Year 12 Taurian McConnochie had a very busy school holidays, with some great badminton achievements, starting with the Thames Valley Championship. Deciding to do both the Senior and U19 Competitions. Fantastic results coming away with three Thames Valley titles and two runner-up placings.

TV U19 Single Male Champ

TV U19 Mixed Doubles Champ

TV Senior Doubles Champ

TV Senior Singles Male Runner Up

TV Senior Plate Mixed Runner-Up

Taurian then entered in the Waikato B Championship which was a big step up competing against higher ranked players. He ended up winning the Plate Mixed Doubles with Emma Lowe and making the Plate Men’s Doubles semi-final with Ben Mullan.

On the weekend of 14/15 October he entered the North Island U19 Badminton Champs in Rotorua achieving great results as a 16 year old in this competition. Epic three setters and body on the line saw Taurian walk away with a 3rd place in Men’s Doubles and a top 6 finisher in singles. From this tournament he went straight to the Badminton Thames Valley Prize Giving where he was named Junior Player of the Year.

U14 Rugby Round-Up

The Katikati College Boys Youth Rugby team had a testing 2023 season. They came across strong competition in the Thames Valley College Division, and were met with wet and windy conditions. During the season the team represented Katikati College well, and never lost their team spirit. This season they also had two players that made the Thames Valley U14 representative team, Josh King and Broedy Pearce.

Katikati College Boys Rugby Youth also entered a team of 14 into the Thames Valley Rugby 7s Tournament. It was a one day event held in Paeroa in fantastic fine conditions for running rugby. The team played very well against some awesome talent from the region, and ended the tournament 3rd equal. Again this squad also represented Katikati College well, and played some great rugby, with only having trained for 1 month leading up to the tournament, and with 3 new players in this squad.

Waikato Ultimate Schools Day

On Wednesday 18 October, Mr Besley took a team over to the Waikato Schools invitational to play. With a young team consisting of mostly Year 11s and 10s they competed really well against mostly senior players, coming away with 3 wins and 2 losses placing them 3rd behind Hamilton Boys 2 & 1. Mike Rousell got runner-up Male Player of the Day over all the teams. Charlotte Tanner proved her worth as the only girl in the boys team.

With two junior ultimate competitions coming up (BOP Juniors and TVSS Juniors) in November, Mr Besley would like any interested Year 9 or 10 boys and girls to make themselves known to him, as practice is currently happening at lunch time. Listen to the notices also.

NZ Jiu Jitsu Nationals

Several students from Katikati College attended the 2023 New Zealand Jiu Jitsu Nationals in Auckland late last month. 

Nate Racz Year 7 achieved a Bronze Medal for his division
Tyler O’Carroll Year 8 came 4th in his division
Nathan Verbeek Year 8 came 5th in his division.