Page 94 - NHS Beyond the Classroom

Tarena O’Neill (Staff)
TEACH TRICKS: Waikato’s Tarena O’Neill is making her
presence felt at Ngaruawahia High. PICTURE: Stephen Barker
2003
O’Neill player of year
Bruce Holloway, Waikato Times 2003
Ngaruawahia High Sports co-ordinator Tarena
O’Neill spends much of her life encouraging others
to become champions.
So it’s fitting the 25-year-old can now claim to
be one herself after being named Waikato women’s
soccer player of the year.
In her first season back in soccer action after
two-year break, O’Neill was a popular winner at the
Centre Circle Waikato awards at the weekend, where
she came across as a breath of fresh air for the code.
Player of the Year was reward for a season in
which she impressed both her Claudelands Rovers
club and the Force Three team in the national league
and earned a place in the New Zealand Academy
squad.
But O’Neill is now seeking to make an even
bigger sporting impact in grappling with more
fundamental challenges at Ngaruawahia High.
O’Neill spent four and a half years on a soccer
scholarship in Denver, Colorado, before deciding to
return and help others excel.
“What I found over there (Denver) was they
did so well because they have the right structure,”
she says. “They are not the most talented, but they
get put in the right systems and have great coaching.
Kids that are not naturally as good end up doing
better than our kids because they have the
opportunity to do well.
“By contrast the natural flair of kids out here
(Ngaruawahia) is just outstanding across the
spectrum, but they have not been exposed to
opportunities.
“The talent is there - we are right up with the
best - but we are low decile, with very little parental
support. However what we do have here, which has
made the difference in the past two years, is
phenomenal staff.
“Many of our kids have never learned what
discipline or commitment is, because they don’t get
it at home. But at school we round them up all day
long. We leave no excuses for them. If they can’t
come to training because they can’t get home,
teachers will drop them off and pick them up.
“Many of our lids don’t like to succeed
because they don’t like to be put above everyone
else, and it has really hindered them. So celebrating
success has become an important part of school
life.”
Meanwhile O’Neill plans to introduce
elements of Michael Groom’s sanda-style soccer
coaching programme into the school’s physical
education curriculum after being impressed by his
address and audio-visual display at the awards
evening.