By Louis Johnston

Something that has helped numb William Shaw-White's nerves for his second year at the Zespri AIMS Games is having his younger brother compete alongside him.

The squash playing siblings, just one year apart, represented Ōpōtiki in the annual intermediate-age sporting event this week.

The experience was made extra special by the fact that their Koro is also their coach.

Squash is one of 27 sporting codes at this year’s Zespri AIMS Games, which has welcomed more than 14,000 young athletes from 431 schools to Tauranga from around the country and overseas.

Last year, William, 13, wrote his name down in Ōpōtiki Primary School’s legacy as their first squash player to compete at AIMS, placing 25th out of nearly double those competitors. This year he finished 17th.

“Last year I was nervous, but this year I got used to it. It’s fun,” he said.

His little brother, Mana, 12, was at AIMS for the first time this year, which he said was a bit nerve-racking to begin with. He finished 33rd out of the 51 boys competing.

William was introduced to squash through Koro Mel, after being shown a video of him playing, and Mana quickly followed, both joining the local squash club shortly after.

Now the two train together in Ōpōtiki under their Koro, which they love. 

“It’s good most of the time. Sometimes we get into an argument, but most of the time it’s good,” William said.

Teacher Kelly McGough is “really proud” of the boys and said they’ve trained hard in the lead up to AIMS.

“For kids from our town, some of them never get to go to what we call ‘outside the bridges’ - so being able to come here and see some great games and great athletes and be part of it is a great experience, and they absolutely love it,” she said.

“For a small town, we do really well to compete. Willy got the sportsmanship award last year [at AIMS] so it shows that kids from little towns can put their names out on the big stage.”

Their trip was funded by a fun run which helped them fundraise for travel, accommodation, and other costs involved in the event, which their community, whānau and extended whānau got behind.

Ōpōtiki also have students involved in netball, futsal, swimming, and indoor bowls.

Article added: Friday 05 September 2025