We have decided to hold this year's T20 cricket back at TBC as a result of clashes with other events at Matapihi. The date is Sunday, January 28^th with our usual T20 format and 10.30 a.m. start. BBQ lunch will be provided. The selection of this date is so that out of towners will be able to include the BlackCaps/Pakistan T20 in their visit. This game begins at 7 p.m. at the superb Bay Oval, which has just had the best lights in Australasia installed. It should be a great weekend.

 

 

TBC farewelled 16 staff at the end of the year with several of those leaving having given the school considerable length of service. Amongst those departing were Doug Baker, Old Boy Aramahou Ririnui, Phil Braithwaite, Graeme Newlands and Old Boy Barry Parkinson.

 

Tauranga has 4 new Principals at the start of 2018 with Otumoetai, Aquinas, Mount & TGC all making appointments in recent weeks. Two have significant TBC connections with former staff member Russell Gordon moving from being Principal at the Mount to Otumoetai College, while former TBC student and present Deputy at the Mount Alastair Sinton moves up to become the new Principal.

 

 

TBC has had a team involved in this activity for the first time in 2017 and they took on 78 other teams from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, China and New Zealand at the Asia-Pacific Robotics Championships. The team of Braden Smith, Cesar Vargas-Tuerlings, William Bruning and Joshua Badshah placed 20^thoverall and got the Judges award for sportsmanship, attitude and team spirit.

 

Junior students have recently had their results from maths competitions that they had completed.

In the Australian Mathematics Competition Logan Green, Ryan Hastie, Donghyun Lee, Cohen Radich and Jacob Yoon gained Distinction or better.

In the Otago University Maths Competition Benjamin Adams, Lucas Cowley, Kyle Duck, Donghyun Lee, Soobin Yang and Jacob Yoon were all placed in the top 100 competitors.

 

 

The 1^st XI competed in the 1^st XI Cup (formerly the Gillette Cup) for the first time since 2011 by being Northern Districts Champions. The tournament was held back at Palmerston North because Lincoln is hosting many of the Under 19 CWC matches. TBC began with wins against Palmerston North BHS (by 2 wickets) and Otago BHS (by 24 runs).  It was then losses against Rosmini College and Christchurch BHS who tied their match, before finishing with a win against Hutt International Boys School to come 3^rd. With eight of the team returning in 2018 we hope that we can go even better then. Most team members made good contributions through the week but leg spinner Iman Singh was the stand outas he was 3^rd= on the wicket taking table with 10 and 9^th on the runs table scoring 139 runs through the week.

 

Our side contested the NZSS tournament and performed strongly, finally placing 3^rd. Leroy Carter was selected in the tournament team for the second year in a row and was also named as MVP of the tournament.

 

TBC competed in the NZSS tournament again this month and gained 2^nd place in the Plate Finals. Chas Roberts was named in the tournament team.

 

The last few days of term were busy for our Junior Water Polo team, with the side placing second to St Kentigern College at the Challenger Cup before the boys contested Division 1 of the North Island Championships. TBC defeated Kristin, Aquinas, St Patricks and St Peters before coming up against Sacred Heart College in the semi final. A 6-4 victory saw TBC up against Rangitoto College in the final where a 8-3 win meant we were North Island champions. Jack Preston and Theo Bos were both named in the Tournament team while Theo was also Tournament MVP.

 

A 14 strong TBC team competed at the NZSS Championships, returning with 3 medals. Taylor Smith gained a bronze medal in running the Junior Boys 800m in just under 2 minutes. Our Senior Boys Road Race team won bronze in the 3 man event and silver in the 6 man event.

 

Matthew Lochhead and Fergus Hamilton have both competed in a range of different events in the last 6 months. In the Coromandel K50 Matt placed second and Fergus third and both were members of the Tauranga team that placed second in the Dynamo Series. Both boys have been named in the New Zealand Cycling Development Squad.

 

TBC are national champions in the teams point score after our A team beat 41 other schools to take the title. The B team placed 25^th.

Shooters Matthew Clark and Shaun Gwillim contested the NZCTA Skeet Nationals with excellent results. Matthew was 1^st Junior in the .410 gauge skeetwhile in the 20 gauge skeet he was also 1^st Junior and 1^st A Grade shooter, while Shaun was 3^rd in the B grade.

In the NZ Skeet Handicap Championships Shaun was 1^st Junior and 2^nd in New Zealand overall while Matthew was 6^th in New Zealand out of 110 shooters from New Zealand and overseas.

 

Kane Williamson has just led the BlackCaps to a 2-0 test series sweep against the West Indies here in New Zealand.

Daniel Flynn and Brett Hampton are both in the Northern Districts T20 side which has begun this year’s competition.

Bharat Popli, not required for Northern District’s T20 matches, played for New Zealand A in a warm up one day game against the West Indies helping century maker Jeet Raval win the game by scoring 62 runs.

Old Boy Chris Brown will be officiating at a number of Internationals through our Summer of Cricket. Chris attended TBC in his first 2 years of high school before leaving to go to Auckland, where he played 19 1^st class matches in the 1990s. Chris last played for Auckland in 1997-8 but then in the 2000s captained the Cook Islands (the land of his birth) in a range of different competitions.

 

 

 

Jarrad Hoeata has been training with an injury-hit Crusaders team in preparation for the new Super Rugby season. Jarrad played for North Harbour in the Provincial Championship but the three test All Black has previously played for the Cardiff Blues, Chiefs, Highlanders and the New Zealand Maori.

 

Haven Bellamy of the Omanu Surf Club has recently completed the highest level of training as a lifeguard – the Advanced Lifeguard award – and was recognised as the top candidate in the group.

 

Former 1xt XI player Aaron McNabb has just returned from Fiji where he was a member of the New Zealand Presidents XI competing in the Oceania Challenge Cup. His side was beaten 7-2 in the final by Japan Under 21, having completed a golden goal semi-final victory over Australia Country.

 

Several Tauranga sailors have just completed competition in the Sail Sydney Regatta. In the Laser class Sam Meech just pipped Tom Saunders for the gold medal, while in the 49er division our Trent Rippey teamed up with Joel Porebski to claim the silver medal.

Julian Oakley has been on an athletics scholarship to the US since he left school. In perhaps his best performance since then he has just run the second fastest 3000 metres by a New Zealander indoors (7 minutes 44.34 seconds) at the Boston University Mini Meet. This was an attempt to achieve the world indoor qualifying time of 7:52, which Julian smashed!

Jeremy Redmore has done a solo gig back in Tauranga recently after quite a break. A football induced injury had meant he had been unable to play his guitar for some time but the former Midnight Youth front man is back writing again.

 

Eryn Wilson is in the post production phase of a short film that he wrote and directed. Midnight til 8 was supported by the New Zealand Film Commission, so look out for its release in the New Year.