Futsal is a thriving sport that has gone from strength to strength at HBHS. It is a game full of opportunities to get involved as a player, coach, or referee. We started Term 1 with 28 teams entered into the Junior and Senior WaiBoP Futsal leagues. All of our teams represented the school with pride and managed good results in their respective divisions.

In the Junior competition, the Year 10 Premier team won Division 1 with the Year 10 Development team finishing 4th overall. In Division 4, the Year 10 White team came second and in the Division 5 competition, the Year 9 Maroon team came second.

In the Senior High League, the Senior Premier team won the Premier Division with the Senior Development team finishing fifth overall. The Senior Rookies took out Division 2 with Senior Grey ending up in second place.

In March, the Junior and Senior Premier teams travelled to Wellington to compete in the NZSS Championships. The Junior Premier team represented the school with pride. Unfortunately, in a tough semi-final, the team narrowly missed out on the finals with a 3-4 loss against St Peter’s College. In the 3rd and 4th play-offs, we faced a determined St Patrick's College (Wellington) team. The boys proved to be up to the challenge and demolished the opposition 9-1, gaining a bronze medal. The Senior Premier team had a good tournament, winning four of our six games and drawing two. Unfortunately, due to a penalty shoot-out loss, we missed out on a Top 8 position and finished 9th overall.

A number of our students were selected as part of the training squad to represent Waikato at the Youth National Championship to be held in Wellington during the December holidays. The final teams will be announced in the near future, and we wish these players all the best.

The futsal pathway at HBHS ensured that a number of our students were selected for the Men’s Premier teams to represent the Waikato Rapids and BOP Surge respectively. They featured in the New Zealand Ford Futsal Super League at the start of 2023.

For the Bay of Plenty Surge: Old Boys Dakota Brady, Meshach Humby, and Keenan Howard.

For the Waikato Rapids: Current students Isaac Bates, Connor Cloete, and George Dixon. Old Boys Maxwell Ericksen, Corbin Fell, Cooper Wink, Conor Jamieson, Caeden Rogers, Caeden Rogers, Casey Sharplin, Patrick Steele, and Logan Wallace.

We also have to congratulate old boys Partick Steele, Casey Sharplin and Logan Wisnewski who were selected for the Futsal Whites. Aotearoa New Zealand will be represented at the Men’s FIFA Futsal World Cup for the first time after the Futsal Whites beat Tahiti in the OFC Futsal Nations Cup final to qualify for the 2024 edition of the tournament, set to be played in Uzbekistan.

A special thanks to our Term 1 premier coaches, Max Ericksen and Patrick Steele, for their commitment to HBHS Futsal. These fine young men foster a love for the game and put in a huge amount of effort to ensure that our junior and senior Premier sides compete at the highest level.

I also thank all teachers, especially Mr Cloete as the Master in Charge of Futsal and Mr Snell as the Junior Premier Manager, all parent and student helpers, and managers for their time and effort.

Enthusiasm for the code in the school remains high, with 114 students from 16 teams getting back on the court in Term 4.

We have already started preparing for the 2024 New Zealand Secondary Schools Tournament where our Premier teams will represent HBHS.

This just in... congratulations to the following students and Old Boys who were selected for the Waikato Rapids Futsal teams competing at the Youth National Futsal tournament to be held in Wellington from the 14th to the 18th of December:

Under 15 boys: Asher Clark, Eben Smith, Tomas Blackhall, Yusef Nabizada, and Usman Kamran.

Under 17 boys: George Dixon, Josh Barrymore-Uden, Thomas Cave, and Torhan Kurnaz.

Under 19 boys: Connor Cloete, Caden Rogers (Year 13 in 2022), Conor Jamieson (Year 13 in 2022), Cooper Wink (Year 13 in 2022), Corbin Fell (Year 13 in 2022), Daniel Steffert (Year 13 in 2021), and Keenan Howard (Year 13 in 2022).