School News

Report by Glenn Mclean

It's not a bad record – one IRB sevens tournament, one win.

For young Taranaki halfback Kylem O'Donnell, it doesn't get much better after a surprise callup to the national sevens squad led to a cup-winning performance at South Africa's Port Elizabeth last weekend.

"I was in Dubai the week before the South African sevens playing in an invitational tournament and on my last night there the boys went out for a drink," O'Donnell said this week.

"In the morning I got a phone call from Titch (national coach Gordon Tietjens) saying he was calling me over to South Africa and I was like, oh what, really?"

With the New Zealand team already settled into camp on South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, O'Donnell was full of nervous anticipation as he boarded his plane at Dubai.

Getting to the point of being called up to the national squad came three years after he moved south following a successful stint at Hamilton Boys' High School, where he was a member of the first XV for three years, moving between halfback and wing.

The New Zealand song of the year is Love, Love, Love, the runaway hit by Avalanche City which tonight night won its writer, Dave Baxter the APRA Silver Scroll.

The high profile of Baxter's award-winning song - which had a second life as a TV2 promo - had made it stand out from a list of nominees dominated by left-field offerings, its best-known competition coming from Nothing to Lose, co-written by Shihad's Jon Toogood and Ladi6 from Toogood's The Adults solo project.

"It's a moment of pure pop genius, simple and instantly memorable," said APRA boss Anthony Healey of the winner.

"New Zealand has already fallen in love with the song and the rest of the world may soon know all about Dave Baxter and Love, Love, Love."
 

Black Sticks men's coach Shane McLeod said deciding on the final 16 with fellow selectors Grant Edwards and Peter Miskimmin, was made tougher by their victory in this month's Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

"It became a luxury problem with so many players performing at the top of their game in Malaysia.

"In the end it came down to getting the balance right in the midfield and the flexibility of players to slot into a number of positions. It's incredibly hard for those who missed out."

Canterbury midfielder Nick Haig and Midlands defender Richard Petherick both made the team despite not being selected for last year's Champions Trophy in Auckland.

Petherick’s personal profile on Hockey.NZ reads as follows:

Richard is the giant of the team making him a very solid defender and a strong drag flicker. He also has an excellent long pass and has worked hard over recent years to lift all aspects of his game to international level.

This story was written by Colin Thorsen and was published in the Te Awamutu Courier on Tuesday, June 12.

HBHS Old Boy and hurdler Phil Simms has eclipsed his personal best time by one and a half seconds to make the World Junior Athletic Championships in Barcelona, Spain from July 10 - 15.

The 18-year-old went under the qualifying standard time of 52.75, clocking 52.72 in his heat at the Senior Australian Nationals in Melbourne.

He then had an agonising wait to see if his time was ratified.  He received the good news only two days before the closing date for team selection.

Simms is the sole hurdler in the 12-strong New Zealand team due to fly out to Frankfurt, Germany on Sunday.

The team includes world champion shot putter Jacko Gill.

HBHS Old Boy and comedian Te Radar will return to Waikato to host this year's Kudos awards on September 27.

The Kudos, Hamilton's annual Science Excellence awards, will celebrate local scientific innovations and the contribution of scientists from around the Waikato region.

 Te Radar will host the black-tie awards dinner at the Southwell Auditorium.

Te Radar, who is also a documentary maker, is currently filming a second series of Global Radar in which he compares sustainability initiatives.

The last time I was in New Zealand I popped into the Staff Room at HBHS and was talking to some of the teachers about how I had applied for the New Zealand Top Achiever Doctoral Scholarship to do my PhD. Over three years later, I thought it would be nice to get back in touch and let you know how that's all been going, as Boys' High was where it all started.

In 2009 I started my PhD at the University of Edinburgh, much to the delight of Mr Sutherland and Ms Redpath. As you may have guessed it is in mechanical engineering and I have been designing a novel way to fasten tidal turbines to the seabed without drilling or making them really heavy. It has been a pretty tricky project, and all the metal work and graphics I did at school (as well as at the University of Auckland) have really come in handy.  I regularly machine and assemble my designs in the workshop facilities here, and have had the privilege of working along side Emeritus Professor Stephen Salter - the inventor of the first wave power machine. I also work as a tutor and Lab demonstrator in some of the engineering courses here.