Article added: Friday 13 September 2024

By Henry Lee

The Zespri AIMS Games is not only about playing sport – it’s about the connections you make.

That is something Sacred Heart College water polo director and former AIMS Games athlete, Justin Pickering, knows all too well.

It is a “full-circle moment” for the former national water polo youth champion who competed in the week-long sports tournament for intermediate-aged students back in 2011.

“AIMS Games definitely improved my love for water polo,” he said.

“I was lucky enough to be deputy head boy at Mount Maunganui Intermediate, and spoke the fair play oath at the opening ceremony.”

Pickering is no stranger to the highs and lows of the AIMS Games, finishing second in the 2011 water polo event, but making the tournament team that year.

At this year's event, his Sacred Heart College team also finished second. 

Pickering said, at the end of the day, it is not all about the colour of the medal.

“The focus should be on the experience, not the results. Mixing and supporting the teams from your school is the important thing, developing and improving over the course of the week should also be a priority.”

Growing up in the coastal suburb of Pāpāmoa, Pickering was destined for a career somehow connected to the water. 

“I always enjoyed water sports,” he said. “Water polo has given me a purpose.”

Pickering played water polo throughout Mount Maunganui College and won the Under-16 Club Nationals with Tauranga Water Polo. He later represented New Zealand at the 2016 Youth World Championships in Montenegro.

Pickering then completed a communications and business degree at San José State University in California.

Returning to New Zealand during the global Covid-19 pandemic to finish his degree, he later landed a job as water polo director at Sacred Heart College.

The 2024 Zespri AIMS Games will be his Sacred Heart swan song as Pickering travels to Salem University in West Virginia to do his master's degree, and take up a role as an assistant graduate water polo coach. 

But Pickering’s calm guidance will stay with his players.

Goalkeeper Harry Fraser had high praises for his coach.

“He’s the best coach I’ve ever had, and he deserves to go to America. He's definitely going to lead his team to victory in America.”

Centre forward Arran George agrees. 

“Justin’s been great, he’s helped us get through tough games, he stays really calm, even when we make mistakes,” he said.

“He’s always encouraging us to keep going.”