ACLs can’t tear this team apart

Sky-blue dresses flashed across the netball court, custom-printed ribbons bounced with every sprint, and cheers erupted from the sidelines as the Cambridge Middle School netball team took on the 2026 Zespri AIMS Games.

Goal after goal was met with celebration, and their blue ‘Stitch’ mascot raised high above the crowd.

For the Cambridge Middle School Netball team, the ‘Heroes’ as they call themselves, their two injured players didn’t stop the team from reaching A-grade and coming 24th in the competition.

The Netball matches carried through from Sunday 6 – Friday 11 September at the Tauranga Netball Centre, Blake Park in Mount Maunganui. 

The ‘Heroes’ injured players, 13-year-old Isla Blunt and 12-year-old Mirella Young, were “gutted we can’t be playing, but so happy we can still be here to support the team and be involved with the fun things happening at the house and watch all the other sports”. 

After Isla teared her ACL in June, she still helped her team fundraise in order to come to AIMS from the Waikato, selling sponsorship spaces on their team shirts to raise enough money.  

But for Mirella, her twisted ankle came three days into the competition after a match against Holy Cross School on 8 September, leaving her taped up and on the sidelines as a supporter. 

Cambridge Middle School played 10 games for AIMS this year, winning five of them and placing themselves in the A – grade tier of the competitors.

Captain and GA (Goal Attack) of the ‘Heroes’ 12-year-old Macca Shaw said, “it’s hard not having all the team playing on the court, but we’re so lucky to have them as the best supporters on the sidelines.”