School House News
By Matthew Markham | Posted: Sunday February 16, 2020
A chance to take a breath!
We had a very quiet weekend in the hostel with many boys taking the opportunity to go home for the first time this year. All the Year 9’s went home for a much-needed break. It had been nearly four weeks as they started earlier than the other year groups. It has been such a busy start to the year that everyone, staff included, relished the chance to have a couple of days rest.
The Year 9 Mt Aspiring camp went well, with the boys thoroughly enjoying the experience. The boys did some chores around the lodge like stacking firewood and moving water pipes, jobs that will benefit future groups. Swimming at Wishbone Falls, making dams, a bit of fishing (one tiddler was caught) and some games around the lodge occupied the boys and they embraced the activities with great enthusiasm. Thank you to staff members Pita Sinamoni, Rob McKenzie, Joe Fisher, Mr Richard Roe and the Rector for giving up their time to make the camp possible.
We have now had two Mitchell Cup competitions: Tug of War and Make a Banner. The results are as follows:
Tug of War
1st Nicholson
2nd Thomson
3rd Campbell
4th Hawthorne
House Banner
1st Campbell
2nd Hawthorne
3rd Thomson
4th Nicholson
Overall Standings as of 17th February
1st Campbell 6 points
2nd Nicholson 5 points
2nd Thomson 5 points
4th Hawthorne 4 points
The next event is house cricket at Littlebourne which is on next Wednesday. This involves six a side, six over matches.
Over the holidays, Deputy Head of Hostel Angus Faulks represented New Zealand in the U18 touch team. This is Angus’ report:
It was a privilege and an honour to represent my country and I was proud to wear the silver fern in the Youth Trans-Tasman Touch tournament the last week of the summer break 2020.
After having represented OBHS at a national level in touch and representing Otago at a national level for several years, I was selected to attend a trial with 59 other boys for the Under 18 NZ team. After several trials, I was selected in the Under 18 boys’ team which I was stoked about. With lots of training and self-motivation I got myself in the best possible shape to help my team take on the Aussies on their home turf in New Castle, NSW. There were 6 teams competing as well as my team which was the 18 boys. There was also an 18 girls, 18 mixed, 20 boys, 20 girls and 20 mixed. It was a hot, humid and smoky week away in New Castle. We arrived late to Newcastle on Tuesday after a flight into Sydney then a 2-hour drive to our accommodation. We had a training on Wednesday which was the first since our warmup tournament in Taupo before Christmas. We then had a training on Thursday before our first test match which was on Friday. This training was very short and sharp as the temperature reached around 45 degrees. The Australians sadly dominated on the scoreboard in most of the grades over the 3-day tournament as they have in the past. My teams’ games were hard fought, but the Aussies took out all 3 tests with the scores being 7-11, 3-9, 3-8. As part of a 4 man leadership team, it was humbling to help guide and play with a group of hard working team members and play with some good mates.
I would like to thank Touch New Zealand for giving me the opportunity to represent my country in the sport I love, also my family for supporting and always encouraging me to do better. Big thanks to my brothers at OBHS who play alongside me during the season. Mr Matt Brown also deserves a big mention as he has had a huge influence in my success during my touch career. We have a great culture in touch here at OBHS and I am proud to captain this team and work with them to do well again at the secondary school touch nationals.
Well done Angus on representing your country and I am sure it won’t be the last time!
I hope you all have a wonderful week.
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