Rob’s Blog - August 2021
With the third term well under way winter tournament week is now only a month away however there has still been a large range of different activities that our students and Old Boys have been involved with.
Old Boys Events
Annual General Meeting Monday August 23rd at 6 p.m.
Come along to the Staffroom at TBC to support your Association
Drinks and nibbles will be provided and there is a Zoom option for those that can't make it in person (although you will need to supply your own food and drink!).
The agenda is as follows:
Welcome to members (our mission & vision)
Matters arising from prior AGM
President's Report (what we have achieved in the last 12 months)
Principal's Report (how the school is doing)
Financial Report (causes we have supported)
Election of Officers and confirming the current OBA executive - we are looking for a couple of new committee members
General Business
Here’s the Zoom link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71418163215...
Annual Dinner
The date has been set for Friday, November 19th with the GYYT here at TBC the venue. Tickets will be limited to 200 so get alongside your mates now to start organising your table.
Our 1984 Head Prefect Erik Thomson is our Old Boy of the Year. Since completing a Drama/English Literature degree at Victoria University Erik then graduated from the NZ Drama School in 1990. Since that time he has had a string of successes on both sides of the Tasman in a wide range of shows including Hercules and Xena, Australian soap Pacific Drive, Packed to the Rafters, 800 Words and the recent BBC production of The Luminaries.
Guest Speaker is Jason Eves who has recently returned to Tauranga. Jason completed a Bachelor of Veterinary Science with Distinction and practiced in Australia, the UK as well as New Zealand. He worked for a decade in International Animal Welfare including at Saddam Hussein’s Baghdad Zoo after the fall of his regime almost 20 years ago. He has a fascinating tale to tell.
Old Boys Race Day
Almost 50 Old Boys gathered at the Tauranga Racecourse in late June to enjoy the hospitality and comradeship at the Kiwifruit Cup Day. From what I recall there was not much money won but everyone agreed it was a great day out with almost $500 raised to support the College. There will be repeat opportunities in the future so be sure to get yourselves organised.
Staff from the 1980’s gathered at the Race Day – L à R Rob Leslie, Gary Patterson, Graeme Moore, Andrew Ferguson, Guntas Atvars, Peter Cook & Andrew Brock.
TBC Academics
Significant numbers of our Year 13 students complete University papers and in recent results 28 students gained at least an A grade in Stage 1 papers from Victoria and Waikato Universities. Top performers included our academic captain Lucas Cowley who gained A+ in Calculus, Physics and Economics. Kyle Duck and Reece Talopau both gained A+ in Physics and Calculus while Jacob Yoon had A+ in Biology and Physics and an A in Calculus.
TBC Sport
Super 8 Football
Our most impressive performance over the last couple of months has come from the 1st XI Football side who emerged from this tournament as Super 8 champions. They dominated allcomers with victories against Hastings BHS (2-0), Gisborne BHS (18-1) and Hamilton BHS (5-0) in pool play. This led to a semi-final against Palmerston North BHS which was won comfortably 5-1 with the final against New Plymouth BHS almost as convincing with a 3-0 win.
Gymnastics
Year 13 student Shayne Buckeridge competed at the New Zealand Gymnastic Championships recently where he won the gold medal and also the Bo Gordine Trophy as National Champion at MAG Level 9. Shayne gained silver on the parallel bar and then bronze on the high bar, pommel and vault.
Squash
Our top squash player Joe Smythe has recently competed in the North Island Under 19 Squash Championships. Joe won the title and now leads our school team in the National Secondary Schools championships.
Clay Target Shooting
Our shooters, along with a number of other top North Island schools, headed to the South Island where our boys emerged as South Island Secondary School champions. Oli Norwood was our top performer as he won the Junior points score.
Futsal
Large numbers of our students recently competed in Bay of Plenty teams Under 14, Under 16 and Under 19 divisions. The Under 14 side won their competition while at Under 16 & Under 19 level both of these teams placed 3rd. In the Under 16 division Thomas Page won the golden boot scoring 16 goals in the teams 5 games.
Judo
The National Secondary Schools champs have been held recently and two of our students gained medals. Suho Jung gained the silver medal in the Boys Under 66 kg while Binew Illangamudalige won bronze in the Under 60 kg division.
Motocross
There were 68 secondary schools that contested the last round of the Makz Gears Secondary Schools series. Our team placed third overall with the top performer being Connor Hart who was top performer in the 15-16 year old 125 cc. class.
Basketball
Our Head Prefect Corban Laban-Palmer has gained one of the forty places available for the country’s top athlete prospects at the Steve Adams Invitational. Brayden Iuli, who has been playing for the Franklin Bulls in the NBL, was also included.
Our lads completed their Super 8 tournament last week and came away victorious and now look forward to facing the best in the country at Nationals.
Hockey
The first round of hockey in the local competitions saw TBC sides dominate. In the 1st XI competition the two TBC sides contested the final. In the Championship division the Colts team were well beaten by the Orange (Under 15) side in the final with the TBC White team also making the semi-finals. In the 6 a side grade the TBC Seniors dominated the competition throughout.
In the Super 8 the 1st XI won 5 of their 6 matches but placed 5th !! A blowout first up loss to Napier BHS saw them lose out on the semis by countback. This was a close competition as TBC beat eventual winners New Plymouth BHS 3-2 in their pool game.
Rugby
The Super 8 competition is well advanced with our XV having mixed results to date. Pick of their results was a great 13-12 win over Hamilton BHS which means TBC has ‘The Boot” trophy (one that belonged to rugby legend D B Clarke) for the first time since 2009.
TBC Arts
Jesus Christ Superstar
The TBC/TGC show played to full houses across almost 2 weeks of performances at the Graham Young Youth Theatre at the end of June. The experiences that these productions bring to our students continue to provide excellent pathways into a range of aspects of the Arts.
Kapa Haka
The TBC/TGC Te Tauranga o Nga Waka Kapa Haka group performed strongly at the regional competitions held recently in Tauranga. Awards for the group as a whole included Te Kirikau Blake awarded best Male Leader and then seconds for Moteatea and Haka and third in the Waiata-tira – choral.
Music
Year 10 student Pilgyu Chang won the Concerto competition at the 2021 Tauranga Performing Arts Competition. He won a $1000 scholarship in a competition for Under 21s.
Old Boys Sport
Cricket
World Test Champions … Probably the most significant victory in NZ Cricket history at the end of June with Kane Williamson leading the Kiwi underdogs to victory in the one off test final against India. NZ won the 2 match series against England in a warm up but were considered less likely than their star studded opposition but ended up claiming the mace in an enthralling contest.
Contracts for the 2021/22 season have been signed with several Old Boys employed. Kane has his New Zealand contract while Brett Hampton, Bharat Popli and Joe Carter have contracts with Northern Districts. Sean Davey moved south some time ago to improve his chances of first class play and is contracted to Canterbury for the season.
Rugby
The BOP Steamers squad for the 2021 season has been selected and includes a range of Old Boys. All Blacks Sam Cane and Nathan Harris are in the mix with Jeff Thwaites, Aidan Ross and Leroy Carter in the squad. The wider training squad includes three players from last year’s 1st XV in Josh Bartlett, Lucas Cashmore and Veveni Lasaqa. Former All Black Tanerau Latimer has been added to the mix as Assistant Coach while Wayne Brill is Manager for the group.
Basketball
The National Basketball League has recently concluded, and this season saw a good contingent of players with TBC connections involved. Old Boys Sam Smith captained the Canterbury Rams, Ashton McQueen played for the Manawatu Jets while the Franklin Bulls saw Zach Easthope, Adam Dunstan and current student Braydon Iuli all suit up for the season.
Olympic Games
After a record number of seven Olympians at the London Olympic Games TBC still has strong representation in Tokyo. The rowing squad needed a new single sculler after Old Boy double gold medallist Mahe Drysdale retired and he was replaced by another TBC product in Jordan Parry. Mike Dawson has waved the canoe slalom flag in the last 2 Olympics and again was replaced by another Old Boy in Callum Gilbert. Sailing has been where most of our representatives have come from and in 2021 we had Peter Burling along with Blair Tuke in the 49er winning a silver medal this time while Sam Meech placed 10th in the Laser.
Weightlifting
Xavier Albert has produced a personal best 165 kg lift at the North Island Weightlifting Championships to take the Gold Medal and will now head to the New Zealand Championships in October.
Big Game Fishing
Jarryd Craven has set a record that will be hard to beat at the Tauranga Yacht and Powerboat Club landing the biggest black marlin seen in 60 years with a 434.5 kg. monster. This took more than 2 hours to land and it was a very late night getting into the weigh station.
Sailing
Peter Burling’s Olympic campaign has left a vacancy in the SailGP series which has meant another TBC Old Boy in Jason Saunders has been able to step up into this competition.
Cricketing Old Boys
Current 1st XI Coach and Old Boy Tim Clarke is leading an initiative to complete Honours Boards at TBC recognising those 1st XI players who have scored centuries or completed 6 wicket bags in either the local Premier competition or interschool fixtures. Some of our records are incomplete so if you have details of any such feats it would be appreciated if you could please pass them on to me.
Old Boys Academic
Our 2013 Head Prefect Mungo Mason has pursued a professional rugby career with the San Diego Legion in the Major League Rugby and Scotland Sevens team after completing a degree in Law and International Management from Waikato University. In September he will be one of 26 students from 17 different countries beginning a Masters in Sustainability, Enterprise and Environment at Oxford University. The course is a world first and aims to create international leaders and change-agents in the areas of climate change, economic development and limiting inequality. This is a very expensive course (42,000 pounds) and if any of you know means by which Mungo may be able to gain some assistance financially please let me know …..
Old Boys Mixture
Music
Former Midnight Youth front man Jeremy Redmore has been touring the country on his The Brightest Flame tour which featured music from his new solo album.
Politics
Former National Party leader and Member of Parliament for Bay of Plenty Todd Muller has announced that he will retire from politics at the next election citing health reasons.
Embassy Staff
I had the pleasure of showing another former Head Prefect Greg Lewis (1991-95) around the school recently as he visited family back in Tauranga. Greg has been the New Zealand Ambassador to Egypt since January, 2019 having previously served as the Deputy Ambassador from 2009 to 2011.
Literature
Last newsletter I highlighted Jared Savage’s new book Gangland which was published last year. The controversial nature of the topic meant that initially the publication was banned from our prisons – a ban which has now been lifted.
Acting
Connor Johnston is one of New Zealand’s emerging acting stars. He has already scored a movie role alongside BAFTA award winning & Oscar nominated Tim Roth. Connor has just wrapped filming two television series and is set to star in a NZ on Air funded web series shooting this month.
That’s it for now so please get your group together for the Dinner November, 19th ….
If you have news that you think may be of interest to your fellow Old Boys please get in touch with us.
