The recent CSW futsal tournament saw Wellington Girls’ College and Hutt Valley High School take honours. Both schools won 1-0 in their finals against Wellington East Girls College and Rongotai College respectively.

Futsal focus now moves to the nationals that will be played at Akau Tangi during summer sports week (March 24 – 28).

Tom Kinley helped coach Rongotai to the boys’ final, he pays credit to HVHS. “Futsal is a sport based on moments. We hit the post. We hit the crossbar. Hutt’s coach Finn Gaupset did a great job in rallying his squad to achieve the win.” He admits “we didn’t expect to make the final. We’re a good team. Making the semis was exciting.”

Both HVHS and Rongotai got to the finals via penalty shootouts. In their semi-finals, HVHS trumped Wellington College while Rongotai upset Scots.

This is Kinley’s first year as coach at Rongotai. He also coaches futsal at Queen Margaret College. 2022 was his first nationals where QMC finished third.

Mike Deane, who co-coaches futsal and 1stXI football at Wellington East Girls College with Mark Morgan, helped guide WEGC to a national title in 2022. “We lost our first game at that tournament. Last year, we went down to eventual winners St Andrew’s College in the semi-finals on penalties.” WEGC enjoyed a great season last year. Never losing in regulation time and only losing games on penalties.  

For Deane “the CSW tournament can be brutal. It’s shorter games. One slip can be costly.”. Kinley identified “With the shortened games you’re pressured to always be busy on the court and cover transitions. With Nationals there’s 18-minute halves. This gives you more time to be tactical in formulating game plans.”   

Both agree that that Futsal is an excellent format to help young footballers. Deane says most of the futsal squad will go onto play in WEGC’s First XI. Playing on a fast surface and in confined space, helps a players first touch and overall ball control. The summer futsal programme works as good pre-season training. 

There’s only one-week between the regional and national events, making it difficult for coaches to implement changes for the upcoming tournament. Both coaches prefer to keep things simple. Deane outlined the flow between the two tournaments and the midweek league. “We use the Monday game to confirm our combinations”. Kinley likes to “build on 1 or 2 principles.” Thus, preventing information overload and making it about what happens on the court. 

The coaches also agreed there’s a real social element to the National tournament. Many players know each other from teams and competitions that are played locally and nationally. Kinley mentioned “it’s about people. Being able to enjoy sport with friends. Winning games is a bonus”.

Annabel Tuck is a senior player for Wellington Girls’ College. Her team won their final with less than a minute to go.  She was delighted to have achieved the result in regular time. Penalty shoot-outs are a common aspect of futsal, but it’s nice to avoid them.

WGC has enjoyed a good run in 2025, with their top team being unbeaten in this year’s midweek league. “We went into regionals with confidence, and we liked the look of the draw.”

This will be Annabel’s second go at Nationals. She explains the first task “is getting all the girls there, fit and well.” The necessity is to then rise to the challenge of each game. “Every tackle counts. We need to be aggressive. Teams travelling into Wellington often bring a more determined approach. You need to take each game as it comes and be the best team player possible.”

When asked about managing gaps between games, Annabel was honest in saying “I’ve got a bit of schoolwork to do. As we’re local, we might even head back to class.”

CSW Regional Futsal Tournament. Thursday 20 March. Finals. Wellington Girls College 1 Wellington East Girls College 0. Hutt Valley High School 1 Rongotai College 0.

National secondary school futsal tournament. Akau Tangi, Wellington. The girls’ section will be played between Monday 24 March to midday Wednesday 26 March. Boys run from Wednesday afternoon to Friday 28 March. Defending champions are St Andrew’s College (from Christchurch) and St Patrick’s College (Town).

Article courtesy of College Sport Media

Photos courtesy of Tackld Photography