Jack Allan knows it sounds a bit cheesy, but he reckons the time he spent in the Academy Southland programme hasn’t just changed his coaching, it’s changed his life.

Whenever Tyson Huia wonders whether the challenge might be too much, he looks to the message on his wrist.

Thanks to the good folk at Southland Secondary School Sport, here's a wrap of how our southern teams fared during Winter Tournament week.

World junior champion team pursuiter Corbin Strong returned home to Invercargill this afternoon to a rousing haka from his fellow Southland Boys' High School students.

Invercargill's Josh Burnett is amongst a 25-strong New Zealand team who have ventured to the mountains Switzerland for this week’s UCI Mountain Bike World Championships at the alpine resort of Lenzerheide.

It is NZ Secondary Schools Winter Tournament week, with 13 Southland Secondary Schools involved in individual and team events around the country during the week.

Southland junior sportsperson of the year Tom Sexton is enjoying a quiet week at home before another big year of elite track cycling.

Southland will be well represented across the winter tournament week beginning next week.

The many hours of combining training, work and study will pay a dividend when Invercargill triathlete Jaxon Taylor represents New Zealand for the first time in Australia next month.