As shuttlecocks fly across and over nets, and scores are counted, a navy blue flag with a circle of white stars hangs proudly from the stands. Behind it, a team from the Cook Islands cheers on their athletes.

“That is our spot, every year we set up right there,” Cook Islands Badminton president Tom Ngauru said.

Six schools from the Cook Islands have travelled over the South Pacific to get to the 2024 Zespri AIMS Games.

Teams from Araura College, Apii Arorangi Primary School, Apii Avarua School, Apii Nikao Primary School, Apii Te Uki Ou School, and Nukutere College competed in the annual week-long sports tournament for intermediate-aged students in Tauranga this week.

St Anne’s Primary School and Gospel Primary School from Suva in Fiji also took part.

Meanwhile, schools from Waiheke Island near Auckland, and Te Kura o Te Moutere o Matakana near Tauranga, crossed land and sea to fly their flags on the mainland.

Nearly 13,000 athletes from more than 390 schools entered the 27 sporting codes on offer at the AIMS Games this year.

Aitutaki’s Araura College school badminton coach, Rere Mataiti, said the small team of four started playing badminton three months ago and were now representing their school and island for the first time at the AIMS Games.

“It’s a great honour for our students,” he said.

Mataiti said he hoped the games will provide his players exposure to potential opportunities and pathways in sport. “It’s a bonus if they win a game.”

Araura College pupil Chaplin William, 12, said he was a bit nervous to compete but wanted to “try my best”.

Cook Islands Badminton president Tom Ngauru said the AIMS Games was a “stepping stone to bigger things”.

“It’s a chance for them to really learn the sport and see whether they want to keep doing it.”

Ngauru hoped to bring even more players to future tournaments. 

“They’re excited not just to be here but also for the future.”

Meanwhile, another little school has boarded a boat to get to AIMS this year.

Waiheke Primary School’s boys’ football team travelled by car ferry to Auckland before driving to Tauranga to take part this week.

Manager Malcolm Hamill said it was great for the pupils to have the experience on the mainland, “because we’re in a little bubble on Waiheke”.

“Most people know each other through the schools, so it’s nice to actually experience the ‘real world,’” Hamill said.

Other athletes have been waking up at 6am each day to catch the “school boat” from Matakana Island to Tauranga to compete in their first-ever AIMS Games.

Te Kura o Te Moutere o Matakana team manager Emoana Consedine said it was “extra special” for rangatahi from such a small school to be represented in a tournament as big as AIMS.

“They get to be immersed in a big event and be included despite living on a separate island. It is such a rich experience for them.”

The AIMS Games concluded on Friday (local time).

• Isabella Root/NZ AIMS Games