Today in our full school assembly we acknowledged excellence across a number of sporting codes, at a variety of levels: local, provincial, national and International, as detailed further on in this newsletter.  An outstanding level of success across a range of sporting disciplines.

Included in this recognition was our rugby 1st XV team who play in the final of the Chief's region Secondary School competition against Hamilton Boys' High School 1st XV at Hamilton Boys, kicking off at 12 noon tomorrow.  In order to achieve this and qualify for the final top 8 in the country, our 1st XV played Rotorua Boys' High School drawing 23-all in a very exciting game and as the team who scored the first try moved through as winner of the Bay of Plenty Schools 1st XV competition to play New Plymouth Boys' High School who won the Taranaki Schools title.  Last Saturday the team beat New Plymouth Boys' High School 15-9 scoring 3 well executed tries, to move through to the next round of the top 8 schools.  The winner of Saturdays game will progress through to the Top 4 competition to be held at Palmerston North Boys' High School, Friday 6th - Sunday 8th September.

We then recognised all the sportsmen who will represent the college over the next week at Winter Tournament.  As you will see from the list below we will have approximately 200 of our boys spread around the country representing the college across 10 different sporting codes.  This level of representation shows the considerable opportunities our boys have across a vast number of different sports, which I doubt is replicated in many schools in NZ.  I know the boys would appreciate any support they can receive both locally and in the provinces if you can get along to watch them or be in Hamilton at 12 noon tomorrow to support the 1st XV.  My thanks to all the teachers, coaches, managers, parents and other supporters who have made these opportunities available to our boys.  At Tauranga Boys' College we are extremely fortunate to have a large number of teachers who are willing to give of their time to provide opportunities to sport and the arts outside the classroom.  They recognise the value of giving opportunities to our boys to participate and compete, and the importance of the special relationship that can be created between teacher and student through co-curricular involvement, along with increased engagement and connection to the college.

An area of concern for parents will be the Measles outbreak, especially in Auckland.  The following is a link for your information on Measles and Winter Tournament Week with advice from the NZ Secondary School Sports Council http://www.nzsssc.co.nz/newsarticle/81434?enewsid=17925

This has been shared with all our teachers taking boys away to tournament.  If you have any concerns in this regard please contact your local District Health Board or Public Health Unit.  If you son is exhibiting symptoms please notify your sons coach.

Best wishes to all our boys involved in competition over the next week and my thanks to all involved for making these opportunities possible. 

TBC Rugby 1st XV game against New Plymouth Boys' High School

Congratulations to Zac Howe, Thomas Holdom and Aidan Heath who, along with their team mates, became World Champions after beating Great Britain 8 - 2 in the final.  The team played outstandingly going through the tournament unbeaten.

Taylor Harris participated in the Junior K1M Individual Run with an overall placing of 57th.
Oliver Puchner placed 24th overall in the Junior C1M Individual Run and 35th overall in the K1M Individual Run.  Taylor and Oliver were also members of the NZ Junior U18 team.

Oliver Puchner also participated in the European Canoe Association Open Junior Slalom Cups held in Poland, Italy, Solvenia and Germany.  His overall ECA results were 1st in the C1M U18 and 11th in the K1M U18.

TBC Senior Gold beat Mount College 105-82 to win the Senior A Competition (Jack McManaway and Jeremy McIntosh named in tournament team).

TBC Senior Blue beat Te Kura Kaupapa 100-92 in a double overtime game to come 3rd in the Senior A Competition.

TBC Junior Blue beat TBC Junior White (109-84) in the final of the Junior A Competition to make it 1st and 2nd for TBC (Jayden Ngatai and Moihi Gardiner in tournament team)  

1st XI Football team captained by Scott Hawkins beat Taupo 4-1 with goals from Max Came, Alfie Cole, Scott Hawkins and Vinnie Phirun.  This win has moved the team up to 8th place.
1st XI Football team beat Te Puke Men 2-0. Goal to Campbell Browne + an own goal.
2nd XI Football team captained by Cameron Shennan recently drew with Rotorua Boys' 1st XI.  They have now finished the season in second place in the top section of the local 1st XI competition.
Junior B Football team captained by Finn Woodhouse drew 2-2 with Aquinas College 1st XI. Goals to Finn Woodhouse + Ashton Horne. They finish 4th in the the local U19 third division.
Junior C Football team captained by Zavier Osmond beat Otumoetai College Girls' 1st XI 6-0. Goals to Sean McDonagh (3), Finn Keen and two own goals.
Junior D Football team captained by Jackson Gilbert beat Aquinas College Junior A by 5 goals to 1. Scorers: Elias Cresswell, Aidan Green, Thomas Hulbert (2) & Ethan Vassilatos.

The BOP Champions U14 White team defeated Rotorua Boys' High School Red team in the Baywide final, 34-25.

Photo: Lehauli Uata winning lineout ball, lifted high by James Langilangi

The college Colts hockey team won the Division 2 Boys title on Tuesday night with a close 1-0 win over Bethlehem College 2nd XI.  The team lost just the one match in a 14 game season scoring 53 goals and 7 against.  For several of the team this was their last match of schoolboy hockey so a fitting end to their career at the college.

In the playoff for 3rd, the college Gold and Blue teams waged a titanic battle that ended in a 1-all draw so the place was shared for these 2 teams which have both improved significantly as the year has gone on. 

Photo Below:

Back Row - Sam Ashton, Karaitiana Campbell, Thomas Bolus, Matt Belton, Fynn Turner.
Middle Row - Rob Leslie (Coach), Dominique Gordon, Tim Yang.
Front Row - Connor Christoffersen (Captain), Callum Reilly, Koro-Boy Atutahi, Cade Farrant, Oscar Bartley, Mike Bartley (Manager).
Absent: Hudson Butler, Ethan Greer, David Topp.  

Congratulations to our students who competed against high schools from the Bay of Plenty and Waikato in the 19th Regional Chinese Speech Competition held at Toi Ohomai in Rotorua on 23rd August.  Our boys performed admirably with Woolim (William) Joo taking out second place in the Year 12 / 13 category. 

Damon Ririnui kindly had his Koro donate a ride on mower to Mr Smith's STP class.  The lads have been beavering away to return it to its former glory with the intention of entering it in the Omokoroa No. 1 School's Ride On Lawnmower competition in November.  It has been a great opportunity for the boys to use each other's strengths, knowledge and skills to work in a group to achieve a common goal.

The performance group were centre stage at the welcome to the Ministry of Pacific's People this week.  Pacific Rise continues to operate every Monday morning at 6am and this will continue until the end of this term.
 

A wananga for Senior Pasifika students will be held on Wednesday 4th September, 1.30pm - 7.30pm.  Dinner will be available.  This will be supported by the Pasifika Tutors and will provide the boys with the opportunity to finish assessments and prepare for the forth-coming school based exams in Week 9.