Monday, December 13, 2010

Opua School pedals to first prize

Children at a Bay of Islands school have won a nationwide competition for inventing a new sport combining their two favourite pastimes - playing hockey and riding unicycles. The new sport of unicycle hockey was made-up by the kids of Opua School's Room 4 for a Newspapers in Education video challenge. The competition called on children nationwide to make a news clip reporting on a new sport for the 2010 Common wealth Games held in India.The entries were judged on the sport - including its flow, originality, appeal and teamwork - and the quality of the videography.Tom Heapy, 10, who starred as the news anchor, said the win had stunned him.

"I was very surprised, and quite thrilled." Inventing the sport had been simple. "We like unicycling and hockey - so we determined to combine them."Classmate Rebecca Gmuer Hornell, 10, listed some of the reasons for Opua's victory. "We had a really good camera guy and Mrs Shortland is a really good director - and we practised our script for a whole weekend."The prizes of a video camera and Commonwealth Games bags and clothing were offered by Danyon Loader, an ambassador for the New Zealand Olympic Committee and one of the greatest swimmers New Zealand has produced.

His medal haul includes two golds from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.In a speech to the children before announcing they had won the top prize, Loader said he had been "useless" when he started swimming. It was a training camp at the age of 12, then dedicating part of every day to swimming for 10 years that had made him a champion.Becky Hare, of Newspapers in Education, said Opua's sport stood out for being "completely outside the box" and for its teamwork and participation. Those who could not ride a unicycle, for example, were still required as "pole people" to help teammates up on to their wheels.The video was also interesting, well written and well thought out, she said.

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