Photo Credit - TACKLD

Story courtesy of College Sport Media.

Being your school’s sports prefect is a popular role. All secondary schools tend to have sports fanatics, who would relish being a student leader in a field they enjoy. Shared sporting success amongst siblings is a common thing. However, this year we see a unique coincidence with twins being sports leaders in two different schools.

Anya Birmingham is the Sports Prefect at Queen Margaret College. She’s been contributing at the highest level, throughout her time at the school. As a Year nine student she took a hat-trick for the cricket 1stXI in the Gillete Venus Cup. She joined the premier netball team as an extended squad member as a Year 11 student.

Carter Birmingham is this year’s Sports Captain for Hutt International Boys School. Like his sister, Carter has enjoyed good success in cricket. In Term 1, he scored 299 runs at an average of 59.8 in the CSW Premier 1 cricket league. This included an unbeaten 92, where he missed out on a century as the game finished with his team having successfully chased their opponent’s total. He is also part of the HIBS 1stXV who have made a positive start in this year’s Tranzit 1stXV Premiership.

The Sports Leadership role at most schools involve a mix of tasks. Both Anya and Carter, mentioned encouraging participation across all sports and offering support to different teams as key facets of their roles. They also help manage their school’s sports social media. Anya shares updates at school assembly. While Carter is involved in sports meetings with HIBS’ sports staff and relevant teachers. 

Despite the coincidence of their both being Sports Prefects/Captains it’s rare for the two to be participating at the same event. One exception was the recent Tough Guy and Gal challenge at Camp Wainui. Where both got equally muddied running over the gruelling course. However, the two have applied their initiative and set-up a new sports exchange between their schools that took place earlier in June. This is the first time their schools have formally combined to compete in sport. The twins are hopeful this will become a new tradition for their schools. For the record, QMC claimed bragging rights with victory in the inaugural game.

Carter has been busy with other sporting exchanges. During the April school holidays he travelled to Japan with the Rugby 1stXV. Where they won two of the three games played. HIBS recently hosted Rathkeale in their multi-sport exchange. The 1stXV also travelled to New Plymouth to play Francis Douglas, in what is intended to become an annual fixture. The first encounter saw HIBS lose on a wet Taranaki day.

Anya also had a busy summer. She helped with organising QMC’s athletics and swimming sports. These are vibrant events which combine sporting performance with the pageantry of inter-house rivalry. Excitingly for Queen Margaret’s they also took the national girls’ Dragon Boat title, staged on the Wellington waterfront. This is a first for the school.  Anya was part of the winning crew.

When asked who her sporting role models were, she didn’t talk about White Ferns (international cricketers) or Silver Ferns (netball) players. Instead, she praised former students like Tia Pavihi (Head Girl and CSW sports all-rounder in 2023) and Pippa Nicole (who was part of QMC’s top netball team for five years, 2018-2022). They were role models who guided her as a junior student, on a day-to-day basis. Anya now plays her part to support her schools’ emerging talent.

Both Carter and Anya, are hopeful that their schools winter sports teams will enjoy success this year. Anya would like to see QMC repeat what they achieved last year with top four finishes in Basketball, Football and Netball. To make at least one final would be great. The school’s 1stXI hockey team has also got off to a good start.

HIBS are perennial finalists in the Boy’s Youth Football. Carter hopes his team can claim a title in this sport, something that has eluded his school often because of penalty shootouts. However, there’s potential to also expect good things with basketball, hockey and rugby.

At an individual level, QMC has enjoyed success in sports as diverse as equestrian, golf and shooting. Carter praises Asher Robertson who was awarded the Hutt Valley’s young sportsmen of the year. Asher has won national titles in high jump, long jump, hurdles and pole vault.

We wish all the sports leaders in different schools’ success and enjoyment with filling their responsibilities, this year. Check our archives to access profiles of senior sport students from other schools.

Article added: Monday 16 June 2025