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September 4, 2024 4 mins

The 2024 Zespri AIMS Games will be held in Tauranga 7-13 September, welcoming 390+ schools and 12900+ athletes.

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the sports field to the sharing shed. It's the
Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Sport on the show. Now it is time to talk
the AIMES Games, the Association of Middle Schools, the what
is it? Eleven twelve, thirteen year olds competing in their
Olympics and this is a massive event that's held in
the Bay of Plenty in Toldonga every single year and
it gets bigger and bigger. Joining us as the tournament director.

(00:27):
Kelly shsh Good morning, Kelly.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Good morning, Brian, hell are you this morning?

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Very very well? Thank you? And it does get bigger
and better every year, the Ames Games, don't they It does.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. We are hosting just under thirteen thousand students this year,
so record backing numbers for us, which is incredibly exciting.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
That's they're incredible numbers. Thirteen thousand students multiplied by parents, teachers,
coaches and whatever. That's a lot of people to put
up in the bay.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, we're exciting about twenty five thousand people over the
course of the week, So get ready for an absolute
vibe here in tot Oner.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah. Absolutely. What sort of problems does that pose having
that many students? You know, competing in all these different events.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh look, no problems. We are held across twenty nine
different venues in Totong are in the Western Bay of
twenty and sports are staggered as well. Obviously the roads
are a little bit busier than usual, but we're lucky
enough to have very supportive councils who run a bus
with free bus service throughout the week for our athletes,
you know, and just have all of those minivans that

(01:34):
are two when you see them because they've been fundraising
and training haddle year and I'm very excited.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
To be here. So we've got kids, young students from
the North Cape to the Bluff. But we've also got
some overseas competitors this year, I believe we do.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
So we're welcoming eight international schools this year, six from
the Pilands and two from Fiji.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
All right, so that the two from Fiji, I would
imagine there'd be a bit of rugby in there and
maybe net Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Absolutely so one of our returning schools, Gospel Primary School
from subram fj is coming back with their rugby sevens team.
That we have a brand new school from Fiji joining
us this year. Saint Anne's primary school and they're bringing
a netball team across. They're actually here already, they're having
a little holiday in Auckland before they arrived down in
the day that we're incredibly excited to meet them. And

(02:21):
for some of them it's their first trip overseas, so
they're really excited to be here as well.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
And I guess with that Fiji and sevens team, I
mean there'll be some future seven stars there, I would imagine,
I would think so. So as far as sports are concerned,
how many sports all told across the course of the
Ames Games.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
So we have twenty seven sporting codes this year. We've
welcomed surfing and orienteering to that Ames Games family this year,
so their brand new for twenty twenty four.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
How cool is that having surfing there for the kids.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, down at tay Street Bench not a not a
bad way to spend your day.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
No, absolutely, And I believe you've got some hip hopers
or Alien team.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I know we didn't let them enter. No, we have
the hip hop on the Saturday. Thirty hip hop crews
from around the country competing this year, so smooth Moves guaranteed.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
One of the one of the big draw cards of
the event is the official opening ceremony, which happens on Sunday,
isn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's correct.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Yeah, so what happens there better than.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Next of formalities and live performances. Can't give too much away,
but yeah, it should be a great show. There's actually
two opening ceremonies to fit everyone in, so one at
three o'clock, one at seven and at seven o'clock. One
will be live changed as well.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
You know, when you're at twelve and a half thousand competitors,
three hundred and ninety plus schools, you're going to need
referees and volunteers. How do you get on there?

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, so there really are the backbone of the tournament, Brian.
We have about eighteen hundred just officials and volunteers across
all of the sporting codes. Yeah. So we're incredibly lucky
work really closely with our regional sporting organizations, local clubs,
local colleges. Yeah, who all have really passionate people who

(04:17):
are very generous with their time who come along and
help out for the week as well.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
It's pretty amazing really, It's an absolutely fantastic event that
runs right across next week. Let's hope the weather plays
ball for you, Kelly.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, awder some good weather for me, that'd be great.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
We'll do it across the course of the games. We'll
keep up to date as well. Hey, thank you for
joining us.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Thanks for having me.
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