The New Zealand AIMS Games (for students aged 11 to 13) have long been a calendar highlight at ACG Parnell College. The nationwide competition provides our keen Middle School sports stars with a chance to shine against their peers, celebrate teamwork and camaraderie, and enjoy the exciting atmosphere of this dynamic event.
After a two-year hiatus, the return of the AIMS Games in 2022 has been a huge success for the school, with a record-breaking 22 medals obtained.
“This year’s AIMS Games has been by far the most successful for the school to date, both in an achievement and participation sense,” says ACG Parnell Sports Coordinator Steph Trowill.
“It was pleasing to see a wide variety of sports being represented, not just the more traditional sports we see our students play. This year, our athletes competed in Squash and Yachting for the first time.”
ACG Parnell had a number of stand-out individuals, with Year 8 student, Donald Tian, showing why he is one of Auckland’s top 12-year-old male swimmers with a tally of eight medals, including four golds and a record-breaking swim in the 50m Freestyle event.
Also representing the school was a trio of New Zealand Table Tennis representatives – Ayumi Moriyama-Picard (Year 7), Oscar Jiang (Year 8), and Victor Li (Year 7). They combined with Andy Wu (Year 8) and swept aside all on-comers in the teams’ event to take home gold.
“Our Table Tennis team was very impressive and received many plaudits from both organisers and spectators. They performed incredibly well and did not lose a single match on their way to the gold medal,” says Steph.
The team’s gold medal-winning performance was then backed up with various medals in the individual events. First, Ayumi and Oscar won gold in the Mixed Doubles, and then Oscar combined with Victor in the Boys Doubles and won gold again. In the Singles matches, the last events on Finals Day, Ayumi and Oscar both came away with silver.
“While these results are very impressive, what I am most proud of is the way the students conducted themselves throughout the week. Despite easing their way through many of their respective events, they did not let it get to their heads. Instead, they represented the school in the best possible manner with fantastic sportsmanship both down on the tables and up in the stands.”
Not to be outdone, there is also a breadth of talented golfers within the school. Justin Le (Year 7) and Oscar Guo (Year 8) finished third equal in the Boys Individual Gross event and enjoyed a second equal finish in the team’s event, which included Justin, Oscar and Bowen Shao (Year 8).
Other medallists included current Auckland Under 14 Road Race and Cross Country Champion Louay Benaoum, who placed second in the Year 7 Boys Cross Country. And our swimmers outdid themselves in the pool, with Louis Xia (Year 7) coming away with three bronze and Martin Ng (Year 7) earning two silver finishes.
There were several other noteworthy performances we need to recognise, including Rhea Sibal (Year 7) qualifying for the Division One knockout stage in Badminton, Rory O’Grady (Year 7) defeating higher-ranked players in Squash to place seventh and Ethan Ning (Year 8) really pushing the number one seed in tennis after an incredible comeback.
“We are very proud of not only our medallists but all 28 students who represented the College. It was clear to see the school’s core values of perseverance, respect, and excellence at the heart of their performances throughout the week.”
ACG Parnell AIMS Games Competitors:
Badminton | Rhea Sibal, Gavin Xin |
Cross Country | Louay Benaoum, Archie Taylor, Alex Wong |
Golf | Bowen Shao, Justin Le, Oscar Guo, Lewis Qin |
Squash | Rory O’Grady |
Swimming | Louis Xia, Donald Tian, Olivia He, Martin Ng, Alex Wong |
Table Tennis | Oscar Jiang, Victor Li, Ayumi Moriyama Picard, Andy Wu, Yilin Lu |
Tennis | Edward Bassett, Ethan Ning, Jerry Bai, Andrew Chen, Devin Ding, Janna Chand |
Yachting | Jimmy Zhang, Stanley Ren, Eason Li |
Article kindly written by Steph Trowill.