The NZCT AIMS Games is going international in 2012 with secondary school students from Australia and beyond now eligible for the event.

Tournament director Vicki Semple says the annual Year 7-8 games held in Tauranga will be open to competitors from overseas schools in 2012.

The start line in the 2011 AIMS Games cross country.

'We are targeting Australia, but are also working with other international schools,” says Vicki.

She says this has always been part of the vision for the games and with support from Tauranga City Council and Tourism Bay of Plenty, it can now happen.

To help attract competitors from Australia, rugby league has been added as the 16^th sporting code for next year's games.

'Rugby league will give us a good start in Australia. Since 2009 the number of rugby league players has increased, so this is a good time to add the code in.”

It will be a nine a-side format and a tournament style structure where school teams are placed into pools followed by play-offs.

Rugby league will be played at Grenada Park in Mount Maunganui under the New Zealand Rugby League international rules and Safe Play Code, modified for under-13s and due to international nine-a-side rules, the tournament will be boys only.

To be eligible to compete at the AIMS Games, competitors must be under 13 years of age as at January 1 of the tournament year, must be enrolled fulltime in Year 7 or 8 at a school and schools must be a financial affiliated member of NZ AIMS.

Vicki says this year's games were very successful with Tauranga Intermediate taking the top spot on the medal table.

Entries for the 2012 games close on Friday, May 11.

The event is in September and its opening ceremony again being held at the TECT Arena at Baypark.