Nick Willis, our Commonwealth Hero

… Nick Willis …

Full name: Nick Willis

Date of birth: April 25^th 1983 (aged 31)

Height: 1.83 m

Weight: 68 kg

Spouse: Sierra Boucher

Siblings: Steve Willis

Education: University of Michigan

Medals: Silver from the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 for the 1500m, Gold in the 1500m in Beijing and Bronze at the 2010 Olympics in New Delhi.

Nick captured the world’s attention when he won the gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He ran 3:37:17 race for the 1500 metres in Paris last year.  He has accomplished a lot of things like coming second the prestigious fifth avenue mile and also clocked 1:45:54 for the 800 m that means Nick is running at approximately 27.5km in an hour wow! That’s outrageously quick.

In 2006 he suffered a splintered bone which meant his usual trainings were suspended for two months and he had to focus on swimming. But Nick never gave up and he certainly had faith in God that he would win a Gold medal in the 2008 Olympic Games; and he did. After winning that Gold medal he was determined to win the Gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

By June and Luiz.

My Commonwealth star profile

Liana Leota

Sports: Netball

Born: 31 October 1984

Taihape , New Zealand

Age: 29

Height: 1.68

Spouse: Johnny Leota

Liana Leota has made headlines this year by making netball comeback the elite ANZ tournament.

Her sense of timing with circle edge feeds into shooters is instinctive and natural ability has seen her reselected into the Silver Ferns mid-court for the first time since 2011.

Her playing history:

Silver Ferns was her National squads 2008-2011.

She is a Commonwealth Games MEDALLIST.

In 2010 she won the world netball series.

By Monivatey horng (Jenny)

Our Commonwealth super star

DJ Forbes

Full name: Derek Jamie Forbes

Date of birth: 15^th December 1982

Auckland

Height: 1.89 m

DJ Forbes is the current All Blacks rugby sevens captain, he started playing for the New Zealand sevens on September 27^th 2011.

His provincial team is Counties Manukau fifteens and his position is loose forward, his position for sevens is prop.

DJ Forbes has lifted 2 cups this season in Port Elizabeth in England as they sit at the top of all standings. He started playing rugby league and then he was converted to rugby union at the end of his school days. DJ Forbes has won 4 consecutive gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.

The reason why DJ Forbes wanted to play rugby was because he had the same values as Michael Jones and he wanted to be as good as him.

BY Andre and Jayden

My Commonwealth Hero

                                                     Phil Burrows

Full name: Phil Ross Burrows

Date of birth: 24.04.1980

Birth place: Wellington, NZ

Position: striker

Phil Ross Burrows is a 34 year old hockey player. He has  played in the Olympics and the Commonwealth games. He has won 1 silver and 1 bronze medals in the Commonwealth games. He is New Zealand's top field goal scorer and was named New Zealand’s player of the year. Phil Burrows has completed over 120 international games. 

He has competed in 2 summer Olympics in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing. 

He has played club hockey in the Netherlands since 2004.

By Mac

Our Commonwealth star

Richie Patterson

Date of birth: 30^th April 1983 

South West of Auckland (31)

Height: 1.67m

Weight: 84kg

Richie Patterson originally grew up in the South West of Manurewa, Auckland and went to Auckland Boy’s Grammar school.

In 2010 Richie Patterson participated in the 2010 summer Olympics for the 85kg weight lifting and won. He was in the 2011 Olympic team and won one silver and one gold medal. He is now the head leader for the 85kg New Zealand weight lifting team for the Commonwealth Games. Richie Patterson has been competing for 10 years in the Olympic weight lifting division he currently holds the New Zealand record for the 77kg weight lifting  Richie Patterson also holds the record for the 85kg weight lifting division.    

By Giovanni and Kemara

My Commonwealth Games star profile

Maria Tutaia 

                         

   Solonaima Maria Tutaia is a New Zealand international netball player. She can play at goal attack and goal shoot, She stands at 1.88 m. She played domestic netball for the Auckland Diamonds during the National Bank Cup from 2005–07.

Born: February 18, 1987 (age 27), Tokoroa   

Nationality: New Zealand

She is one of the most skilled long-ranged shooters in the world, Maria Tutaia is still thrilling audiences with her silky shooting style and deadly precision.

Since her National debut for the New Zealand u21 team in 2004, she has cemented her spot in the goal attack position showing how focused she is.

In 2006 she was also a member of New Zealand’s gold medal-winning team at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

-By Teuhiva                                                                                                                                                                          

My Commonwealth Games star

Tom Walsh

Event(s): Shot put

Born: 1 March 1992

Age: 22

Full Name: Thomas Walsh

Years: 2009-Present

Thomas “Tom” Walsh is a shot-put competitor in the Common Weath games. He also competes in discus.

He is the current record holder for shot-put in the Common Wealth for both Indoors and out. In the world youth championship 2009 he came 6^th in shot-put and 31^st in discus. In 2010 he came 16^th and this year he came 3^rd. Walsh was introduced in 2009 and has competed four times

He has won a Bronze medal for breaking the record with an All-time score of 21.26m (69ft 9in) his best discus score is 53.58m (175m 91/4in) he’s won the title for Discus (2012,13) and Shot-put (2013).

He has competed in (Sopot, Poland) (Melbourne, Australia) (Moxton, Canada) and (Brixen, Italy).

By Nikau

Our Commonwealth Games star

Valerie Adams

Full name: Valerie Kasanita Adams

Date of Birth: 6^th October 1984 (Age 29)

Height: 1.93m

Weight: 120kg

Birth place: Rotorua, New Zealand

Valerie Adams is the daughter of Sydney Adams and Lilika Ngauamo, she has 17 siblings one being Steven Adams the New Zealand basketball player.  Her ethnicity is Tongan/pakeha. Valerie attended many South Auckland schools for her education.

Valerie first started training in shot put at the age of 17, because she is from a poor background she started off with no training gear; she didn't even have shoes.

She is the world champion in shot put currently; she has had that title four times.  Valerie has participated at the Olympics and the Commonwealth games many times.

Valerie was once married to Bertrand Vili, he is also a professional shot putter; however they divorced in early 2010.

Valerie has inspired us because even if you come from a poor background, it doesn’t matter because there are riches at the end, to get to those riches you must show the world your talents and work hard to achieve them.

By Benn, Milika and Lose

Our Commonwealth star profile

Maria Tutaia

Full name: Solonaima Maria Tutaia

Date of birth: 18^th February 1987

Tokoroa, New Zealand (age 27)

Height: 1.88 m

Maria is an international netball player. She plays as goal shooter and goal attack.

She played for the Auckland diamonds in 2005-2007 in the National Bank cup. In 2008 when the ANZ championships started off Maria got signed to play for the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic, partnering with Irene Van Dyke in the shooting circle. She played for the team for 2 years, then transferred back to Auckland to play for the Northern Mystics in 2010.

Maria Tutaia owns 5 medals, 3 Gold and 2 Silver. 2 of the Gold medals she won from the last Commonwealth Games; playing netball.

Maria Tutaia is dating a rugby French based star.

 She still lives with her parents and doesn’t plan on moving anytime soon.

By paris and kalolaini

How does a space shuttle launch?

How does a space shuttle launch?

For a 4.5 million pound shuttle to lift off from a launching pad to orbit above Earth it must use the following components in order to lift off:

Ø  Two solid rocket boosters (SRB)

Ø  Three main engines of the orbiter

Ø  The external fuel tank (ET)

Those components all have to work together in order for the shuttle to lift off. If one doesn’t work properly the shuttle will go so far up and the spiral back down to Earth.

By Jayden, Amanda, Mac, Castelle, Andre and Jenny 

Why and how do volcanoes erupt?

The reason why volcanoes erupt is hot melted rocks collect under the Earth’s surface and when the pressure becomes too solid and hard the earth’s skin breaks and then a volcano erupts.

By Seini

The Avengers writing group

Recently we have been looking at rhyming poems, here are our attempts. Enjoy!!!

Chocolate cake

I love to eat chocolate cakes

Especially when they have heaps of chocolate flakes

If I eat too many, I get really silly

The sugar goes right to my head and I turn bright red

Lose

Rugby league

Rugby league is my thing it makes me want to shout and sing.

The team I go for are the Sydney Roosters, because they are never losers.

In league you only get five chances, so you better make those side glances.

Andre

School

I love school it is really cool

The thing I enjoy doing the most is writing especially when I get to do typing.

Although there are many of us on the roll, we are all supported to reach our goals.

Rhea

Family

My family share everything to show that they care.

We help each other everywhere.

There are 14 of us in our house, and it is never as quiet as a mouse.

Elizabeth  

Why and how do cats purr?

Cats purr when they get stroked, so when they are happy and also when they are frightened or feeling threatened; especially when visiting the vet.

A cat’s purr begins in their brain and the sends messages to the laryngeal muscles causing them to twitch at a rate of 25 to 150 vibrations per second; it causes the cats vocals to separate when it inhales.

Cats purr when they are co-operating with one another and sometimes purr when they are self-healing.

Not all cats purr though. Some of the big wild cats like lions don’t.

So when your family cat starts purring, think about what is causing it… is it because it is happy??

By: Teuhiva, Benn, Lose, Ayden, Rhea & Losana

How do bees make honey?

When you see a bee crawl into a flower that’s when you know that they are collecting the nectar. They then return back to the hive and pass it onto the working bees. 

These bees’ suck the nectar from the honey bees and chew the nectar for half an hour.  After a long time of chewing; they finally spit it out and into the honeycomb. 

The nectar has now been created into thick syrup.  When the honey is gooey enough, the bees seal off the honeycomb with a plug of wax. 

In one year the bees will eat up to120 – 200 pounds of nectar.

WOW that’s a lot of chewing!!