Hi all,
It is some time since my last news, so as the school year rapidly comes to a close there is a fair amount to report on. The senior school has left for NCEA exams and the junior school are preparing for their exams this week.
Staff News
Gary Wikohika
It is with regret that I report on the passing of Gary Wikohika less than 12 months after he retired from his position as Property Manager at the school. Gary worked in this position for more than 20 years and also served as a football coach for a considerable amount of his time at the school. Gary’s wife Vicki was school librarian for a number of years while son’s Scott, Rowan and Braden are all Old Boys of the College. He will be fondly remembered as a true gentlemen who would do anything to help others out.
Retirements
A total of 108 years of service to the school will come to an end this year with the retirement of 4 long serving staff members. Allen Mossop (38 years) is a former HOD Science, John Cox (25 years) teacher of Maths, Brian McLaren (24 years) former HOD of Biology and Brian Ebbett (21 years) Old Boy and former Head of Guidance will all retire at the end of the year.
Retirees : John Cox, Brian McLaren, Allen Mossop & Brian Ebbett
Old Boy Events
TBC Turf Naming
In early September some 250 of the College community met at the Hockey Turf to officially name it the Gemming Turf. Logan Gemming (Old Boy and current staff member) had been tragically killed in a kite surfing accident in January and this naming was in his memory. It was also to recognise the incredible work of his mother Gillian Gemming as a Board of Trustees member (12 years as Chair) and supporter of the TBC Hockey programme over some 25 years. A number of short speeches were followed by the unveiling of signage before the Old Boys took on the 1st XI in a fixture which ended with the Old Boys triumphing 6-0.
Wellington Function
Our annual Wellington Old Boys function will take place at the Blend Bar, Wakefield Street in the central city from 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 11th, with the Old Boys Association providing a first drink and some finger food. If you are in Wellington please spread the word and get along for a catch up with fellow Old Boys and yours truly to find out more about the school in 2019.
Winter Sports Tournament Results
This is always one of the busiest periods in the school calendar, with about 200 students heading off all around the country to participate in a wide range of sports.
Football
Our 1st XI had an exceptional season placing 5th at nationals after losing to eventual winners Sacred Heart in the quarter final. Included in the sides beaten were Mount Albert Grammar and Westlake who have been power houses in the game in recent seasons. On the back of that great result our Junior footballers won the Under 15 Hillsdene tournament held in Tauranga, with 8 wins from 8 matches and beating Hamilton BHS 1-0 in the final.
Rugby
The Under 14 & Under 15 sides both competed in their regular competitions with both teams winning 2 matches in their respective competitions. The Under 14 side placed 4th while the Under 15s were 10th.
Hockey
TBC has had 3 sides compete at national tournaments for several years now which gives our boys excellent experience when they step up to the top level. An injury ravaged 1st XI were disappointed to place 14th at Rankin Cup but still had a 3 win, 3 loss & 1 draw record. At the 2nd XI Galletly Cup competition our boys were 5th while the Under 15s were 6th in a very tight competition.
Basketball
Three basketball teams contested a range of different competitions through the week with considerable success. The `Senior A side qualified for Nationals placing 5th in their tournament with the Senior Bs coming second in their competition. The Junior A side performed very well winning their competition beating Hamilton BHS in the final.
Motocross
TBC are NZSS Cross Country National champions with Brodie Connolly and Madoc Dixon champions in their respective classes.
Rock Climbing
Ther NZSS Rock Climbing competition was held at the Mount and our climbers placed second in the team competition. Individually Julian David was 1st placed Junior while Kade Allen took 3rd place in the Senior Division and was National Speed Climb Record Holder.
Swimming
TBC had a very successful NZSS Swim champs with stars who achieved multiple medals being Louis Upjohn, Daniel Shanahan and Isaac Williams. All three were national champions in at least one event and, with other supporting swimmers helping out too, TBC placed 2nd in the Boys Schools Teams event behind Westlake BHS.
Table Tennis
Tauranga hosted the NZSS Table Tennis tournament and Year 12 Max Henderson performed strongly to gain a bronze medal.
Underwater Hockey
Double national champions, the TBC side was determined to make it three titles in a row at the NZSS tournament and they started well being unbeaten in pool play. TBC beat Howick College in the semi-final who had beaten them earlier at a regional competition. This time round it was TBC who were victorious and the side went on to win the final and the National Championship against Glendowie College 2-0. MVP was Zachary Howe and he, along with Aidan Heath and Thomas Holdom, were selected in the tournament team.
Weightlifting
Competing in the Under 89 kg division of the NZSS competition Tyler Crighton won the gold medal.
Other TBC Sport
Sports Awards
Our annual Sports awards were held earlier this month, with some 400 guests catered for by the TBC Hospitality Department in this annual event. New Zealand rower and former Head Prefect Toby Cunliffe-Steel was the guest speaker.
Thirty different students gained NZ representative ties across 15 different sports which shows the depth of TBC sporting talent. TBC gained New Zealand titles in Kayaking, Bowls, Volleyball, MotoX, Skeet shooting, Underwater Hockey and Rowing in 2019.
Major prizewinners for 2019 were:
Student Official of the Year: Tamatea Bennett. – Basketball referee
Best All Rounder: Taylor Bettelheim – NZ Squash, BOP Mens Cricket
Pergo et Perago Award: Quaid Forbes – NZ Volleyball & Beach Volleyball + NCEA endorsed at Level 1,2 & 3
Best Individual Performance: Oliver Puchner NZ Junior Canoe Slalom -1st overall in European Canoe Assn. Slalom Cup
Team of the Year: Volleyball – NZSS & Super 8 Champions
Judo
The North Island Judo Championships were held in Auckland recently and Josh Preston won gold in the Under 90 kg Junior Mens division.
Squash
Taylor Bettelheim and Joseph Smythe were selected to represent New Zealand in a trans-Tasman squash series after TBC came second at the NZSS National Teams competition. The NZ side won the competition against New South Wales and Queensland with Joseph winning 7 matches out of 7 and Taylor 6 out of 7 in a competition which has been going for 8 years.
Underwater Hockey
Zac Howe, Aidan Heath and Thomas Holdom were all part of a New Zealand team that competed at the Age Group World Championships in Sheffield, England. The team went through 12 pool matches undefeated before beating Spain 3-2 in a close semi-final and then Great Britain in the final to become World Champions.
Cricket
Year 12 student Tim Pringle, along with recent Old Boy Ben Pomare, have both played against Bangladesh earlier in the season as part of the New Zealand Under 19 cricket team.
Rugby
Argentina Tour
Over the October holidays TBC rugby completed a 7 match tour of Argentina. The team won all of the games with a couple of scores running up to near the century. The culture of this football mad country was enjoyed by all with the chance to experience what places like Buenos Aires, Rosairio,Santa Fe, Carlos Paz and Tucuman have to offer one that the boys really enjoyed.
Sevens
Success against Rotorua BHS on the rugby field is to be cherished and this year our Under 19 Sevens team were able to win the BOP Competition where they beat RBHS in the final.
Rowing
A WORLD RECORD was set by James Hollard in Indoor Rowing for a 13-14 year old one day before his 15th birthday when in 30 minutes he rowed an astonishing 8,007 metres.
Senior Prizegiving
The Senior school is now away on Exam Leave and the school year for them was rounded out by the prizegiving held in the Trinity Church. The following major awards were presented:
Dux: Ben Kang
Proxime Accessit: Morgan Hatch
Monte Ohia Trophy (top all round Maori student): Quaid Forbes
Taula Trophy (top Pacifika student): Jasiah Jennings
Frank Lawson Cup (top all round Year 13 student): Jack McManaway
Rob Naumann Cup (top all round Year 12 student): Logan GreenFP Keenan Trophy (top all round Year 11 student): Jordan Toy
TBC Arts
Waikato Band & Orchestra Festival
TBC took three groups to this festival last term with the Guitar Ensemble gaining a Silver award. The #1 Big Band won a Gold Award and also judged the most outstanding band of the festival. The #2 Big Band, which has been directed by year 13 student James Robinson ,performed superbly well too also gaining a Gold Award for only the second time in the last decade.
Television appearance
Year 11 student Dominic Tupou was cast in the role of a young Jonah Lomu in the 2 part TV series screened on TV3 earlier in the year.
TBC Academics
Year 13 student Jialan Campbell-Luo has just received a New Zealand representative tie as he has returned from the International Economics Olympiad in Russia where he was part of the New Zealand team.
Old Boys Academics
2017 Dux Jack Wade has just completed the second year of his Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) with Honours. Over the ‘summer’ break, from November to January , Jack will be living at Trinity College while completing a 3 month undergraduate research project at Cambridge University.
Old Boys Sports
Golf
Golfing Old Boy brothers Harry and Charlie Hillier are performing well in their US College careers at the University of Kansas. Both of them were included in the 6 strong NZ Amateur golf team picked to play the Asia-Pacific Championships held in Shanghai.
Rugby
There have been a significant number of Old Boys involved in representative rugby at a range of different levels over recent weeks. The BOP Steamers were victorious in the Mitre 10 Championship and featured a large number of Old Boys at different times. These included Aidan Ross (captain), Jeff Thwaites, Nathan Harris, Aaron Carroll, Leroy Carter, Te Aihe Toma and Dan Hollinshead. Ross, Harris and Sam Cane have since been selected in the 2020 Chiefs squad, while Thwaites has a contract with the Highlanders.
In the Heartland Championship former Head Prefect Dan Ross completed the season playing for King Country while Angus Lindsay played for Mid Canterbury.
The Under 19 BOP Toa side included Lockie Deveraux in his first year out of school – a team that was coached by another Old Boy James Porter.
Mountain Biking
Tristan Haycock has spent time this year competing in North America. He placed 3rd in a Professional Mens Open category at the California State Championships and then was 13th in the elite men’s division in a 7 Day Stage Race in British Columbia which featured 600 riders from 38 different countries.
Hockey
Tauranga hosted National League Hockey as well as the provincial championship in September with Old Boys featuring in both tournaments. Former head Prefect Hamish McGeorge played for Auckland in the NHL while Denym Clarke represented the local Midlands side. Hamish has been part of the wider Black Sticks squad this year. Abir Mukherjee and David Limmer were members of the Tauranga representative team in the provincial tournament.
Marathon
A regular sight around the streets of Tauranga through the years has been the McDonald twins out training. They competed in the Tauranga marathon again this year with Kyle placing 4th & Iain 5th.
Kayaking
Whitewater New Zealand has announced 2 time Olympian Mike Dawson as the Canoeist of the Year. Other notable results in the northern summer have been Callum Gilbert having the highest ever World Cup finish for a New Zealand male while Jack Egan was the first ever Kiwi male to make a world level C1 at the Juniors championships in Krakow.
Sailing
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke placed first in the 49er pre-Olympic test event in Japan earlier in the year taking a break from their busy schedule with Emirates Team New Zealand. They are looking to complete another Olympic campaign while still working to retain The Americas Cup.
That’s it for now – please pass on any news that others might like to hear about.
Kind Regards, Rob Leslie.
