22nd - 26th March

Tennis

Congratulations to Jordan Edwards and Luca Landells who retained our title at the National Tennis Championships in Auckland.

Volleyball

Two senior teams travelled to Volleyball Nationals in Palmerston North.  "A" boys came 2nd in Division 3 and "B" boys came 2nd in Division 5. 

It was a tough competition and the boys took the opportunity really seriously and tried to be "Better than Before".  Coming 2nd in Division 3 means we have another spot at next year’s Nationals from the Canterbury region.

Futsal

21 boys travelled to Wellington for the Futsal Nationals. Unfortunately results didn’t go our way. 

The Junior boys finished 19th. They had a very tough pool, but were really competitive and learnt a lot. 

Even though our Senior boys didn’t loose a game,  the way the competition was structured meant only one team could go through in a pool.  

They finished 9th overall, which is a good result.

Rowing

The 2021 Maadi Cup was held at Lake Karapiro. 

Of the 28 boys present, we had 26 racing in the A and B finals. 

The crews in the A finals were U16 eight who came 7th, U16 quad who came 5th, U18 pair who came 5th, U16 four who came 4th and U18 double who also came 4th.

Water Polo

Senior A had a successful tournament, setting in place plays and schemes for 2022 where we should hit our peak.

The boys had a heartbreaking loss 10-8 to Burnside in their opening game and a solid game which was blown out at the end to eventual silver medalists St Andrews' College. The boys also had wins against St Bedes and Christchurch Boys' High School in the pool play. 

We lost 5-2 in the 5th-6th playoff to Burnside, a team we match up well against. Renzo Webb did a fantastic job as Captain during the tournament, influential and hard working on defence. Jo Kennedy and Josh McGraw paced the offence, our two leading goal scorers.

Ex-Staff member Andrew Lee was back on board, coaching the boys and making his voice heard throughout the arena. A sure-fire nomination for Coach of the Tournament and always for Best Dressed Coach.

Our Senior A's also gained a significant amount of praise from other coaches, referees and Canterbury Water Polo for their significant improvement in the pool and their sportsmanship.

The Senior B's were chucked in the deep end to experience what Senior Water Polo was like. They got a fair thumping in each game to say the least but parents and coaching staff were very proud of the resilience and commitment these boys showed. They placed 12th in the tournament and will no doubt bring this experience into their future years.

Ultimate Frisbee

The Shirley Boys' High School Ultimate Frisbee Senior A team travelled to Taupo on the 21st March for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Ultimate Championships (Nationals). This marked the first time any South Island team has participated in the event.

Monday was the first day of competition for all 15 open division teams, Shirley Boys' had wins against Gisbourne, Katikati and Hutt Valley. They went on to lose a power play game versus Auckland Grammar. Of these games, two were streamed on Sky Sport Next.

The Tuesday of tournament was another level of intensity, Shirley Boys' won a nail-biter in the quarter-final against Katikati, on universe point. Universe point occurs when both teams are tied, with one goal required to win the game. Hutt Valley fell victim to Shirley Boys' in the semi-final, where we received a perfect spirit score. Ultimate Frisbee is self-officiated so scores are given at the end of the game based on sportsmanship. Receiving a perfect score was a great achievement despite the competitiveness of the semi-final.

Shirley Boys' played hard in the final against perennial champions, Auckland Grammar. The first 10 minutes saw Shirley Boys' go ahead 4 goals to 1. Throughout the game Auckland Grammar forced us to make enough errors to claim the lead at 7-8. From there the defending champions took the game shortly after 7-10.

The team placed second and were awarded the “Spirit of the Game” award for the highest sportsmanship across all teams.

The players are now preparing to play for the Canterbury region in a Shirley Boys' dominated line-up consisting of 10 current members. Players will travel to Cambridge to play against 5 other regional teams. The strongest representatives will be considered to represent New Zealand at the U20 level.

Softball

A team of 14 boys travelled down to Alexandra for Softball. 

Tuesday saw the first of the eight games in the round robin. 

It was the first time our boys had played together as a team and they came third overall in the competition.  Great effort all round.