Netball Session

For the last two Thursdays room 21 have been going to netball for some good old exercise. I don’t really like the sport netball but at least its some exercise for my bones. Our class got lined up with our hats and marched towards the court to work on our netball skills. When we got there, there was a lady who’s name was Liz. She was our instructor for the afternoon.

The first thing we did was jump onto some circles and x’s. They kind of looked like noughts and crosses. I was opposite Devyne and the lady split us into groups of 4. She explained to us that this exercise was about timing, to catch the ball with precise timing. So one group was on one side and another group was on the other. Each group was passing to the other group trying to perfect their passing and catching skills.

Then we moved on to another task which was to hold the ball up in your hand and your partner had to jump up and take the ball out of their hand. My partner was Devyne, and he was the first one that had the ball up in the air. With a mighty jump I swooped the ball from Devyne’s hand and regathered the all so precious ball. Then it was Devyne’s turn. I was being a bully at one stage because I was holding up the ball really high but then I lowered it because that’s being an egg. He jumped and snatched it out of my hands and we kept doing tremendous jumps and fabulous steals until Liz decided we should have a game that was sort of like netball.

Liz explained the rules to us. It was like netball because you weren’t allowed to move with the ball but there were no netball hoops. There were 4 squares and in each square there were 4 smaller circles. With our teams we had to hit the circle with the ball to gain a point. BRRRR!!! the whistle sounded as the game began with one team of girls and one team of boys. The game was only half court. We were winning at one stage. Gabriel and I were doing great combinations with each other. The girls team were very skilled and intercepted alot of our passes. But when the game came to an end, unfortunately we lost.

It was a spectacular day of netball and I ended up enjoying it. I never thought I would end up liking my experience with netball skills. I know I can’t wait until the next session.

The Treaty of Waitangi

Protection, partnership and participation were the key principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Two of the Pakeha leaders named James Busby and William Hobson wrote a treaty to bring peace between the Maori and Pakeha. James Busby, William Hobson and Henry Williams stood in front of the Maori chiefs. Henry Williams was a missionary who translated the English version of the treaty into the Maori.

At first the Maoris disagreed with the treaty and threatened the Pakeha but they started to agree and signed the treaty. It was officially signed on the 6th of February in the year 1840. A lot of Maori tribes agreed with the treaty and its laws, some didn’t but over 400 chiefs had signed by the end of the year. The most important principles were the three P’s: protection, partnership and participation. The treaty appeared to be a success and the Pakeha people and the Maori people were in peace with their hatred between each other buried beneath the ground.

The three P’s are very important and they can relate to our school. Protection means to protect one another at any time if they are getting bullied or picked on. Partnership is to help your friends with work or if they are having trouble spelling or writing. Last but certainly not least participation which means to join in on chores if you are at peoples houses or something.

The treaty of Waitangi was mostly signed for the principles of the three p’s.

New Zealand vs Fiji

The match up between the mighty NZ 7'S champ New Zealand and their rivals Fiji was about to take place. They have great match ups, but this rivalry all comes down to this match in the finals at the Westpac stadium in Wellington. As the teams got set to unleash themselves onto the soil of the greats, this match got set to go.

BRRRRRR!!!!!! the ref blew his whistle and the match began with Fiji retaining the first possession of the ball. But within 3 minutes into the game, New Zealand rewarded themselves with a try thanks to DJ Forbes with his tremendous speed to back up Tim Mickellson. That try was followed up with another from NZ superstar, Frank Halai, who pinned his ears back and paced towards the try line. Tomasi converted to make the score 17-0.

Fiji tried to make a comeback but the New Zealand team were too strong and had all ready dominated territory. But yet again New Zealand proved they are truly champions with Frank Halai crossing the try line getting a double. Sadly, they missed the conversion. It was almost halftime but New Zealand weren't finished, making a statement when yet again they crossed the line from Tomasi to extend their triumphant score. With the halftime hooter sounding the teams gathered in a huddle and the score was laid at 24-0

Halftime came with the teams in their huddle talking about game plans. They were getting fired up for the second half. New Zealand have a great lead over Fiji and I don’t think they can come back from this this thrashing.

Second half kick off began with Fiji close to the try line but the New Zealand defence overwhelmed the power of the Fijian attack. With both teams coming close to scoring the time was counting down with only 3 minutes to play. New Zealand had pretty much won but you can’t count Fiji out of this match. With the time at 2 minutes Fiji stride towards the try line. I thought they weren’t going to score but I was wrong,Fiji finally score their first try of the match with the number 6 of Fiji scoring with the kick being converted to make the score 24-7

That was the end of the game New Zealand had won they are the Wellington 7’s champions. They celebrate by doing their traditional haka in front of everyone. The crowd was going crazy. New Zealand are champs again, can anyone stop their domanance