College Sport Media Photos of the Week for 6 February

Below are some selected Photos of the Week, highlighting some of the secondary school sporting events and achievements over the past seven days and others that have been in the news.
Want to contribute to College Sport Media’s Photos of the Week? We’d love to hear from you and publish your photos. Drop us a message on https://www.facebook.com/collegesportmedia or email us at editor@collegesportmedia.com Note: If photos are not taken or by you we need to know their source so we can credit the photographer that took them or the publication where they were first posted.

1. Main beach on Mount Maunganui became tournament HQ this Waitangi weekend for the 2017 New Zealand Secondary Schools Beach Volleyball Championships. 140 teams across four divisions competed on 30 courts.  Libby Houghton and Hikarau Han of Spotswood College won the Senior Girls Division 1, defeating Katie Sadlier and Zara Pocock of Westlake GHS 2-0 in their final. Tyran Gillespie and Billy Johnstone of Western Heights High School retained their Senior One Boys Division 1 title, beating the Rangitoto College pair Ryan Gunn and Sam Anderson 2-1 in their final. The Junior Division 1 boys title was won by Antony Joe and Mel Naborisi, also of Spotswood College, and the Junior Division 2 girls title was won by Tamara Otene and Juliet Vukets of Westlake GHS. Results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dvp-51sdujhcL-KN0mtCOPd0d2SIlPtd_zDsbApQcZs/edit Photo credit Julie Marie Photography and for more photos: https://www.facebook.com/volleyballnz/

2. Francis Douglas Memorial College students Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens and Mairenga Laapo recently represened Fiji in the inaugural Pasifika Youth Rugby League Cup held in Auckland. Both Laapo, a utility player, and Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, a half, had strong showings in the tournament, each finding their way across the stripe, with Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens slotting the most conversions and finding himself in the tournament team at the end of the week. The 15-year-olds both started playing the game around the age of seven but had only got back into it after a short break over the past two years and we part of the year 9 and 10 team who won the Jack Knucky trophy for the first time with a 38-0 win over New Plymouth Boys' High School. This year, they were set to line up in Francis Douglas' first 13 this year, with the school looking to qualify for their fourth trip to the national secondary schools tournament. Read more at http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/sport/89007015/francis-douglas-memorial-college-duo-represent-fiji-in-rugby-league and photo credit to Grant Matthew/Fairfax NZ.

3. Year 13 Mt Aspiring College year student and Wanaka snowsports athlete Louis Jones spent his school holidays training and racing in Italy and Slovakia with the Australian biathlon team. This season, he finished 36th in an Alpen Cup race in Italy and was selected to represent New Zealand at the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia in late February. He also competed in Junior International Biathlon Union (IBU) cup races. Jones is following in the tracks of biathlon pioneer Sarah Murphy, the first and only New Zealand biathlete to compete at the Winter Olympics. Jones is one of just two New Zealand cross country skiers presently competing internationally. The other is fellow Mount Aspiring College student, Campbell Wright. Read more here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/88626124/louis-jones-carves-lonely-tracks-to-biathlon-world-championships

4. Twin brothers Ethan and Quinn Childs both made their debuts for the Wairarapa senior men’s cricket team in the last of their 2016-17 Hawke Cup qualifying round matches against Hawke’s Bay at Ongaonga last weekend. The 16-year-olds who have been prominent members of the Rathkeale College first XI over the past couple of seasons will be following in the footsteps of their father Mark Childs, who himself had a long stint in the Wairarapa side, starting in the early 1990’s. Quinn Childs also played for Central Districts at the national under-17 tournament in Christchurch in January. Photo credit and read more here: http://times-age.co.nz/childs-twins-make-wairarapa-debut/

5. Hot on the heels of Vili Koroi (Feilding High School) last weekend, 2016 school-leaver Alena Saili (Southland Girls’ High School) made her senior international rugby debut. Alena donned the Black Ferns jersey for the first time in Sydney, helping New Zealand to third place in the World Rugby women’s tournament.