Volleyball!

Earlier this year I guess you could say I went through a bit of a volleyball craze. The volleyball season is only 6 weeks long, but it's pretty full on. We had two big tournaments and a bunch of regional games, and I loved every bit of it! 

I only started playing competitively last year, when the coach approached me in the hall after math class and said they could use me due to my height haha. They taught me how to block, run C's and middles and A-deads but I didn't actually get much playing time until this year after a summer of practice with Oak in our backyard.

Our team had a record season for NPBHS this year, where volleyball has traditionally never been that big. We came second in the Super 8 tournament with the other North Island boy's schools, and made it into Div 1 (top 16) at the national tournament. Because of this, 5 of our senior boys received volleyball tiger jackets :D

Tiger Jackets and Stuff

The Tiger Jacket. For anyone who is associated with New Plymouth Boys' High culture, it is known as a symbol of success, either in academics, sports, culture or leadership. Every boy hopes to earn one during their time at the school, and even the naturally very humble New Zealanders will look for opportunities to wear it with pride :)

I first earned mine this year for Leadership, after being made a prefect and a Head of House, and I'll be honest I was actually very proud and honored to receive it. Funny, considering that two years ago when I moved here I thought they were a pretty ugly waste of fabric. haha!

The assembly when one receives his Tiger Jacket is a very special and formal occasion, Your whole family is invited, you get to walk across stage, and each boy gets to ask a favorite member of staff to present him with the jacket.

 This is me, nailing the donning of my jacket. As a joke among the boys, you get graded on how well you put the jacket on, and those whose arms get stuck or forget to flip down their collar get teased relentlessly :D

 Shaking the headmaster's hand!!!

 Our 2015 leadership team: in Tiger Jackets in front are the Head Boy and his deputy, in the jackets behind them are the four House Leaders, and the rest make up the "prefect" team.

I just recently earned my Tiger Jacket again, this time for academics. If all goes well, by the end of the year I'll earn one for volleyball and adventure racing too :D

On the left: me with my parents in the boarder's lounge after first receiving my TJ

On the right: me with my best friend and adventure racing teammate, Cory Sutherland, after we both received ours for academics