SPORTS TOURNAMENT

From 2007 the National Sports Tournament will run every second year commencing in 2008. In 2007 and every alternate year North Island and South Island tournaments will run. The next host for the national tournament in 2008 is Northland.

National Sports Tournament 2008

Where: Kensington Sports Stadium, Whangarei
When: Sunday 6th July (late afternoon) - Thursday 10th July (midday)

Zone Sports Co-Ordinators:
Northland – Juanita Parata - Mangakahia Area School
Central North – Mike Smith – Mercury Bay Area School
Top of the South – John Grundy – Tapawera Area School
Canterbury –
South of the South -

Other Positions:
Lesley McCardle – NZASA Committee Liaison

Rocky Patterson – Rugby Union Foundation of NZ Inc

NEW ZEALAND AREA SCHOOLS’ SPORTS TOURNAMENT

POLICY

RATIONALE:
The New Zealand Area Schools’ Sports Tournament has been established to ensure that senior secondary students in area schools, who are top achievers in sports, have access to opportunities for sports coaching, competition and selection.

GUIDELINES:
To take part in the National or Inter-Island Sports Tournaments schools must be current financial members of the New Zealand Area Schools Association.

The Sports Tournament programme will consist of three elements:

1. a core programme – sports which are offered at each tournament (subject to entry requirement).
2. a discretionary programme – being sports which the host zone is able to offer, utilising local resources and interests e.g. soccer (girls and boys), golf, girls Rugby 7s, bowls etc
3. social activities

The core programme will consist of the following sports:

1. Basketball – boys and girls
2. Netball – girls (up to two teams per zone)
3. Rugby – boys 15 a-side
4. Volleyball – boys and girls

4(a)      The national tournament will be quadrangular competition, based on 4 zones:

1. Northland Area Schools
2. Central North Area Schools
3. Top of the South Area Schools (combined Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast and Canterbury Area School clusters)
4. South of the South Area Schools

4(b)      Where there is an Island Tournament the structure of the competition will be decided on by the Island Rep Committee.

5.         Where a zone is unable to enter a team in a particular code, a suitable substitute team may be arranged by the host zone.   Consideration may also be given to the possibility of a composite team being formed.

6.         Discretionary sports to be advised at Sports Committee meeting held at the end of each year.   A draft draw will be made available at this time.   Entry for these codes to be made  by the end of February.

7.         North and South Island teams may be selected during the round robin competition in events where 4 zone teams are competing.    If there are less than 4 zone teams in a code, trial teams rather than island teams may be selected.    A New Zealand Area School tournament team will be selected.     This team could compete against a suitably arranged local representative team at the tournament and may possibly be involved in further fixtures at a later date.

Rugby –

1. If a zone is unable to form a team of 24,  players may be seconded from other regions.   The regional co-ordinator to be notified of the borrowed players and their schools.
2. If a player is injured or unavailable more than two weeks prior to tournament then a  seconded player from that region may be recalled to play for that region.    The regional co-ordinators of both regions need to be notified.
3. Regions to make up list of possible national reserves (i.e. those that just miss selection) and provide this list to Rocky Patterson.

Selection of North/South or trial teams will be the responsibility of all of the zone coaches working together, unless this responsibility is delegated to some other nominated selector(s).   Selectors for NZ teams will be decided before the tournament starts by the tournament organisers.   NZ selectors will be people with high profile in the sporting code.    If the nominated selectors in a code do not see all the round robin matches, they must consult with all zone coaches before the NZ team is selected.

Quality coaching and selection procedures should be established to ensure that the integrity of the tournament is maintained.   Maximum team numbers in island, trial of NZ selections will be:

Rugby – 24 
Netball – 10                            
Other sports – to be decided by host zone
Soccer – 15       
Volleyball – 10                        
Basketball – 10                                   
Golf  - 4
Girls 7 a-side rugby – 10

The emphasis in the core programme must be on quality competition and coaching for top achievers in each sport.   Participation aspects may have a greater focus in the discretionary programme, as decided by the host zone.

Organisation of any future fixtures for the NZ teams selected at the tournament will be the responsibility of those associated with each sporting code.

The national tournament will be held bi-annually in rotation with the Island Tournaments as follows:

2007                Island Tournaments – Rotorua (Central North) and Christchurch (Top of the South)
2008                Whangarei (Northland)
2009                Island Tournaments – to be decided

For the national tournament SPARC funding will be split, with one half going to help with the organisation of the tournament and the other half to assist with travel.    The funding will be paid by SPARC to the New Zealand Area Schools Association Treasurer who will dispense it to the host zone,   The funding for travel will be distributed equally to the two zones who have to travel from the other island to attend the tournament.  For the Island Tournaments SPARC funding will be split equally between the two islands and paid out to the organising committee for distribution as they see fit.

It is recommended that applications for funding from community trusts and other sources be made in the year prior to hosting the tournament by the organising zone.   Entry fees for students will be kept to a minimum. 

Sports Tournament Financial Statements should be presented to an executive meeting before conference the following year.

Assistance with the organisation of the tournaments is likely to be available from the Regional Sports Organisations and/or RSDs, but overall responsibility lies with the schools of the host zone through their organising committee.

The tournament will be held in Week 1 of the July school holidays.    The sports co-ordinator for the organising zones will ensure the dates are entered on the NZ Secondary Schools Sports’ Calendar the previous year, and that the national and local associations of the sporting codes involved are notified of the tournament.  An application for sanction to the NSSSC be applied for.

Communication will initially be through the 5 zone sports co-ordinators who will in turn communicate with all schools in their zone.    Once zone team managers have been selected, they will take over this responsibility.

Risk management and discipline are the responsibility of each home school as it relates to travel and pastoral care.   The competition risk management is the responsibility of the host region and schools provided with a copy.

Zone Sports Co-Ordinators:
Northland – Julie Tarr – Tauraroa Area School
Central North – Mike Smith – Mercury Bay Area School
Top of the South – John Grundy – Tapawera Area School
Canterbury – Gavin Cate – Amuri Area School
South of the South – Colin Lindsay – Maniototo Area School

Other Positions:
Lesley McCardle – NZASA Committee Liaison
Rocky Patterson – Rugby Union Foundation of NZ Inc.

Reviewed November 2006