Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

Tauranga City is alive this week with thousands of youngsters, who have again descended on the city for the AIMS Games.

In nine short years the AIMS Games has become one of the biggest sporting (if not the biggest) events in the country.

The inaugural Games in 2004, was an idea generated by the four Western Bay Intermediate School principals, to bring together intermediate school age participants in a national sports tournament.

The AIMS (Games) name comes from an acronym of the Association of Intermediate and Middle Schools.

The AIMS Games kicked off on Monday, September 6, 2004 with around 800 participants from 20-odd North Island schools. Netball, soccer, hockey and cross-country were the initial sporting codes.

This year a remarkable number of 166 schools, including two from over the ditch for the first time, have converged upon the Western Bay for six days of competition encompassing 16 sports.

A major factor in the success of the intermediate school aged national tournament is the range of top quality venues within easy travelling distance, in the Tauranga City region.

While the Western Bay doesn't have the big-ticket stadiums of other cities in the country - what we do have is a range of modern multi-use venues that fit the AIMS Games like a glove.

From year one the hub of the tournament action has been the venues at and around Blake Park in Mount Maunganui.

The original sports of netball, hockey and football take place on Blake Park and at the nearby Tauranga Hockey Centre, while badminton and tennis are also adjacent to the Western Bays biggest park.

The addition of the Aquatic Centre at Grenada Park saw swimming and water polo join the Aims Games action a few years ago. Opening ceremony formalities took place at the TECT Arena.

Thousands assembled at the relatively new Western Bay venue, which easily coped with the multitudes that attended the spectacular opening to the 2012 AIMS Games.

Rugby Sevens and rugby league will be played at Greerton and Grenada Park respectively, with cross-country taking place at Waipuna Park, which has hosted national senior championships in the past.

Just out of town is the nationally acclaimed McLaren Falls, where the multi-sport competitors wind their way around the picturesque park.

Hand in hand with the sporting excellence on show, is the opportunity for other local intermediate school pupils to be involved in the organisation of the tournament.

A budding group of news hounds are attending and writing about daily competition, with another group involved in recycling the large volumes of waste generated

While the countries youth are often portrayed in the media as of little value to society – the AIMS Games shows the integrity and values of many of the Year 7 and 8 youngsters in New Zealand.

Seeya at the Game.