Rob’s Blog - August 2022
Not too long since my last email but it has been a busy time in the last 6 weeks and with many of our winter sports culminating in winter sports tournaments I thought I should get details out about that for you all.
Tournament Week – August 29th to September 3rd
The biggest week of the school sporting year comes up next week, with our students spread across the country competing in a range of sports. If you are able to get along and support them that would be fantastic.
· NZ Secondary Schools Indoor Bowls at Titahi Bay
· NZ Secondary Schools Junior Basketball in Rotorua
· NZ Secondary Schools Hockey top 16 Rankin Cup at North Harbour
· NZ Secondary Schools 2nd XI Hockey Galletly Cup in Belheim
· Rugby Under 15 Invitational tournament in Christchurch
· Rugby Under 14 Colquhuon tournament in Palmerston North
· NZ Secondary Schools Premier Football tournament in Napier
· NZ Secondary Schools 2nd XI Football tournament in New Plymouth
· Invitational Junior Hillsdene Football tournament in Tauranga
· NZ Secondary Schools Rugby League tournament in Rotorua
· NZ Secondary Schools Badminton championships in Porirua
· NZ Secondary Schools Underwater Hockey in Wellington
· NZ Secondary Schools Climbing at Rocktopia, Mount Maunganui
Old Boys News
TBC Old Boys’ Association AGM
A well-attended AGM was held this week with founding member and long term and former Treasurer Alan Neilson recognised as a Life Member. Ben Rickard was retained as our President and Lachlan Philp confirmed as our new Vice President. It was also great to see several new committee members volunteering to serve the Association. These were:
· former All Black Stu Conn
· Charles Williams
· Julian Thompson
· Ken Evans
· Wayne Blackmore
They join the existing committee:
· Ben Rickard (President)
· Lachlan Philp (Vice President)
· Caleb Standen (Secretary)
· Morgan Lloyd (Treasurer)
· Andrew Turner (School Principal)
· Rob Leslie (Staff Liaison)
· Rawiri Walker
· Wayne Brill
· Kerry Ross
· Alan Neilson
· John Bowden
Ross Haycock stepped down this year.
You can find the meeting agenda, and reports from the President, Principal and Treasurer here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ID4KN3Xgo4797V9yKQYBB4NFIonjAxcN?usp=sharing
2022 Race Day - 25th September
After the success of last year’s event we’re putting on another Race Day at the Tauranga Race Course. Join us at 12pm on Sunday 25th September. The ticket price includes two free drinks, food and we’ll have our own tote. $10 from every ticket goes back to the Association to support our aims. Talk to your mates and buy your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/tbc-old-boys-association-2022-race-day-tickets-380938195397. Partners welcome.
Auckland Old Boys’ Event
This will be held at the Fox on Customs Street from 5.30 p.m. on Thursday, September 1st. New Principal Andrew Turner is keen to meet as many Old Boys as he can so get along for a free drink and some finger food as well as catching up with a wide range of Old Boys.
Obituary
I have just been made aware of the passing of an Old Boy who was a leading European scientist. Mark Warner was the son of Gunther, who taught languages at the school in the 1960s. Mark was in 3A in 1965 and Junior Swim champ before heading to Auckland where his father taught at Auckland Grammar. Mark went on to be Dux at AGS. He went to England and gained his first degree at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1974. He became a pioneering physicist, one of the founders of the field of liquid crystalline solids, among other things opening up new technology for creating artificial muscles. He won the Humboldt Prize in 2000, and the Euro-physics prize in 2003 before recognition as a Member of the Royal Society in 2012.
TBC Academics
A large number of our students study University papers and results have recently been published. Seventeen different students gained A grades across a range of 7 different subjects with top performers as follows:
· Benjamin Goodfellow had A+ grades in Economics, Engineering and Ecology
· Luke McConnell had A+ grades in Engineering, Economics and Statistics
· Jayden Litolff had A+ grades in Engineering and Computer Science
· Jacques van Rinsvelt had A+ grades in Philosophy and Economics
TBC Arts
Music
Congratulations to Benjamin Louie who has won the Hazel Muir Cup for 2021. He gained distinction and the highest marks for Grade 7-8 in the BOP for his Trinity examinations. It is the third year in a row he has won the cup.
The TBC Big Band gained gold at the Jazz Festival and will now head to the Webo Music Festival and final 2022 Jazz band competition in Wellington in late September.
Year 13 student Yusuke Takahashi has been learning the double bass for 6 years. He has been selected to perform in the Bay of Plenty Symphonia’s Rising Stars concert where he will play Capuzzi’s concerto for double bass. Yusuke also plays the French horn and timpani.
Young Enterprise
Year 10 students Harry Perry and Lucas Dura have presented to the Bay of Plenty public transport regional committee. They have developed an app, which assists in recognising unrealistic bus schedules and also areas underserved by services. The app will assist in producing less bottlenecks and greater usage of public transport.
TBC Sport
Rugby
An amazing atmosphere on Nicholson Field this week as the 1st XV played their first match in the quest to reach the top 4, which also featured as a Moascar Cup challenge against old foes Rotorua BHS. TBC last held the Cup in 1995 which is the Ranfurly Shield of secondary school rugby. TBC were behind early but by halftime had fought back to lead by 10-6. The second spell saw TBC extend their lead and eventually win 22-11 – 3 tries to 1 in a committed, skillful performance.
Unfortunately, Hamilton Boys’ HS took it off TBC the following weekend, with a last minute penalty to win 20-17.
Hockey
The 1st XI headed to Palmerston North for the Super 8 competition where, despite only losing once, they placed 5th again. The pool TBC were in featured both finalists in champions New Plymouth and Palmerston North BHS who we drew 2-2 with. The team is playing well and is looking forward to a little more luck at Rankin Cup at North Harbour.
Squash
TBC were defending national champions but a number of that team had left school and in 2022 a younger group performed well to place 5th. Number 1 player Matt Ward was selected in the NZSS team which will travel to Australia later in the year to play against New South Wales and Queensland.
Snow Sport
Our students have recently been competing in the Bay of Plenty Ski and Snowboard championships. Otto Blake-Palmer placed first in the Junior Snowboard championships while older brother Max placed second in the Senior Snowboard.
Badminton
Our badminton teams have just competed in the BOP championships. The Senior A team won gold in Division 1 with the Senior B team picking up the bronze medal. The Junior A team won gold in Division 2.
Swimming
A group of 10 boys headed to the NZSS swim champs recently, with Gus Shivnan the star performer winning silver in the 17-18 year old 400 metre freestyle race. All told the 10 boys set a total of 26 personal bests across a range of different distances and strokes.
Taekwondo
The recent North Island championships saw a number of our students successful. Zach Henry was first in the Black belt Under 73 kg division while Max Crozier was second in the same division. Tait Oyama was first in the Black belt in the Under 55 kg division. Another student Connor Minto was a referee at the event.
Clay Target Shooting
Our shooters have been busy in recent times placing 3rd at a Rotorua shoot where John Fowler was second best individual performer.
The team won the more recent Waikato competition and in doing so qualified for Nationals. In the North Island championships the boys were placed second in the teams competition and were second in the Super 8.
Karate
Sam Crawford has been performing strongly at the New Zealand championships. He won gold in the Secondary Schools Under 19 Kumite (fighting) competition and had special dispensation to compete in the Senior Men’s Open event where he won bronze. He also won gold in the Male Under 21 Kumite division and was then selected for the Commonwealth Champs in Birmingham next month and the 2022 NKF World Junior championships in Turkey.
Flag Football
Prefect Sam Penny has selected to trial for the New Zealand Makos team and has been accepted into the New Zealand Men’s flag football team of 6.
Old Boys Sport
Rugby
Former TBC Deputy Principal and Irish rugby coach Joe Schmidt has been given a more challenging role than just selection under the All Black coach Ian Foster. He will be the attack coach for the All Blacks as they head off to the Rugby World Cup in France next year. Two Old Boys in Sam Cane and Aidan Ross have been part of the All Blacks squad this winter.
English relief teacher Andrew Morton has helped coach junior rugby at TBC this winter while looking to advance his refereeing career. He has been selected on the New Zealand referee panel for the coming Farah Palmer Cup/ NPC/Heartland rugby competitions.
BOP rugby has named a significant number of Old Boys in their Under 19 side for the 2022 season. They include:
Jesse Rawiri, Brayden Dew, Curtis Palmer, Toby Taylor, Anaru Mulipola, Aoturoa Seeling, Grady Forbes, Josiah Lewis, Flynn Henderson, Kasey Anderson and Finlay Davenport.
Another Old Boy in James Porter is Skills coach.
Last update I mentioned James Doleman’s refereeing but mistakenly called him an Old Boy when in fact he had a spell at TBC as a Gap tutor.
Commonwealth Games
TBC had 2 Old Boys in the highly successful 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Brad Fuller paired with Otumoetai College’s Sam O’Dea in the Beach Volleyball and they went through Pool play unbeaten, including a good win over a highly ranked English pair. They were beaten in the quarter final by a pair from Rwanda and finally placed 5th out of 12.
Leroy Carter was a member of the Rugby 7s side and came back from England with a bronze medal. The All Black Sevens went through Pool play unbeaten and won their quarter final before losing in the semi. They then won the Bronze medal match to place 3rd from 16 teams.
Cricket
Tim Pringle has had quite the northern summer playing international cricket for his nation of birth, Holland. He was playing club cricket there and was selected to play both ODIs and T20 matches against England, Pakistan and New Zealand. This selection being for a Tier 2 nation does not preclude him from selection for New Zealand at some future date.
Joe Carter has been selected for the New Zealand A cricket team which leaves for India next week to take on India A.
Football
2021 1st XI captain and Sports captain Jordan Toy has played his football for Birkenhead this winter. He has now signed a professional contract for French club St. Pierre de Milizac who play in the National 3 Bretagne league – the 5th tier of French football.
Volleyball
2018 Head Prefect Jack McManaway continues his sporting interests while studying at Waikato University. He has been selected to compete in the FISU World University Games in Beach Volleyball in Brazil. He was also in the team which won the National Tertiary 3x3 basketball competition and thus qualified for the FISU World University Basketball championships in Istanbul.
Adventuring
Kayaking double Olympian Mike Dawson has been selected by the Antarctic Heritage Trust to join an international expedition, which will ski the 1,000 km to the South Pole this summer. The joint Norwegian/New Zealand expedition recognises the birth of the first man to reach the South Pole in Roald Amundsen 150 years ago.
Sailing
Peter Burling and his SailGP crew have found the going tough in early racing of this year’s series. Things finally came together at last week’s series in Denmark after the crew won the previous event. In Copenhagen the Kiwi boat won all 3 races in the preliminary rounds and also the final to become the first boat to make a complete clean sweep at an event. In the first two events of the year the Kiwis had failed to podium so this was a significant turnaround.
Indoor Bowls
Alex Reed skipped the pairs for two wins in a recent Indoor Bowls clash held between the North and South Islands. The North Island won the series.
Waka Ama
As outlined in the last newsletter Old Boy & staff member Mitch Zandstra was heading to the UK to contest the 2022 IVF Va’a World Sprint championships held on the Olympic rowing course in London. The event finished with Mitch part of 2 gold medal winning crews taking out both the V6 & V12 (6 & 12 Man) 500 metre races.
1988 Deputy Head Prefect Tony Greaney competed in the event too but for Great Britain.
Old Boys Apprentice
Recent Old Boy Vishal Toi Toi has just been recognised as Apprentice of the Year for the Bay of Plenty/Central Plateau region which recognises excellence amongst carpentry apprentices.
That’s it for now, so please pass along any news you might have for me at r.leslie@tbc.school.nz to include at a later date.
Best wishes,
Rob Leslie.
