Sports

Sport can play a big part in developing your child’s life skills, Opunake High School provides a wide range of sports to cover every need of any athlete. We have a goal of 70% of our students participating in at least one sport, and at present we’re right on target.

Opunake High School has access to excellent sporting facilities and support from the wider community. We regularly make use of Sandfords Events Centre, on school grounds we have full-sized Gym with standard indoor sport markings, a 25m indoor, heated Swimming pool, Netball and Tennis courts, and grassed playing fields for Cricket, Football and Rugby.

Staff members, along with many community coaches and managers provide a strong sporting network for our students. Without support from the likes of the Te Kiri Hockey Club, Opunake Football or Coastal Rugby – we would struggle to offer all the opportunities we currently do, we are also keen supporters of the TSSSA (Taranaki Secondary Schools Sports Association), where former student Tara Potter is currently the director. TSSSA offers students the opportunity to participate in sports that don’t always enjoy the limelight such as Moto-X, Equestrian, Bowls etc.

Many Opunake High School athletes have achieved provincial, regional or national representative status, with some of our talented athletes competing at the various age group level at World Championships.

TSSSA

As mentioned, Opuanke High School is just one of the 13 Taranaki secondary schools affiliated to the TSSSA. The TSSSA is controlled by a management committee. Opunake High offers the opportunity to all our students to enter as individuals and/or teams to attend any of the 40+ TSSSA events held each year. These events are generally one-off championships/tournaments, while some events are used as qualifying events for regional/national competitions.
If you’re interested in any of these, Mrs Sharon Quinnell is the best person to contact about this.

Basketball

Opunake High School have traditionally had a strong basketball program. We have been fortunate to have quality coaches available to coach a variety of levels in the basketball department. Our Senior Girls have been National New Zealand Secondary School Champions for ‘A’ Schools three times (as recently as 2017), with Mr Angelo Hill at the helm, while our Senior Boys finished third in 2018.

All our teams enter into the local Opunake Basketball Association run competition, which is played on Tuesday or Friday evenings, starting Term 1 and finishing at the end of Term 2. There is also a Secondary School Competition, played on Monday Nights playing home and away games, which begins in Term 2 and ends in the middle of Term 3, culminating with winter sports tournament week at the end of August. This competition is available to our Senior Girls & Boys and also Junior Girls & Boys teams. Our school transport comes in handy to help these students get to their away games when necessary. We also encourage and help any students interested in going down the line of refereeing, with courses and mentoring available.

We have also had success developing individuals, with former student Isabelle Cook representing NZ at U17 level, and current student Arna Bright, representing NZ at U14’s

Joel Clement drives to the basket vs. Stratford High

Cricket

Over the last four years Opunake High School has entered a boys cricket team in the Taranaki Secondary School Cricket Competition, girls are also welcome to play.

Taranaki Cricket have various divisions that are available, and is played during terms 1 and 4. We have had a lot of help from Taranaki Cricket with coaching sessions and a few of our seniors now help out with trainings during the week also. Games played are usually shared with some away and some home games. Our school transport comes in handy again to help transport this team to away games when needed. There is also a knockout T20 tournament run by Cricket Taranaki in Term 1 for both a girls and a boys team, that the school has entered over the last 10 years.

Matt Clark in action for the First XI vs Inglewood HS

Football | Soccer

We currently have both a Girls and a Boys soccer team. In the past Mr Paul Bright has played a big part with our soccer teams, having had his children come through the school, he has been very proactive.

Recently though there has been a change, the girls are currently coached by Mr Graham Smith, being a passionate soccer man, he took on the girls team last year and is still there this year. Baylie Bright has also taken on the role of coaching the boys team from last year, and is a great support to our soccer boys. Both teams play in a Taranaki-wide competition played after school on Tuesdays for the boys and the Wednesday for the girls. The school transport is again available to help transport students to their aways games.

Liam Smith about to tackle vs. Manawatu College

Hockey

Hockey at Opunake High School has a proud history, with a number of past students having gone on to represent NZ and past teams, performing well at National Tournaments.

Currently our Girls Hockey teams are back-to-back champions in Taranaki Secondary Schools Championship grade and have started the new season strongly chasing the three-peat.

Our Boys team have also been finalists in the Championship grade the last two season, winning the final in 2017, and only just missing out in 2018 – they too have started the season strongly and should be contention for the title.

One of the annual highlights for Opunake hockey is participating in the Manawatu College Sports & Culture exchange where (playing as a mixed side) we are unbeaten in over 50 years.

Opunake Hockey is strongly supported by the Te Kiri Hockey club, with our coaches coming from that side, but also a number of junior & senior, male & female students playing weekend hockey in their Premier and Reserve Senior grade teams.

Campbell DeCent lines up a Penalty Corner drag.

Moto-X

Through our Learning Academies, Opunake High is able to offer Motocross as a sporting choice for both boys and girls keen to compete in School race meetings across the central North Island and beyond.

All the team members have developed their confidence and strength as riders and practice skills to become more competitive, our students are starting to gain podium finishes the more we compete.

Expert coaching has been given by some of NZ’s top senior riders. Moto-X is a fun, noisey and exciting sport that tests fitness and bravery in a challenging, dirty environment.

New riders are always welcome.

Our Moto-X boys line up in Rotorua at NI Champs

Netball

We currently have two Senior teams and one Junior team in the competition run by Netball Taranaki at the Sandfords Events Centre on Wednesday evenings. There are two grades currently being played, with our senior teams, in the Senior Social 1 grade and the junior team in the Senior Social 2 grade. This competition begins at the start of Term 2 and continues until August. Whaea Robyn Davey, is the teacher in charge of netball.

There are opportunities for teams to attend tournaments throughout the season, with TSSSA and also opening and closing day tournaments, along with satellite winners getting to play off for overall grade winners, run by Netball Taranaki.
There are also umpire courses available if you wish to consider this avenue of netball.

Rugby

In 2018 Platinum Homes Coastal Secondary School teams competed in three Taranaki Secondary School Rugby grades and all these teams were very competitive.

2018 Results

1st XV: Semi finalists in the Premier A Taranaki 1st XV competition.
Under 15 over 63kg grade: Runner up of the under 15 Open grade competition
Girls 1st XV: Semi finalists in the Girls 1st XV grade

In 2019, it is our intention to build on the experiences gained in 2018. The coaches/ players are focused on being very competitive in the three grades we contest. This is to continue to ensure that Coastal Secondary School Rugby is strongly represented in Taranaki Secondary School rugby.

Our players come from the many corners of the school’s (Opunake High School and Coastal Taranaki School) catchment area. This requires them to travel some distance and give up many hours to represent the Coastal Secondary School Rugby teams. To support the players and their families, school vans/cars are made available to transport players after trainings and when travelling to away games.

Coastal Secondary School Rugby is very happy to be partnered up with Platinum Homes as our premier naming rights sponsor. This partnership started in the 2018 season. We are also very pleased to have a strong and supportive sponsorship team in 2019.

Coastal Secondary School Rugby is a “NO Sports Fees” sport. This is mainly due to our sponsors support.

Corbyn Sutcliffe scores in the corner vs. Wanganui Collegiate

Mana Tamakaha on the burst vs. Wanganui Girls

Opunake High School has a number of other sports available and participate regularly in events such as Taranaki Athletics Championships. We encourage our students to give sport a go, not just to compete, but for all the associated benefits that comes with it.