training. On top of these trainings I also lift weights twice a week.
Sporting dream: To make the New Zealand team for kata (forms) and be able to go to Oceania and world events. I would love to go to the Goju Ryu championships in Okinawa to compete in kata (forms) and kobudu (weapons).
Motivation: The idea that I can always improve and all it takes is hard work and commitment. DUNSTAN HS Andrew Baird (17)
Sport: Clay target shooting.
Highlight: Competing in both secondary school nationals and the Bodkin Shield, a three-day adult competition with shooters from all over New Zealand. In both of these events, I met lots of new people, all of whom were easy to laugh with and willing to share some tricks that they have learnt through their time shooting.
Training: I practise once a week after school at the Alexandra Clay Target Club with the help of a few of the club members who stay around to coach me.
Sporting dream: My dream would be to represent New Zealand one day in an Oceania competition, or even at the Olympics.
Motivation: Clay target shooting offers up many challenges, and it has been the mental ones I have struggled with most. Learning to be able to keep my emotions in check, reset and refocus after every shot have been some of the hardest things I've had to do. But by learning these skills and overcoming the challenges, I have become a much better person for it and am still continuing to learn so much from the sport.