2018 HNHS School Magazine HNHS Magazine 2018 | Page 54

B
Basketball Junior Boys
Back Row:
Eli Rabbitte, Matt Beamish (Coach), Kyle Phillips
Front Row:
Brayden Crosbie, Finn Grant, Ben Rush, Jordan Anderson, Chris Willox
Absent:
Zahn Clarke, Ryan Morrison
however, just too strong. While we halved the deficit from
our first game against them, we were not able to beat them
and had to settle for second place. A huge thanks must go
out to Al and Carla Millar for the time and effort they put in
to make the 2018 HNHS Invitational Tournament another
successful one.
Coach Hokianga helped us to develop new skills and
knowledge of the game. We are establishing communication
skills as well as various offensive and defensive moves
and plays. Our girls team is very fortunate to have such an
experienced and technical coach guiding us. We are really
hoping he will continue to coach us next year. We would
also like to acknowledge the time and effort Mrs Millar put
in as our team manager for the year. Without her keeping us
on track off the court, and organising our fundraising efforts,
we would not have been able to enjoy the season we had.
The Schick Central Cup tournament in Whanganui proved a
success as we gained 3rd place. On day one, we lost heavily
to Tararua College (the eventual tournament winners) and
we also lost to Waiopehu College, coming back from being
down 22 points to lose by 6 in the end. This meant we had
two must win games on day two. We played our best game of
the tournament to beat Hawera High School in the morning,
and eventually won comfortably against a tough Flaxmere
College team that evening, which qualified us for the semi
final game. Unfortunately we lost our semi final game to
Hawera High School, which meant we were unable to reach
our goal of top two. We really struggled to get into the game
and were unable to mount a fight back similar to what we
did earlier in the tournament to make the game competitive.
On the positive side, there were many things to learn and
take away from this game, and the tournament as a whole.
With Tararua College gaining automatic placement in the
final, there was only one semi final and no playoff for third
and fourth. This meant making the semi final placed us in
the top three regardless of result. Attending the tournament
was not only beneficial for our learning on the court but off
the court as well with team bonding and general life skills.
The team showed great sportsmanship right throughout the
tournament. Fun times and laughs were abound during our
time away. We will miss our year 13’s next year but will
continue to build in 2019.
Emma Millar and Kaine Hokianga.
54