By Kelly Hamer | Posted: Monday June 8, 2026
Aoraki Squash Tournament 2026
A team of 20 T.B.H.S. students represented our school at the annual Aoraki Squash Tournament held at the Timaru Squash Racquets club on Wednesday 3rd June. Schools from around the Aoraki region (including Mackenzie College, Waimate High School, Geraldine High School, Waitaki Boys’ High School, T.G.H.S. and T.B.H.S.) competed in ‘A’, ‘B’ and Festival grades.
We had several juniors who are new to squash enthusiastically give it a go. After a coaching session with Linda Kenny (Timaru Squash) they played games and learnt how to score matches. It is great to see you improve your skills and confidence over the day. With several T.B.H.S. teams in each grade there were some good matches between our students. Archie Kotua and Jackson Cooper in particular had a good battle against each other winning 1 set each, with Jackson taking the final set.
Year 13’s Tom Wakelin and Rueben McKeown stepped up and played in the ‘A’ grade. They showed great determination and sportsmanship against highly skilled and graded players.
Harry Jones and Max Moorhead gained a spot in the ‘B’ grade semi finals. They won one and lost one match against a strong Waitaki Boys’ team and narrowly missed out on proceeding to the ‘B’ final on total points. They backed this up with strong games beating Mackenzie College in the play offs for 3rd.
Thanks to Seamus Bielski and Keenan Davis who showed our T.B.H.S. POWER values by willingly partnered players from other schools enabling them to enter teams.
Congratulations to Keenan Davis and his partner James Soal (W.B.H.S.) who won the ‘B’ grade.
The day finished with groups of players rotating around different skills stations (e.g. drop shots, lobs). Thanks to Timaru Squash Racquets Club for sharing your expertise and Sport South Canterbury for organising the tournament.
