was Year 11. While this makes team selection challenging, it bodes well for the future of our programme and allows players to step in seamlessly when called up. We have a few exciting years ahead as these boys move into senior ranks. At U20 level, the team showed great improvement throughout the season. Chalk it up to a rookie mistake by the MiC, but the team was put in the A grade. Apparently, it was not where the team was last year. The boys went from struggling against a range of teams early in the season to comfortably winning games. A determined attitude paired with a strong support base of families and friends made the 2023 season an enjoyable one for this determined team. EVENTS With the help of the Friends of Basketball committee, the two mid- season events were a big success. For the past three years, we have invited former students back to play in our annual Old Boys game against the Senior A team. Unfortunately for current players, the Old Boys sealed
the win for the third year in a row. This year, Ed Davidson – our lone Year 13 student in Senior A – was presented with his leavers jersey. We look forward to seeing Ed play alongside his older brother, Tom, next year, rather than having to go up against him. A Quiz Night, hosted by Andrew Levenger and run by the Friends of Basketball, raised more than $5000 to improve the House basketball hoops and courts. TOURNAMENTS As the Friday and Saturday season ended, preparation for Tournament Week began. This year, the Senior B team travelled to Timaru to play in the Regional Cup. After some big wins in pool play, the boys fell just short in the semi-final, losing to Papanui High School. College finished a very commendable 4th out of 17 teams. The Junior A team travelled to Dunedin, hoping to add to its silverware for the season. Unfortunately, the boys lost a tough pool game to eventual winner St Andrew’s College. That meant the team faced the eventual finalist, Otago Boys’ High School (OBHS), in
the quarter-final game. After leading at half-time, OBHS made a strong third-quarter run and College could not bring the game back. When it comes to these tournaments, development is more important than results and we are confident our boys have taken a lot from these contests. A huge ‘thank you’ to our amazing parents who travelled with the boys to Timaru and Dunedin and helped with laundry, catering, driving, and much more to help the tournaments run smoothly. On that note, this year we did not have any staff to manage our Saturday and Tuesday night teams. For the first time, we relied on parent managers. They have done an outstanding job, and it looks like this will be our new model. Thank you for everything you have done for the boys. SENIOR A With seven new players in Senior A and a new head coach, it was always going to be a challenging year. Making the Thomson Trophy final was a key goal. The boys played well throughout the season but really hit their straps late. In an impressive
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