Squash 2022

Over the first weekend of August our school competed in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Squash Nationals. Held in Auckland at three North Shore Clubs, it brought together a field of 32 schools from across the country. We were seeded 4th in New Zealand, which gets based on individual player rankings to help determine our school's seeding overall. We had a team comprising mostly of Year 13 students who have come through the rankings / grades during their time here at school. They helped secure our highest seeding due to the strength and depth of the playing group. This year the teams playing order and roster comprised of: Connor Hill (Year 13), Cody Paul (Year 13), Mark Seager (Year 13), Austin Furniss (Year 13), Angus Henry (Year 12), and Kyro Stevens (Year 12). We played two games on Friday, winning 5-0 against Avondale College and Ruapehu College. On Saturday morning we had our big match against the 5th seeds, Tauranga Boys' College. We had previously played and lost to them in a traditional school exchange in the last week of Term 2, losing 4-2. The team were all motivated to play their best squash and were successful in winning the round 3-2. This is the first time in my memory of winning over Tauranga Boys' College, and the boys should feel proud of this win and how well they responded to the pressure they were under for the fixture. The win helped to ensure that we had secured our 4th seeding and that the final rounds were all about trying to improve on our position and possibly breaking into the top three schools in the country. Saturday afternoon's match was against Whangarei Boys' High School, who were the top seeds and eventual winners of the school Nationals in 2022. We went down 4-1 with some hard-fought battles against a superior side. Our final round on Sunday was against a very strong Marlborough Boys' College and initial 2nd seeds. Their top two players were both graded at A2 and were too strong for Connor and Cody despite their valiant efforts, with Mark also coming up against a higher-graded player who again proved too strong. It was the efforts of Austin and Angus with them both winning their matches that helped our overall win rate, however, Marlborough Boys' College won 3-2 overall and placed 3rd in the tournament, with us finishing 4th and holding our seeding for the event. I would like to congratulate our Captain of Squash and school Number 1 Connor Hill on his selection as the non-travelling reserve to the New Zealand Secondary School's Squash Representative Team. This team is set to travel to Australia in August to play against a range of State representative teams. The team played some outstanding squash over the weekend and I commend them on their efforts and the way they conducted themselves both on and off the court. Lastly, I would like to thank the families for their ongoing support with many of them travelling up to support their sons and our team over the tournament.