With the Autumn term over in New Zealand winter has arrived with a vengeance with several storms bringing surface flooding to various parts of the country. Meanwhile in the SE of England we are experiencing the driest start to a year since 1929 & temperatures have been consistently in the high 20s.

Highlights of Term 2 at TBC have been...

* Cross Country - after their preseason tour to the AIS in Canberra these boys had been well primed for a great season & so it has proved. The Super 8 shield was won, at the BOP champs all 3 individual as well as 3 & 6 man titles were won by TBC and at the Waikatos all 3 grades of team competition were won also. Nationals at Waikanae saw our Year 9 boys win both the 3 & 6 man teams race with Scott Croasdale's bronze medal the individual highlight. This was the first time since 1999 that TBC had won a team title at Nationals. The Junior boys showed considerable improvement from last year to place 4th in the 6 man team while the Seniors fought hard for silver in the 6 man team led by Julian Oakley's 9th. This impressive base augers well for the future ........

* Kayaking - Top NZ School for the 13th consecutive year tells the story of the depth of this sport at the school. The depth of talent is amazing with TBC winning all 3 K1 age events at nationals and a host of individual medals. Many of the boys competed with success at the Open Canoe Slalom nationals where a number of strong age group paddlers from the other side of the Tasman were well beaten. on the strength of their performances Callum Gibb, Haven Bellamy and Carl Whitehead have all been competing in the World Junior Canoe Slalom Champs in France.

* Clay Target Shooting - The team this year is not as experienced as previously however they performed very well to take out the Super 8 title
for the 4th consecutive year. They have now achieved first place at the NISS competition with Scott Verran named as High Gun.

* Rugby - 263 students registered to play rugby this season so there remains considerable interest in the sport @ TBC. The 1st XV began very well with a wins against Auckland GS (12-11) & New Plymouth BHS (22-18)  but has since lost to BOP rivals Rotorua BHS (10-13). The 2nds have won their first 2 Super 8 matches against RBHS & NPBHS .

* Soccer/Hockey/Basketball - these winter sports have all been involved in local competitions with National tournaments at the end of next term.

* The terms interschool programme was completed with home fixtures against Westlake BHS. Results were as follows ..... 1st XV Win 22-17  2nd XV  Win 15-0  Football  Loss 0-2   Hockey  Draw  1-1  Basketball  Loss 67-84

* Sailing - Tom Saunders has just won the prestigious ISAF Laser Radial Youth Worlds held in Turkey.

* The following is a list of TBC students who have gained NZ representation in the year to date ........

• NZ Youth Laser Sailing   Tom Saunders
• NZ Optimist Sailing team Trent Rippey
• NZ Under 17 Cricket team  Sean Davey
• NZ Under 17 Touch team   Whakakauika Ririnui
• NZ Under 19 Beach Volleyball team  Sonny Hirini
• NZ Under 19 Beach Volleyball squad  Jeff Thwaites  George McAdam  Mitch Zandstra Jarrad Rona
• NZ Under 17 Beach Volleyball squad Matthew Kilpatrick Burton McAdam Zac Brown Joseph Winstanley Joel Draffin Nathan Rona Connor Bell Brad Fullerton
• NZ Under 17 Rugby squad Aaron Carroll
• NZ Under 19 Volleyball squad Fergus McCool Jeff Thwaites Steven Frewin Matt Sargent-Clarke
• NZSS Volleyball team  Sonny Hirini
• NZ Under 17 Volleyball squad Hiki Ngata  Justin Sargent-Clarke  Matthew Kilpatrick
• NZ Under 15 Waterpolo team Cameron Hayes Mungo Mason Mathew Hansen
• NZ Junior Cross Country team  Michael Sutton
• NZ Under 16 Inline Hockey team  Taylor Dines
• NZ Under21 Rowing team  Toby Cunliffe-Steel
• NZ Junior Rockclimbing team  Owain Fineron  Adam Steens  Jesse Offner
• NZ Junior Canoe Slalom team  Carl Whitehead Callum Gibb Haven Bellamy
• NZ Development Canoe Slaom team Jake Cumming Regan August Cole O'Connor Laurence Brown
• NZ Junior Freestyle Kayak team  Andre Sperling
• NZ Development Triathlon team  Hayden Moorhouse

Old Boys...

*Old Boy inventor Paul Beckett is celebrating the 10th birthday of his Blokart of which he has now sold almost 10,000 to 27 different countries around the globe. The nimble land yacht is raced in places as far away as South Africa, the Middle East, the USA & Europe.  Day to day running of the operation has been handed on to son Matt so that Paul can develop other products.

* Jared Savage, who has been working for the NZ Herald for a number of years, was awarded the Qantas Cup as Journalist of the Year at the 37th Qantas Media Awards last month.

* I have previously highlighted the success of Jeremy Redmore with his band Midnight Youth. I have heard a rumour that another Old Boy Michael Humphrey has recently won an award as the Director of the video for their single 'Cavalry' - it is well worth a look.

* Hot off the Press is news from Hawera that Austen Childs made his Davis Cup debut in the 3-2 victory over Pakistan. Austen has been competing well on the US College circuit & was picked from there to represent his country. He had been runner-up in the singles of the NCAA champs & accorded the honour of being only Loiusville's second All American. He did not play the first round of singles which were split & then NZ went down in the doubles. Rubin Statham won the first of the reverse doubles to make it 2-2 & then Childs was asked to complete the job in his first match at this level. He did so in style with an emphatic 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

* New Zealand's unbeaten performance at the Football World Cup was a fantastic effort and Old Boy Tony Lochhead was very much part of that great team result.

*Rugby season and there are a good number of Old Boys performing with distinction. Tanerau Latimer & Jarrad Hoeata were both members of the victorious Maori team that defeated England on their southern tour 35-28. The BOP Steamers squad for the 2010 season has been selected and again there is excellent TBC representation with Lance MacDonald, Ben Smith, Jason Hona, Josh Hall, Sam Kane, Tanerau Latimer & Luke Braid all in the team and Aidan Kuka in the training squad. Jarrad Hoeata will turn out for the Taranaki side again. Recent Old Boy Chase Douglas sang the national anthem prior to the Maori/England game.

* Kane Williamson, after being selected in the 13 for the last test against Australia earlier in the year, has been picked in the touring squad leaving for Sri Lanka  and so should make his debut shortly .... He has been training in Australia at times and will spend a short while acclimatising in Darwin before going on to Sri Lanka.

* Mahe Drysdale & the NZ rowing squad have just completed a successful Henley regatta where Mahe won the single sculls. From there it was the last World Cup meet of the season at Lucerne where he placed 3rd. He has been hampered in training with a minor injury which has affected results too but now there is an opportunity for some recuperation before the World Championships are held in New Zealand in November. Also competing at Henley was Justin Scholes. Better known as surf lifesaver at the Mount , Justin has been in the UK for 3 years and only rowed for 18 months. His Poplar, Blackwall & District coxed four made the second round.

* Mike Dawson and Johan Roozenburg have continued to impress on the Extreme Kayaking circuit. After winning at the Teva Mountain Games in Colorado they competed at the Extreme Outdoor Games in Italy where Dawson was first overall, Roozenberg placed second in the slalom & then they teamed up with a Rotorua paddler to defend their Extreme Kayak Teams world championship title against opposition from Slovenia & the Czech Republic.

*Andy Hayward & Steve Graham have both been in Nottingham with the NZ Hockey side who placed 3rd in the 4 Nations tournament which was lead up for the Champions Trophy in Germany later in the month. It is a busy time for the guys as the Commonwealth Games in India follow not too long after that.

*Peter Burling has just finished 9th at the European 49er sailing in Poland where 82 boats from 27 different countries were competing. His last World Cup event is at Weymouth from August 9th which is where the 2012 Olympics will be held.

*British-born Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard O¹Brien spent his youth in Tauranga & Hamilton and is now looking to retire to the BOP. Despite his brother Robin Smith & sister Gillian Page still living in Tauranga he is having to appeal to the Immigration Minister for citizenship which he did not apply for when living in NZ in the 60s.

It is obviously a busy time around the world from the length of this but really appreciate the efforts people make in keeping me informed of what our Old Boys are doing. There are bound to be numerous other things I don¹t know about so please pass on any news to me...

Rob Leslie