Our Marsden athletes shone brightly at the recent Pentangular, hosted by Nga Tawa, alongside Iona College, Woodford House, and St Matthews. Here's a recap of our achievements:

• Netball: Matches were held at Nga Tawa, and our team took first place! 
• Football & Hockey: Held across various sports venues in Palmerston North. Our football team secured second place, and our hockey team finished third equal!

Players of the Tournament:

• Anahera (Netball)
• Annie (Football)
• Beth (Hockey)

Special shout-out to our versatile stars Lucy (Netball), Emma, and Poppy (both Hockey), who stepped onto the football pitch at a moment's notice and performed brilliantly! 

A huge thank you to all the supporters who travelled to cheer on our teams.  Read on to see the post match write-ups by our students.

Hockey

Written by Beth

The Marsden Year 9-10 hockey players went away to Nga Tawa for Pent 2024. We left around 7.30 am on Sunday and drove for 2 hours in a bus with the Netballers and the Footballers. When we got to Palmerston North we had an opening ceremony with all the schools.

After the opening ceremony, we had our first game against St Matthews. It was a hard game 6-0 to them but even though we were losing we kept trying our best and putting 100% into every play. After we finished the game we got into the bus to travel to our next game against Iona College. Another hard game 2-0 to them. In this game, we definitely came together more as a team and after playing against St Matthews, we knew what to expect from the other teams.

After that, we went on the bus to watch the Netballers (who were doing very well) and then we all went to our accommodation and had pizza for dinner. After pizza, we got to have a team debrief in the spa that were connected to our rooms.

In the morning we went to eat breakfast before we went to our third game against Nga Tawa. In this game we were all working together and all leaving everything on the field with the final score being 0-0. There were some great saves from our goalie, Hannah. Right after that game, we had our final game against Woodford House, 8-0 to them. It was our toughest game but no one gave up. For the last quarter we took one of our defenders out to try and score at least one goal. All the teams showed great sportsmanship and I feel very honoured that we got to be a part of Pent 2024 and we are all very excited to come back next year!

Football

Written by Molly

Pent 2024 was a great experience for everyone involved, and I had a fantastic time. The football team did really well, not only having success on the field but also during downtime. We came away with only one loss and ended second overall, which was a great result, especially considering we had many players playing up a grade.

The year eights all played incredibly and really added lots to the team. I’ve come away from the tournament with many core memories, such as the happiness we all felt when our goalie scored a goal in the field and eating pizza with some of the hockey girls. Overall it was such a fun time and I hope I get to go again.

Netball

Written by Maddi

Our Junior A Netball team attended our yearly Pent tournament. Nga Tawa hosted us this year so we headed to Palmerston North on Sunday. We started the tournament off right with a great win against Iona. Then finished our first day off with a banger of a game beating Woodford. After a great night of team bonding and rest, we woke up refreshed and played the host team Nga Tawa and secured a win. Our final game of the tournament was against St Matthews, and after winning that we claimed the trophy for the 11th year and counting. A huge thank you to Paige for joining us for this tournament, and everyone who made it possible for us to travel up there. 

Article added: Thursday 27 June 2024