Lions Club International District 202J Young Speechmaker Contest judge Jim O’Gorman with winner Faith Aione-Falealili from Ashburton College. Photo supplied.When the Lions Clubs scoured from Rakaia to Dunedin looking for the top young speechmaker recently, it was an Ashburton College student who walked away as winner.

Faith Aione-Falealili, 18, will compete against the rest of New Zealand in Rangiora on August 4 after topping The Lions Club International District 202J Young Speechmaker Contest at Fenwick School, Oamaru.

In the event held last Sunday, contestants were required to give a prepared five-minute speech on a topic of their own choice, then a speech on the topic of “How can we deal with child poverty in New Zealand?”

Aione-Falealili was sponsored by the Ashburton Lions Club, and her own enthralling speech centred on Racism and the Bystander Effect, said the Lions Club’s Sally Woodhead.

Second placegetter was Michael McLeod from Otago University sponsored by the Balmacewen Lions Club and third was Anne Newmarch from Roncalli College who was sponsored by the Temuka District Lions Club.

An overall New Zealand winner will be chosen at the national competition to be held in Rangiora in August. The winner’s prize will be a four to six-week trip to the United States and Canada.

By Katie Todd © The Ashburton Guardian - 4 June 2018

Roger Farr. Photo supplied.Variety Theatre Ashburton’s spectacle Mamma Mia was seen by 4329 people over 10 shows, with 94 per cent of all tickets sold.

The show was a big project with huge expectations and a hefty $200,000 budget and was staged to celebrate 10 years of the community facility, Ashburton Trust Event Centre.

Mamma Mia director Roger Farr, who is the Event Centre manager, said he wanted to thank each and everyone for the support shown to the production.

“This journey has been amazing. Fourteen months ago I began planning for the 10th anniversary of ATEC and it had always been in the back of my mind that the consortium had a packaged production called Mamma Mia available for hire.

“I thought it would be the ideal show to celebrate an anniversary and I think the box office results would agree.”

Mr Farr said the show had been a real team effort and he had been backed “by an incredible team”.

The team included musical director Richard Marrett, choreographer Madison Thew Keyworth, the actors themselves and backstage, wardrobe and technical teams, and many others.

“This show would not have happened without the 131 people involved both onstage and behind the scenes working towards a common goal, and boy did we kick that one between the posts.

“This is the most successful show to date at the box office with ticket sales reaching 94% and I could not be any happier with the publicity the venue has received in recent weeks.”

The box office success came on the back of 10 outstanding performances that had had the community buzzing, he said.

© The Ashburton Courier - 31 May 2018

Mark Douglas (left) and Pip Johnston have started offering early morning skills sessions once a week to cater for the huge growth in youth basketball. Photo Erin TaskerThe numbers of kids wanting to play basketball is soaring and two Ashburton coaches are determined to keep those young players on court, and getting better.

Mark Douglas and Pip Johnston have started offering weekly early morning training sessions for term two to help develop the skills of young players and if the numbers are good, they’ll keep getting out of bed early to ensure the future of the sport they love is in good hands.

Douglas said the number of kids playing basketball at Ashburton College has pretty much doubled in the past couple of years.

“I think we almost accommodated about 95 per cent of the kids who turned up into teams, whether that be A grade blokes or social level for the senior C team.

“But it means they are still balling and that’s what they want to do, so that’s awesome,” Douglas said.

Ashburton College this year had seven basketball teams, ranging from the senior boys and girls who played in the Canterbury secondary schools’ Whelan Trophy and Thomson Trophy competitions respectively, down to the junior girls who defeated Cashmere High School in the first game of their premier intermediate grade (Year 9 and 10) competition a couple of weeks ago.

“In the past I think they have had three or four teams and last year we saw growth to maybe six or seven teams, and then six or seven this year with numbers to burn, with a couple we couldn’t fit in,” Douglas said.

“There’s growing pains but that’s why we want to offer them some options, if they want to train.”

Douglas and Johnston would hold the morning training sessions for intermediate and high school aged kids every Thursday morning at the EA Networks Centre, from 6.30am until 7.30am, at a cost of $5 per week per player.

If the numbers were good, they’d look to continue into term three.

“We thought, why not? There might be some kids out there who are keen to ball, and we are keen to help them out,” Douglas said.

“There might be 20 kids that turn up, or there might be five, I don’t care so long as they are keen.”

Ten youngsters turned up at last week’s opening Thursday morning session, which Douglas said would be a great way for young basketballers to start their day.

“You feel like you’ve done something, like you’ve achieved something, before a lot of other people are out of bed.”

The number of youngsters who are playing basketball in high schools around New Zealand had grown by 27 per cent over the past five years, Douglas said.

“Basketball is on a sprint to become number one between the next 18 months and two years.”

Growth was great, but it did lead to other issues.

“Our growing pain at college level is referees, because in a small town everyone who is involved with basketball plays,” Douglas said.

So the hunt was also on for anyone who might be keen to become a basketball referee, because there was no game without referees.

By Erin Tasker © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 May 2018