Josh Lowe gets some serious air time heading for the basket. Photo Tetsuro MitomoAshburton basketballer Josh Lowe is trading his summer for the cooler climes of Sarasota in the United States, where he will spend the next four months training for a shot at a college basketball scholarship.

Lowe, 6’8”, will be resident at the Impact Basketball Academy and devote his days honing his skills, game and physical prowess to catch the eye of college recruiters.

A standout for the Ashburton College senior boys’ basketball side this year, the trip will be his third visit to the US in 12 months.

He went to Florida last April with an Impact New Zealand development side and was in Las Vegas in July with their elite team.

Lowe, who has just turned 18, hopes his star will continue to rise at the training academy.

His goal is a four-year scholarship at a division one school.

Off the court, he must also impress with his schoolwork, so his training days will include preparing for the all-important SATs.

If he succeeds, he will join a growing list of young Kiwi basketballers heading to the states to play ball.

Lowe has been playing basketball since Year 5, when the sports officer at Borough School spied the tall youngster and signed him up for miniball.

He has not looked back, making rep teams since his first at under 12.

He still remembers coaches Tim Johnson and Mike Johnson that year who taught him some important basics.

The opportunity to play the sport he loves at college level in the US has the full support of parents Jodene and Andrew Lowe, who have watched him develop over the years and encouraged his love of the game.

It will be a foreign feeling watching games from afar via livestream instead of being court-side.

​Since school finished in November, he has continued to work on his skills at home and on the court.

He has also been committed to a strength and condition programme with personal trainer Frank Connelly aimed at adding bulk to his lean frame.

There are few days he doesn’t pick up a basketball.

While Lowe has easily been amongst the tallest on court in New Zealand, in the US he will work on his skills as a small forward or power forward.

He played in the Canterbury Rams summer league and has been scrimmaging regularly in Ashburton at Basketball Mid Canterbury’s Oxford Street stadium.

He’s excited and nervous about the next leg of his basketball journey, which starts on January 3 with a solo trip to involving 19 hours flying time from Christchurch to Auckland, San Francisco and then Tampa.

Looking back to 2017, he credits college coach Pip Johnston with helping him take his skills to a new level, with one-on-one summer trainings.

Johnston’s hard fitness training through the year also paid dividends.

“Pip has been the coach who has helped me the most.

“At the end of Year 12 at least once a week I went to EA and did drills and stuff which definitely helped.”

Lowe said the college basketball in the past year had provided several highlights, including his role in AshColl’s comeback game against Burnside at the South Island secondary schools’ tournament.

There were many other games in which he topped the stats chart for shooting or rebounding.

Now he is looking forward to a new challenge.

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 29 December 2017

Ashburton rower Veronica Wall had another great year on the water, continuing her dominance at the Maadi Cup, as well as travelling to Europe for the junior world championships. Photo Jaime Pitt-MacKayIt was another big year of medals and pulling on the silver fern for Ashburton rower Veronica Wall, and she is hoping to do it all over again next year.

Having finished Ashburton College this year, she now has the Maadi Cup and school regattas behind her, but by the virtue of being born January 4, she will likely get another crack at glory with the junior New Zealand team.

“This year it was a bit disappointing at the (Junior World Championships) with my doubles partner getting sick, which was something out of our control, so it would be nice to go and have another go there,” Wall said.

“It was an amazing year with going to Maadi, then the junior team stuff and then travelling away.

“It was a good experience with a lot of highs and lows.”

Coming off a 2016 where she became the first person to win the Maadi single sculls titles across three age-grades, Wall said she did not really feel the pressure this year.

“There was a little bit of pressure there but there is always that expectation there, but for me it was just about rounding off a great Maadi career,” she said.

“With the quad there was a bit more pressure as we were the defending champions, and in the double was probably the most competitive field.”

Wall was faced with a big decision towards the end of this year, and has decided to not go to university next year to focus on her rowing.

“I was planning on doing health sciences, but if I made the junior team I would have had to miss out three or four months like I did this year and that would not have worked so I had to choose between the two,” she said.

Her training schedule will not change much, still training twice a day with the occasional rest day thrown in.

“As long as I am improving, that is the main thing,” she said.

It has also been a busy end to the year for the former AshColl student, not long back from competing at the Christmas Regatta at Lake Karapiro.

“I was there just to get some more racing experience in,” she said,

“I was able to race against the New Zealand summer squad which was awesome and I was able to stay up there for a few days after and do some training with them.”

Despite plenty of race experience, nerves are always a factor.

“It is alright when you are racing in a quad and you can kind of bounce your nerves off everyone else because you are all feeling the same thing,” she said.

While she is still able to qualify for the New Zealand junior team, this will be the first year Wall will not be racing at the Maadi Cup.

“You are always going to miss Maadi because it is such a massive event and you miss the experience but also in a way you do outgrow it, and we still have nationals as well for the club,” she said.

“It is always good to see others coming in driving to improve and do well for the club.”

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 29 December 2017

Ashburton College teacher Dave Christensen may be retiring, but not fully, just yet, he’s planning to “ease out”. Photo Sue Newman

Ashburton College’s Mr Volleyball, phys ed teacher Dave Christensen, is calling time on a teaching career that spans five years at Cashmere High, six years at Greymouth High and finally 32 years at Ashburton College. He talks to reporter Sue Newman about a career he’s loved from day one. 

Dave Christensen says he’s getting out of teaching while he still loves the job.

“I’ve watched teachers stay on until they’re grumpy; I don’t want to be one of those; I want to get out and enjoy my Gold Card,” he said.

He arrived at Ashburton College in 1986 intending to stay for a couple of years and then look for a teaching position in Christchurch.

What Dave and wife Karen hadn’t counted on was falling in love with Ashburton.

He was one of the last teachers to confirm his position by telegram – a terse ‘pleased to accept the position’ and since his arrival Dave has made the college’s phys ed and health department his own.

While he had always been sports mad, Dave’s original plan was to study engineering, but at the 11th hour decided he’d be true to his two passions, sport and music. One became a career, the other continues to be a hobby.

He was one of 60 in his intake of phys ed students.

With his degree in his back pocket and teacher training completed, Dave took up his first teaching position at Cashmere High.

That was in 1975 and was followed by a six-year stint at Greymouth High.

Back then phys ed was compulsory until Year 11 but it was not an assessment subject.

Dave’s graduating group were the ones who were determined to see this change.

“We were quite keen to introduce something so I encouraged my boss at Cashmere to start a sixth form certificate course,” he said.

And as Dave moved from school to school so too did the recognition of phys ed as an ‘exam’ subject.

“When I came here there was a sixth form certificate course, the new gym had just opened. It was heaven for a phys ed teacher going from Greymouth to this flash gym.”

At Greymouth he’d been working across all sports and while he welcomed the opportunity to carve out his own niche at college, after six years of being excessively busy, specialisation was initially a bit boring, Dave said.

He went looking for opportunities.

“I picked up volleyball and got that humming along and I was a keen footballer so I got involved there and coached the girls’ team and when Simon (his son) was playing I coached his football team too.”

Like many teachers he’s been as involved with students outside of school hours as within.

“That extra-curricular stuff you do willingly.

“It’s wonderful, you see the kids at their best. I really enjoy teenagers.

“Yes there are days when they are challenging but that’s part of the job, getting alongside kids who are challenged by life.”

Over his 32 years at the college Dave has watched the phys ed department grow.

And he’s watched the subject change in terms of the impact of health and safety regulations on risk management.

“Now you need eyes in the back of your head.

“Every other subject has kids sitting all the time, mine are moving all the time.”

In addition to his teaching role, Dave is Year 9 dean and said the rewards are immense when you’re getting alongside and counselling kids who have issues, he said.

“Often it’s social support they need that’s disguising itself as academic need.

“You often find if a kid is troubled they’re troubled everywhere.”

And that often means talking with parents.

“Generally they’re pretty appreciative.

“They thank us for taking the time and making the call. It’s often a home and school collective effort that gets students back on track.”

As dean of Year 9, Dave has the extra challenge of helping almost 300 youngsters adapt to school life where they move classroom and change teacher every hour.

Over the years he’s been tempted to apply for the odd job or two, but decided as a family they were so settled, the idea of moving quickly lost its appeal.

“And I never really worried about the money, that’s not what drives me.”

After chalking up 32 years at Ashburton College, and officially logging on as a retiree, Dave admits he won’t be leaving the campus completely.

“I’ll be back as a reliever for phys ed but the plan is to step back and to give myself the option of working or not. You have to ease out.”

He’s also already signed on for next year’s leadership camp, saying he loves the camping component of outdoor education.

And he’s thrown his hat in the ring to come back and help out with ski trips.

“It’s still really business as usual until after leadership camp, I look forward to that every year.

“The kids are awesome.”

His goal was to continue teaching phys ed until he was 60. He’s now 66.

“I couldn’t retire, I was having too much fun. I look back and know I’ve really enjoyed teaching, I’d recommend it to anyone,” he said.

He’s worked for five principals – Owen McDowell, Digby Prosser, Steve Lewis, Grant McMillan and currently Ross Preece.

As he officially becomes a retiree, Dave says he looks at the college and is confident it’s in good hands.

“We now have a really enthusiastic, young staff and they’re doing a great job.

“The college is ticking over nicely.”

His retirement plans are simple – lots more skiing in the winter and surfing in the summer and he’ll still be very much part of the college community.

After 32 years in one school your friends and your work colleagues become one and the same.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 December 2017