Four Southland teams competing at the New Zealand Marching Championships in Christchurch last month made Southland proud with their outstanding results against 38 teams from across New Zealand that took part in the competition. 

Gore-based Hokonui under 16, Coached by Renee Morgan and Tracy McDonald, took home 1st Championship Technical Drill team and 1st Overall NZ Champion Team. 

Hokonui under 12, Coached by Levana Philip, were awarded 2nd Champion Technical drill team, 1st Champion Display team and 2nd overall under 12 Champion team.

Hokonui under 12 team. Photo: Supplied

Invercargill’s Southern Stars took home awards for 1st under 12 Plate Technical Drill team and 5th Champion Display, coached by Jess King and Susan Miller-Black. 

The Blue Jay under 16 team, coached by Carla Johnson, were awarded 6th Champion Technical team. 

” All teams put in exceptional effort and dedicated hours of training to compete with the best of the best and it paid off. Most teams and officials will be taking a well-deserved break,” says Marching Southland Publicity and Promotions officer Sheree Hall.

Blue Jay marching team. Photo: Supplied

Te Ara, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, notes that marching as a competitive sport for girls and women was invented in New Zealand.

It became popular from the late 1920s and 30’s as a nation-wide move to keep the country’s young women fit and healthy.

Teams of women in matching uniforms competed in military-style marching, with elaborate and highly synchronised manoeuvres.

Southern Stars under 12 marching team. Photo: Supplied

In 1945 the New Zealand Marching Association was founded to promote, encourage and control participation in the sport, and the first national marching competition took place in 1946. 

Marching was most popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s when 300–400 teams competed.

At first marching was for young women of working age, but later younger girls could also compete, and more recently young boys started to join the marching teams. In the 2000s there was also a grade for older women.

Blue Jay Introductory. Photo: Supplied

Marching Southland was established in 1946 and today it has 8 teams of 7 to 14 girls each, and Blue Jay being a boys only team. 

Because marching was a uniquely New Zealand sport, there was no international competition, although teams toured overseas giving displays in England, Scotland and Australia.

Hokonui under 16 team will soon be fundraising and training in preparation for the Australia and New Zealand Drilldance and Marching Tattoo held the Gold Coast in July 2023. 

Many coaches, chaperones and committee members marched, and now their children have followed in their footsteps, even moved from marching to coaching to give back to their sport.

Hall says that competitive marching involves a lot of discipline and training.

“Champion teams train up to 4 hours per week, while non-champion grades train for 1 hour per week. They train a lot, but have a lot of fun too,” she says adding that anyone can join marching.

For more information reach out to [email protected] or find Marching Southland on Facebook.