Hockey
Tournament Week saw SBHS Hockey off to Timaru, to compete for the Coaches Cup.

The team started off incredibly with a 24-0 smashing of Buller. This led the boys onto two more big wins in the group stage, 8-2 vs Waitaki and 3-0 vs Cromwell.

Our impressive group stage run meant we were straight into the semi-final vs Kings High School. Kings brought the game to us at parts, but we were too strong, with the game finishing 6-2.

Finals time against Cashmere, and Shirley still being undefeated were hungry for the title. 3-0 after the first quarter and we were flying. Cashmere got one back to make it interesting, but our class shone through winning 5-1 in the end.

Coaches Cup Champions! An unbelievable result for the team and everyone involved. This win means SBHS will play in the Rankin Cup next year, the first time doing so in 17 years. Well done team!

Another thanks to our departing year 13s, who many of them have been with the team for numerous years. Together our five-year 13s played 393 games for Shirley. A terrific achievement!

Football
New Zealand Secondary Schools Football Nationals were held in Christchurch during Tournament Week, over several venues.

Westlake Boys' High School was our first game. With ten minutes to go we were up 1-0, but a deflected free kick, followed by a dodgy penalty decision, meant eventual tournament winners Westlake managed to pull off the comeback, to win 2-1.

Our second group game was against another great North Island side in St Patrick’s College. After losing the first game, this had now become a must win. Going 2-0 down before halftime did not help either, but our boys showed unbelievable fight to bring the game back and win 3-2.

The third group game was against Napier Boys', who were outclassed on the day meaning we qualified out the group with a 4-0 win.

Our round of 16 fixture saw us play last year’s champions, Tauranga Boys'. Unfortunately conceding a scrappy corner goal late into the game cost us progression into the quarters losing 1-0.

This left us fighting for seeding, 9th-16th. First up was HIBS and after another 0-2 comeback the boys drew the game 3-3, with Shirley winning on penalties. A loss next game against Auckland Grammar 1-0, although having the far superior chances meant our final game was a playoff for 11th in the country.

Up against New Plymouth Boys' our team put on a show. For many of our boys this was their final game ever for SBHS. A tense 1-1 draw at full time meant for penalties once again. Liam Collins with 2 heroic saves meant the boys could celebrate being the 11th best team in the country in style.

A special thank you to our departing Year 13's who played their last game for SBHS last Friday. You have played an integral part in the resurgence of football at this school, and we thank you for that.

Basketball
We had three teams away in Tournament Week for Basketball. Juniors and Seniors in Dunedin and our intermediate side in New Plymouth.

Our Juniors started off the week by getting out of their group on points differential, thanks to their big win against Kings High. This then matched us up against Waimea College in the Round of 16, where we were far too good. Up next was familiar foes STAC in the quarter final, who were too strong for us. Another narrow loss against Cashmere in the 5th-8th semi final, meant we played off for 7th on Wednesday. Taking out the win, our boys can be extremely happy with a great tournament and some really promising results.

The intermediate side kicked off proceedings on Wednesday with back-to-back wins against Francis Douglas and Campion College. A tight defeat to Rotorua Boys' meant we still easily qualified out of the groups. Back-to-back losses against strong Waiopehu and Kapiti Colleges, meant our boys would play off for 7th. This is where the team really stepped up a level, running away 17-point victors against Havelock North. This team is still very young, and it is exciting to see if they can take it to the next level in Basketball.

Our seniors found themselves in the pool of death down South during tournament week, with six highly ranked school sides. We beat all competitors not from Canterbury in pool play, which was unfortunately not enough to progress. The other 3 teams from Canterbury in our group did just enough to beat us, in 3 very close games. Our boys lifted from this point on though, not dropping another game. Wins against Cashmere, Marlborough and Nayland saw our seniors A's finish 17th.

Thank you to our Year 13 Basketballers who played their last games for SBHS at tournament.

Rugby

Our 15A Rugby Team headed out for the annual Tournament Week South Island competition. This year’s instalment was hosted by Marlborough Boys'. With all teams competing in the same city, it brought a real tournament feel that our team really enjoyed.

We kicked off proceedings on the Monday with a win against Waitaki Boys' High school, which was crucial with only 3 teams in our group. We followed this up on the day same with our other group game against a strong Southland Boys' High School side who managed to edge us on the day.

This meant next up our team had Kings High School the following day. After a tough and hard-fought game from both sides, our U15A were beaten, which would see us play Christ's College on Wednesday for 5th Place.

Last game of the tournament and our boys were up for it. We had not beaten Christ's College all year in our regular competition, but we showed real fight and managed to pull off a great win meaning we finished 5th out of 11 at tournament.

Cycling

The Southern Tour was held in Blenheim. We had Luca Hawtin (U20) who finished 4th in the road race and 4th in the overall classification.
Frankie Revell (U15) also finished 3rd in the time trial, 3rd in the hill climb and 3rd in the road race, which meant he finished third in overall general classification.

Rock Climbing

We sent two Rock Climbing teams to South Islands during Tournament Week for Rock Climbing. It was a two-day event where our teams did over 50 climbs striving for glory. One team finished on 652 points and came 5th overall. Whilst our other team finished on 721 points and came 1st out of 33 teams. Making SBHS the Best Rock-Climbing team in the South Island!

Well done to the boys involved in both teams for such great results.