Rob’s Blog - May 2021
As always a great deal going on around the place for my latest offering …..
Outstanding Academic Achievement
The school has boasted sporting successes on a regular basis but perhaps for the very first time a New Zealand school will have 3 undergraduate students attending Cambridge University in 2022 ……
Last year Quaid Forbes was awarded the prestigious Sir Douglas Meyer scholarship which is worth some $210,000 over 3 years to complete an undergraduate degree at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in England. Last year’s Head Prefect Logan Green has just been announced as the recipient for 2021 so he has interrupted his University study here to prepare for his start at Cambridge in September. This is the first time this one only award has gone to pupils from the same school in consecutive years.
In addition to this 2020 Dux Benjamin Adams has been awarded the Girdler Scholarship which is valued at almost $200,000 and will pay tuition and living costs for Corpus Christi College at Cambridge. The 57th award since 1933 Benjamin will study a Masters in engineering specialising in energy sustainability. Benjamin will follow in the footsteps of his grandfather Bryan Gould who gained a Rhodes scholarship and studied at Oxford after completing his high school at Tauranga College.
Leadership
Head Student of Aronui Johnlees Faulkner has been awarded the Laurie Loper Award which recognises a man who was a visionary educator. Johnlees has shown leadership in Aronui with a focus on te reo, mana and standing in te ao Maori.
OLD BOY EVENTS
New Zealand Kiwifruit Cup Day
Your Old Boys Committee has a venue booked for a group of up to 120 Old Boys and supporters of the College at this major event on the Tauranga Racing Calendar which is Saturday, June 26th..
Get a group of mates together and come along to join the fun.
There is considerable interest in what should be a great day out so get your tickets here before they sell out. Ticket includes race day entry, race book, a couple of drinks and food. Cash bar and dedicated tote available for guests.
https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/.../tbc-old-boys-association
TBC Production
TBC Is hosting the annual TBC/TGC Production next month – Jesus Christ Superstar. There will be a small number of tickets available for an Old Boys group to attend this event on Friday, June 25th.
Drinks and nibbles will be provided in the staffroom beforehand. If you would like to come along please contact me on r.leslie@tbc.school.nz Cost is yet to be confirmed but will probably be about $25.
Auckland Old Boys event
Our annual Old Boys event in Auckland was cancelled last year due to Covid 19 however we will be back next month in association with our annual interschool fixture against Westlake BHS.
Regular venue The Bluestone Room in Durham Lane has been closed but we look forward to hosting you at a venue to be confirmed. with the first drink and finger food provided by your Old Boys Committee. Put the evening of June 1st in your diary and we look forward to seeing you there from 5.30 p.m.
Annual Dinner
A date has been set for this year’s dinner which is later than we have previously had.
This year’s dinner will be on Friday, November 19th with 1984 Head Prefect Erik Thomson confirmed as 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. Erik won the Best Actor Logie in 2016.
More details will follow later but put the date in your diary now !!
TBC Sport
White water Kayaking
TBC maintained its standing as the top school in New Zealand at the NZSS championships. TBC paddlers were judged best in their age group in each of the 3 levels – Ben Pilbrow (Under 18), Vincent Bloor (Under 16) & Kadin Nogaj (Under 14). Special mention goes to Lukas Olson who came away from the competition with 8 medals from his competition.
Athletics
Our top athletes have competed in events at both Waikato/BOP and North Island levels at the end of last term.
Highlights at the Waikato/BOP champs were 1st placings to Regan Wilson in the Junior High Jump and Liam Knight in the Intermediate 400 metres while the Senior Relay (2nd) and Junior Relay (3rd) also gained medals.
At the North Island Championships Dylan Henderson took out both the 100 and 200 metres while George Wylie was 2nd in the Junior 3,000 metres.
Futsal
TBC entered 2 Senior and 2 Junior teams at the BOP championships. The Senior A team won the title by beating Rotorua BHS 1-0 in a close final while the Junior A team lost to Rotorua BHS on penalties after the teams had tied 1-1 in regulation time.
The Senior team headed to nationals hoping to perform well. They won all of their pool matches before coming up against previous winners and Wellington champions Rongotai College in the quarter final. In an encouraging performance TBC prevailed 3-0. This was followed up by a 3-2 win over Hamilton BHS in the semi-final which saw our lads against Wellington College in the final. It did not look good for TBC who were down 3-1 at halftime but the lads fought back to tie the scores up at 4-4 at fulltime. In the extra time required to determine the national champions TBC scored twice and thus emerged 6-4 victors – a great performance.
Powerboating
Corey Lowe placed 3rd in the New Zealand Powerboat Nationals in the Junior Driver of the Year.
Swimming
TBC had 10 competitors in the NZSS Open Swimming competition. In the 3 ½ kilometre category George Wylie was 3rd in the 12-13 year old age group and Kane McBrydie was also 3rd in the 14-15 year event. Liam Shanahan opted to swim the 1 kilometre event and placed 3rd in the 16-19 year age group.
At the New Zealand championships Kalani Bruce was 2nd in the 14-19 year men’s event.
Sevens Rugby
Our Junior Sevens team competed in the North Island championships last term The team performed well in beating Rotorua BHS in the semi-final but found the going too tough against Hamilton BHS in the final eventually going down 25-5
Touch Rugby
TBC sent teams to both the Senior and Junior competitions. Both teams performed well with the Senior side winning their competition against Rotorua BHS and the Juniors placing 4th.
Squash
TBC’s Joe Smythe performed strongly in New Zealand Junior Open squash competition just coming up short of victory with a 3-1 loss in the final.
Cricket
Our Junior cricketers had performed very well to make it to the NZCT finals which featured the top side from each of the six Major Associations. With captain Seb Heath off playing for the 1st XI the boys had a couple of close matches but were not able to score a victory in their 5 games.
The 1st XI had a mixed tournament in their quest to represent Northern Districts in the Gillette Cup finals with a totally dominant performance against local rivals offset by a loss to St Pauls Collegiate which meant TBC cricket will have to wait another year to capture the national title.
Underwater Hockey
Two of our Senior players in Ben Tortoiseshell and Carter Ormsby have been selected in the mid-Northern elite men’s side that will contest the elite regional competition.
Swimming
Our swimmers performed well in the BOP swim champs. TBC won the 14-15 year old and over 16 200 metre medley relay as well as the Under 13 and Over 16 200 metre freestyle relay. Individual stars were Gus Shivnan and Isaac Williams who each gained 3 1st placings.
At the national championships Gus gained silver medals in the in the 17-18 year old 400 metres and 800 metres freestyle events. In the Open men’s competition he placed 4th in the 800m., 5th in the 400 m. and 6th in the 1500 m. The 400 metres competition included 2 competitors who have qualified to compete at the Tokyo Olympics.
Gus has also been selected in the NZ National High Performance Squad for Surf Lifesaving.
Sailing
Our sailors placed second to Napier BHS in the Super 8 competition.
TBC Arts
Jazz Festival
The annual Easter Jazz festival in Tauranga has been a major competition for our musicians over a considerable period of time. For the first time in more than 50 years the Tauranga Boys and Tauranga Girls groups combined in two Big Bands making up 2 of the 44 groups competing. Big Band 1 gained the top Gold award while Big Band 2 gained Silver. TBC also had two Jazz combos with the #1 group gaining Gold and the #2 group gaining Silver. Individually Michael van Lieshout was awarded the Mayers Music Centre trophy for the most outstanding guitarist.
School Production
TBC staff are leading the way in producing our annual school production with Jesus Christ Superstar being the show in 2021.The show will play in the Graham Young Youth Theatre from June 24th to July 3rd.
Super 8 Arts Festival
This annual event takes place in Gisborne May 21st-22nd with a large number of TBC lads performing in events as diverse as debating, kapahaka, oratory, theatre sports, music groups, music solo and chess.
Old Boys Sport
Rugby
1st XV captain from 2009 Aaron Carroll has foregone the chance to further his Super rugby career with the Chiefs and the Blues to take up a 2 year contract in France with Division 2 team Carcassonne.
Cook Strait Crossing
Old Boy David Siedel is relief teaching at Omanu Primary School and Mount Intermediate but in the last 6 months he has spent a large number of hours out on the water paddling a surf board in preparation for an attempt to paddle Cook Strait. David left Cape Tarawhiti in the North Island on April 4th with a support crew and 10 hours 40 minutes later hauled himself ashore on Arapawa Island having completed this epic trip.
Cricket
With the Indian Premier League postponed Kane Williamson is now in the United Kingdom preparing for two tests against England and then the World Test Championship final against India next month. At the New Zealand Cricket Awards earlier in the month Kane was awarded the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for the 4th time in 6 years - the ultimate award in New Zealand cricket. Kane’s score of 251 versus the West Indies test series assured his award as Test Player of the Year and he also won the Redpath Cup for first class batting.
Sailing
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke completed their defence of the America’s Cup against Luna Rosa in Auckland in March. Since then these two headed out to Bermuda for the first round of the SailGP series which features a good number of the world’s top sailors sailing the 50 foot foiling catamarans used in the 2017 America’s Cup. The NZ team performed below expectations with no preparation however with 7 more regattas between now and the $1 million winner take all final in San Francisco next March there is plenty of scope to catch up.
There is also the matter of Burling and Tuke defending their 49er class gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Rowing
The single sculls seat at the Olympic Games has been Mahe Drysdale’s for a very long time but at the Tokyo Olympics there is to be a change of the guard with another TBC Old Boy taking the spot. Jordan Parry will be flying the NZ flag this year in what has been an event NZ has dominated in the last couple of decades.
Old Boy Arts
Publishing
Tangaroa Walker has become a published author with the release of his book Farm for Life : Mahi, Mana and Life on the Land. This is Tangaroa’s own story from tough beginnings in Tauranga to running a very successful 500 cow dairy farm in Southland.
Tim Gregec will have his first book of poetry published by Victoria University Press in August – All Tito’s Children. The work follows the story of Tim’s grand parents who escaped Yugoslavia as refugees from Tito’s Communist government in the 1950’s.
Film
Olympian Mike Dawson is bringing his award winning film that documents his kayaking journey down Africa’s 4th longest river – the Kwanza in Angola. It shows in Tauranga on May 28th – check out the trailer here … https://fb.watch/5xdfIpyFH8/
Television
The new TV series on TV 1 has featured recent Old Boys Jaamin Fuller and Daniel Shanahan in the story of a summer’s action at the Mount Maunganui Surf Club. Also regularly seen as part of the action is current Year 13 student Zac Smith.
That’s all for now but if you have news please pass it on to me on r.leslie@tbc.school.nz
