By Zoe Hunter

Most paddlers preparing for New Zealand's biggest intermediate-aged sports tournament train on rivers or lakes. Not Ella Quinlivan.

The 11-year-old kayaker from Motueka Valley has been cutting through the water of a local swimming pool, because heavy recent flooding in the Tasman district has made river training virtually impossible.

Not to mention, the nearest lake is about an hour’s drive away from where she lives. But that hasn’t stopped Ella from wanting to show her fellow competitors in Tauranga what she’s got next month when she represents Ngātīmoti School at the Zespri AIMS Games.

“It will be so awesome to represent my school. It will feel really cool. I don’t know of anyone else who has gone to the AIMS Games.”

This year's AIMS Games - the annual week-long intermediate-aged tournament in Tauranga - will feature an extraordinary 14,022 athletes from 431 schools around New Zealand and the South Pacific, but only one from the Tasman district. In fact, Ella is the first competitor representing the region for a number of years.

“I’m super excited,” she says, andding that she first heard of the AIMS Games while cheering on her dad Shane and 14-year-old brother Yuri at the national canoe slalom championships at Lake Tekapo in April.

“One of the other mums was talking to my mum about it and I thought it sounded really cool, so I thought I’d give it a go.”

Although Ella admits she hasn’t done much paddling herself.

“I haven’t done heaps of kayaking. Sometimes we’ll go to the Nelson pools to train, or the rivers,” she says. “But with all the flooding, it’s not a really good place to go kayaking. We can’t really train in the river. Plus it takes about an hour to get to the nearest lake from our house.”

Most of Ella’s time is taken up with rugby and netball, but kayaking runs in her blood. Her dad and her brother are both seasoned paddlers, with her dad scoring the fastest time at last year’s national championships in the Masters 50-plus category. 

“Dad has been kayaking forever,” she says. “I don’t kayak with him too often because it’s too cold. But I do love the water, especially fresh water. I love being active and outdoors.”

Now, it’s Ella’s turn to make waves. Entered in both the canoe slalom and sprint events, Ella has been studying the courses online and she’s most definitely up for the challenge.

“It’s so much fun going fast in a slalom kayak. I like the river runs and the technical stuff too, but sometimes I just like to go really fast and super flat out.”

Most of all, she’s looking forward to the experience. “I can’t wait to watch some of the other sports too and maybe meet some new friends.”

She is already planning to come back next year with a netball or rugby team from Ngātīmoti School.

Her mum Phoebe Quinlivan says she is stoked for Ella to have the opportunity to go to AIMS.

“It is a good gateway into more kayaking and more sports, which Ella loves. It is really cool she will get to see other kids enjoying and participating in all of the sports, as well as meeting some new people.”

The Zespri AIMS Games runs from August 30 to September 5 this year and features 27 different sporting codes.

Article added: Tuesday 29 July 2025