Thirteen Year 5-6 Mount Maunganui Primary School students who often begged their coaches for more practice time have been crowned 2024 Jump Jam national champions.

The team’s ‘Jai Ho’ routine – inspired by the Oscar-winning drama film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ – saw them grab the national Year 5-6 Advanced title in the Jump Jam championships on November 9.

Speaking to about the win, the students said they enjoyed the competition and watching all the other teams and didn’t think they were going to win “because everyone else was so good!”.

Inspired by ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, the group’s performance followed the storyline of the lead character 18-year-old Jamal Malik, from the Juhu slums of Mumbai, who ends up being on a game show called ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’.

Mount Maunganui Primary School's winning Jump Jam team, Mount Mystics. Photo: Bob Tullock. Back Row: Poppy Buckley, Estelle Orr, Lola Murray, Honor Hutchinson, Chaeyun Lee Middle Row: Olive McKenzie, Olive Marra, Will Martin, Olivia Fia-Williams Front Row (kneeling): Phoebe Grieve, Agnes-Rose Taylor, Gracie Hill, Evie McBurney.

The students said their routine involved jump jam moves, acting, singing and chanting for a well-rounded theatrical performance – complete with colourful costumes that “jingled” as they moved “with energy and spirit”.

The group took their polished routine to Jump Jam’s North Island Regional contest at Bethlehem College’s Performing Arts Centre on November 9, and clinched the Year 5-6 Advanced category.

Then, with the South Island Jump Jam contest already held on November 2, Jump Jam organisers dove straight into announcing the national champions in each category at the Bethlehem venue.

On hearing they were national champions, they students said their jaws dropped and they were “squealing with excitement”.

Mount Maunganui Primary School's winning Jump Jam team, Mount Mystics. Photo: Bob Tullock.

Coaches Lauren Wyse and Julianne McMartin were thrilled with the result and believed it was a well-deserved win after all the time the students spent practising.

Three school terms of training hard, plus Wyse said the team often begged for more practices to perfect their routine even more – had paid off.

“While practising the routine, we also took the opportunity to teach the students about another culture and showed them some videos of Bollywood moves for the students to learn.”

Wyse said the students had worked together collaboratively and incorporated their favourite moves into the routine.

Becoming a member of the group was not an easy task either, said Wyse.

There was a selection process with auditions, where both coaches looked for students who “stood out and knew the routine like the back of their hand”.

“We had about 89 kids audition, and we whittled it down to 13,” said Wyse.

“These were the cream of the crop.”

With 2024 her third year coaching the Mount Maunganui Jump Jam team, Wyse said students involved were always easy to work with as they were motivated and determined to win.

“They’re a super coachable team. They love coming to practice and they’re always asking for more practices throughout the week; and they practise in their own time.”