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Meet Aynsley Martin

April 8, 2016
By Rowan Milburn

She is talented, involved in a range of Hagley’s extra curricular activities and just an awesome young lady really!!

I first met Aynsley when I took on the role of looking after the Senior Girls Indoor Football Team. She stood out in the warm-up, firstly for her ball control and secondly for a warm and friendly smile.

In conducting this interview I found out a whole lot more about her and am blown away with her talents and positive attitude.

Aynsley grew up on a farm just outside Oamaru with her nine other brothers and sisters!! She was homeschooled for her whole schooling life up until this year.

She moved to Christchurch last year in response to some advice from a football coach who recommended that Aynsley would further her football career in a big centre where competitive womens football was played. Aynsley’s view on this was that it’s worth doing while she’s young and she was looking forward to the challenge that a move such as this would involve.

credits in NCEA which was challenging in a homeschooling environment. She had heard about Hagley as a place where we do different things and teachers have a different type of relationship with their students. This appealed to her as well as the way Hagley may cater for her as someone that had never been to a traditional school before.

Aynsley’s first impressions of Hagley have all been positive. She is impressed with her teachers and says that they all seem to know a lot!! Everyone has really gone out of their way to make her feel comfortable. This is something she has really appreciated.

Other than football, Aynsley has really embraced the extra curricular opportunities we have at Hagley. She’s a member of the Intermediate Jazz Band where she plays the electric guitar, and a member of the recently formed Student Council. One area of interest for Aynsley with the Student Council is to help support students new to Hagley by acting at lunch and morning tea to make connections between students that have not formed a peer group as yet. This is a priority of the Student Council currently.

Her advice to students new to Hagley…

 “Don’t be shy, find people with common interests and, although it’s hard, make an effort to approach people.”

What lies in the future for Aynsley? Aynsley would love football to become her career but she is realistic in that she also has a back-up plan. Her back-up plan involves the possibility of becoming a chef. Aynsley has experience in cooking in that she contributed to the household on the farm by cooking for her family. She loved the satisfaction from preparing a meal from fresh produce sourced from the family farm.

When I asked what surprised Aynsley about being at Hagley she replied that she was always told that by being homeschooled she got a lot of individualised attention that you may not get in a school environment. She said she has been so impressed with the teacher care and attention she has received and she is really pleased with how she is doing. Academically, she has found some things challenging as she had a strong base in agriculture and practical skills from her farming background. Her aim this year is to upskill in some of her academic subjects and of course continue towards her dream of being a footballer!!

A career I am sure to follow with interest!!

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