Teacher in Charge of Futsal, Mr Cyril Cloete, reports on a National-title-winning season.

Futsal - the five-a-side indoor variation of football, has experienced a staggering rise in participation.

During Term 1 of 2021, HBHS had 12 junior teams participate in the Waikato Futsal League. We also had a number of teams in the Waikato Senior High School league and our top 2 Premier teams competed in the Waikato Men's league.

All of our teams represented the school with pride and managed good results in their respective divisions. The Junior league consisted of 4 divisions with HBHS teams crowned Waikato Champions in 3 of the 4 divisions. Our Year 10 Premier team won Division 1, the Year 9 Development team took out Division 2 and our Junior Gold team came out on top in Division 4.

Our Senior Premier Black team managed an excellent result by being crowned champions of the Men's League.

The Year 10 Premier side had an exceptional season, not only winning the local competition but also being crowned champions of a Super 6 tournament held in Auckland earlier in the year. Their achievements did not stop there. The pinnacle of their season was them being crowned NZSS Junior Futsal Champions in Wellington in March. The team captain, Isaac Bates, was awarded MVP of the Tournament and Jack Phillips got the Golden Glove award for his superior goal keeping skills.

Our Senior Premier side also managed a commendable result at this tournament achieving third place (bronze) after narrowly losing to Tauranga Boys’ College in a nail biting semi-final and then going on to beat Scots College convincingly in the playoffs.

Even though COVID-19 has disrupted the year, enthusiasm for the code in the school remains high, with 87 students from 10 teams looking forward to getting back on the court as soon as physically possible in Term 4. There will also be the opportunity for many of our top players to play for the Waikato region, as the National Provincial competitions get back underway.

A special thanks to our dedicated premier coaches, Sam Masterson and Patrick Steele, for their continued commitment to HBHS Futsal. These two fine young men foster a love for the game and put in a huge amount of effort to assure that our Premier sides compete at the highest level.

I also have to thank all teachers, parents, student helpers, and managers for ensuring that futsal remains a successful and smooth running sport. A special thank you has to be extended to three of our Senior squad members, Keenan Howard, Cooper Wink and Connor Cloete for the time and effort they have dedicated to training our junior social teams.

Looking further ahead, the premier teams will be training hard in the lead up to 2022’s New Zealand Secondary Schools tournament where we intend to defend our National title and have our focus set on causing an upset in the Senior tournament.