Argyle House's Thomas Verry and George Unsworth were amongst six boys from HBHS who were able to help All Black legend Dan Carter get through his gruelling 24-hour charity Kickathon.

On Thursday 7th of April, Dan Carter, in partnership with UNICEF, set out on an epic task to raise funds to provide clean water for children in the Pacific. The goal was 1,598 successful kicks over the sticks at Eden Park. At 7pm on Friday night he achieved this goal and he had raised over $350,000 with donations still rolling in. Two of our very own in Head Prefect Thomas Verry and George Unsworth were lucky enough to be on the the park with him when he did it. Six HBHS rugby players and Service Committee members were the ball boys for the final four hour stretch. Their job was to catch the balls, get them back to the 22 and then set the balls up on the tee for the legend to do his thing. By the end of the night the boys were so efficient they were the rugby equivalent of a Formula 1 pit crew. But it wasn't all smooth sailing. There were plenty of nerves and all the boys had to overcome the effects of being star struck. The symptoms of which were dropping easy catches, not being able to talk, and, in George's case, walking in front of Dan just as he was about to line up a kick! After a few personal lessons on setting up the ball from the man himself, and a bit of expert coaching from Mr Katene and Mr Killian, the boys were operating like a well oiled machine.

It was great to see our boys be a part of this event and support this kaupapa. Donations can still be made to the DC10 fund at www.dancarter.com/kickathon.