School News

Tristian Houghton (Year 11) has recently been invited to participate in the Waterpolo NZ Schoolboys' Selection Trial. The first selection trial will be held July 27th - 29th 2012 in Auckland.  Those selected will progress though to the squad training on August 17th to 19th from which the team will be selected to play against Australia in December. There will be a further training camp for the team over the long weekend in October (19th - 22nd) with the team training December 13th - 17th prior to the series against Australia, December 17th & 18th 2012.

Waterpolo has developed a strong following at HBHS - we are currently winning the Waikato Regional Competition with HBHS A placed first and HBHS Junior placed second.  The finals are coming up at the end of May.    Water polo, or Water ball, is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper.  The winner of the game is the team that scores the most goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water (using a sort of kicking motion known as "eggbeater kick"), players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing the ball into a net defended by a goalie. 'Man-up' (or 'power play') situations occur frequently. Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of handball.

If you would like to become involved with waterpolo this year, see Mrs Missen for details.

The Waikato under 17 boys' softball team, comprised of a number of HBHS players, has won the top prize at the national competition in Paraparaumu. Top players Vinny Harris (Yr 12) and Khalid Gilbert (Yr 12) left before the final to ply to Guam with New Zealand's under-19s baseball team.  The boys faced Hawke's Bay in the final, a team they played and lost to twice during the week.  The game was tied up 2-2 at the bottom of the seventh inning until Waikato got their first batter on base.  Third batter up, Jackson Baird-Gillet (Yr 13), secured the win when he hit the walk off home run and the final score tipped 4-2 to the Waikato team.

The top batter of the competition was Jackson Baird-Gillet.  Team-mate Toa Tauranga (Yr 12) was the most valuable player, which team coach Vinny Harris was named coach of the tournament. 

Service to others is one of the cornerstones of HBHS, and yesterday the Middle School had a wonderful opportunity to honour and acknowledge the heroic service actions of two of their own, Max Wirihana-Tawake and Josh Davies, who received a Commendation from the New Zealand Fire Service for rescuing an elderly neighbour on 26 May this year from her smoke-filled home. On that day, the boys heard a smoke alarm go off in the house next door, and on seeing that the building was rapidly filling with smoke, the boys went in. They found their neighbour, Mary, in a distressed and disoriented state and they helped her to escape a situation that the Fire Service personnel said because of its severity, would probably have resulted in a fatality. The boys not only saved a life, but also saved the family and friends of Mary from the grief and anguish they would have had to suffer if Max and Josh had not intervened.  (Article cont)

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Current Year 13 student Joseph Webber has just been selected for the New Zealand Sevens team. He flies out on Monday to the Gold Coast, then to South Africa from Dubai, to contest the first three rounds of the Sevens circuit before the end of the year. Glen Robertson, an old boy of Hamilton Boys’ High School, has also been named in the team. This is a fantastic accolade for both these young men and we wish them and the New Zealand Sevens team all the best at the up-coming tournaments.

Current HBHS student Nic Woods and Old Boy Matthew Rees-Gibbs have been selected to play for the New Zealand Junior Hockey team at the Junior World Cup to be held in India from the 6th to the 15th of December this year.  Old Boy Zac Woods (brother of Nic) has also been named as a non-traveling reserve.  Congratulations to these athletes on this accomplishment and we look forward to following their progress at the end of the year.

HBHS was well represented indeed at the Mai FM National Touch Championships held at Papamoa from February 14 to 16 this year.  Dylan Brockett, Nikorai Paul, Ifor Jones, Thompson-Reed Karena and Wiremu Beattie are now back-to-back winners of the Under 15 Championship title, having played for Waikato last year as well.  They were joined this year by fellow HBHS players Raiki Willison (as captain), Tyler Riki-Pahewa, Tairoa Crean, Kees Anderson and Cameron Todd.  The team, coached by HBHS parent and long-time Touch supporter Mr Danny Beattie, were utterly dominant in the competition, winning every match they played by at least two points.  (Article cont)