For the first part of the 2025 sporting year, College Sport Wellington is catching up with some of the sports captains and sports prefects to help promote their school and highlight some teams and individuals to keep an eye out for this year.

In this profile we meet Upper Hutt College’s Hamish Sheterline

School: Upper Hutt College

School’s sporting colours: Navy & Gold

Sports Prefect’s Name: Hamish Sheterline

What does your role of sports prefect in 2025 entail?

As one of the leaders of our sports committee, together we organise fun events and sporting activities to get students at our school participating. We try and set a good example on and off the field. We also help with content for our school’s sport social media accounts.

What sports do you personally play for Upper Hutt College?

Football and Futsal.

Recapping 2024. What were a couple of highlights of your school’s sporting success last year?

Our Senior Boys Premier Futsal team had a pretty awesome year, we were the Hutt Valley Champs and made it to the semi-finals at Regionals.

Our premier boys’ basketball team had an outstanding season and cemented Premier one status for another year. Although they didn’t finish at the top of the pack in the season they managed to claim a top 8 finish at Regionals.

Looking forward to 2025, what are a couple of senior sports teams at Upper Hutt College to look out for this year?

Our Senior Girls Volleyball team are awesome, and this season have made the move to Premier one to better prepare them for Regionals and Nationals. We will be going into those tournaments as an unknown quantity, that suits us!

Our Ki O Rahi mixed team are pretty sharp and Ms Beckett is an awesome coach. The sport has taken off at school since it was introduced last year. They will be looking to take out Regionals this year!

Is there a team to watch in Junior Sport in 2025?

Our junior A netball team are always really strong, and they won their grade last year. There are still plenty girls eligible to play juniors again this year so they will be looking at going back-to-back.

Do you have students competing in individual sports to a high level, perhaps one or two people we don’t know about or in a sport that receives less coverage than the main ones, or outside of school sport?

We have two fantastic boxers at school who are doing big things on the national stage, and I reckon 2025 will be a big year for them both. Leonidis Martin won the North Island Golden Gloves and placed 2nd at the New Zealand Championships, and Corde’ Solomona won gold at the New Zealand Boxing Championships last year and was awarded the most scientific boxer at the tournament. Keep an eye out for them!!!

It is not just the active participants, but the volunteers and student officials that make a difference – is the case at your school?

It’s unique at Upper Hutt College, we all seem to muck in and help out around the place when it comes to officiating and score-benching etc. From my personal experience refereeing girls football last year it’s a lot harder than it looks. Be nice to your refs!

Tell us a bit about your school’s support on the sports field or court? Does this support give your teams a lift in close or big games?

During our Sports Exchanges our support gets pretty rowdy. It brings a really good atmosphere. It feels like you are playing for more than just yourself or your team. Bring the noise!!!! 

Do you have a school sporting mascot, or a sports song or challenge?

There are some top-secret discussions happening at the moment around a UHC Mascot. Watch this space…

Are there recent former students who still have a connection to your school who are role models for the current group or who are giving back to your school as mentors or coaches?

Arthur Pilcher, who is playing for the Saints basketball team is an ex-student at UHC, and he sometimes comes back to train with our boys and give back. He is an example that hard work pays off and people from UHC can make it to a higher level.  

Article added: Monday 10 March 2025, courtesy of College Sport Media