Term 2 is always an exciting and busy time for sport at St Paul's College. It is our most active term with no less than six basketball teams, six rugby teams, four rugby league teams, two badminton teams and weekly exchanges for the Year 7 and 8 students. Our sports participation rate continues to climb, and much like our academic pass rates, we are far above the National average for secondary schools. It is timely to remind families of our values and expectations regarding sport at St Paul's.

COMMITMENT: One of our College values, which our staff and students recite every morning in our school prayer. The continued success of our sports program is a direct result of Commitment – that's students turning up to every meeting, every training, every game, whether that is home or away, whether it is raining or sunny, whether they feel like it or not. Finishing what you start and committing to your peers, being reliable, punctual with the right equipment not only serves as a prerequisite for sport performance – it will set up our young men to be successful in further education, apprenticeships or sport.

COLLEGE BEFORE CLUB: We want St Paul's students to represent St Paul's College before any external teams, this shouldn't come as a surprise as it is noted on our website and in enrolment interviews. We are a small school who have ambitious goals in all of our sports codes of not only competing with the best, but beating them – we can't do this if not all students are on board.

Badminton

Thank you to Ms D'Souza who will once again manage St Paul's badminton teams. This year our participation rate in badminton has more than doubled and we have entered two teams in Thursday's college competition. Well done to Josh Benoza (Year 11) and Neil Fernandes (Year 10) who have been instrumental in getting teams organised.

Basketball  

Our basketballers have been working hard in the gym early mornings and after school. Mr Jebb has once again put an exceptional amount of preparation and level of detail into pre-season planning. I am excited to see the progress of our successful Under 15 team, who last year won the North Island tournament at Bruce Pullman Stadium. Our basketballers are also ambitious in their goals of moving up grades and eventually competing in Auckland's Premier basketball competition. We have the talent, the coaching staff and committed students who can do the job; watch this space. 

Football 

Our junior football team plays their first game vs Auckland Grammar on Saturday at the Auckland Domain. This team has trained hard through the school holidays with many students new to the code. St Paul's has not had a football team since 1997, when Mr Willetts was the captain and 1st XV Coach Mr Fa'amausili was the goal keeper! We are excited to once again see our sports offerings increase, more options, more opportunities for our young men to represent St Paul's in sport, ensuring priceless memories for years to come. Mr Willetts and Mr Fa'amausili both recall enjoyable victories against much-fancied opposition, over 20 years later! It's for reasons such as this that we encourage our students to commit to college before club – no matter what the code is. 

Rugby Union 

What an outstanding achievement for our 1st XV to continue the hard work of 2022's team by winning promotion into Auckland's 1A 1st XV competition. St Paul's has not featured in this grade since 2009, it is a big step up for our team but I'm confident with our dedicated coaching staff and players, we will not only compete with the heavyweights, we will win games and put St Paul's back on the map as a Premier sport school. I have been so impressed with the level of detail, planning and application from our volunteer coaching staff – thank you for your service, we wouldn't be in the position we are in without you. 

Rugby League 

Rugby league season is about to get underway with registrations in progress. This year the season starts in mid June, a month later than usual. This works out well for St Paul's where many of our students are playing both the rugby codes through the winter. 2023 will see St Paul's enter four teams in ARL's college rugby league competition; this is twice as many as any other school in Auckland reaffirming our commitment to the code. This year St Paul's will also enter an Under 15's team in NZRL's National schools tournament, this will be the first time St Paul's has entered this grade and like many of our other codes, we are increasing our participation in rugby league every year. 

Under 14 Rugby 

Over the holidays, the under 14 rugby team were lucky enough to have All Black and Blues player Patrick Tuipolotu come in to run a training session. The players learnt a lot and came away with some great insights. Thank you to the under 14 coach, Mr Dudley Tate, for organising this. 

Sports Volunteers 

We are still looking for coaches, managers, trainers and sports volunteers to get on board with a team this year. We are particularly eager to hear from Old Boys, parents and volunteers who may be able to assist with our basketball teams. If this sounds like something you or someone you know may be interested, please get in touch.