An excellent weekend of squash was held at the 2018 Junior Quad event in Whangarei over the weekend between BOP, Auckland ,Waikato and Northland. The majority of the team had a great team bonding session with the trip up taking 8 hours due to traffic congestion!
Auckland took out the title again with a very strong line up of players. Waikato finished second with BOP third, and Northland fourth. The competition was very tight between 2nd-4th places, evidenced by a 10-all draw between Waikato and BOP, an 11-9 victory to Waikato over Northland, and a 12-8 victory to BOP over Northland.
BOP had a few “first-timers” at this event and they all performed to the best of their ability with some very good wins. The 16/4 win to Auckland over BOP wasn’t really a true reflection of how well the team played. BOP were on the wrong end of five 5-set matches, and whilst disappointing, it showed that the BOP team are not far off the huge strength of Auckland. The 10-all draw with Waikato on Saturday evening produced some very entertaining and highly competitive matches.
Sunday morning saw BOP do battle with the home team Northland, and whilst BOP won the tie 12-8, we were fortunate to win a couple of games by default. This certainly however didn’t detract from some of the huge and intense matches played.
We don’t wish to single out any players for special mention as the coaches and managers were impressed by the performance and spirit which the whole BOP team played in. All our players fought to the bitter end and showed some pure BOP grit!
The coaching and management were very proud of the BOP teams effort and we are confident our juniors stocks are looking very promising for the future. A special thank you to the parents who made the trip north to support and assist with the weekend, and most of all to the players who really are embracing the new BOP culture which includes zero-tolerance for bad behaviour, fight to the bitter end, and most of all having fun. It was a pleasure to coach and manage you young stars!
Lyndon Templeton - Team Manager
A massive thanks to First Sovereign Trust for their on going support of our Quad Team! We couldn't do it without them!
Final Placings:
| Auckland | 41 |
| Waikato | 28 |
| Bay of Plenty | 26 |
| Northland | 25 |
For more photos click here
