Thursday 6 August 2026
National Under-18 Boys:
During the recent holidays, six King’s College First XI boys players represented “Auckland A” at the Hockey NZ National U18 tournament whilst two players represented Counties. This is the very cream of the crop of hockey talent from around the country. Top players from every club and school have been selected to represent their region, ensuring only the best players are on display for New Zealand selection.
Typically, the major provinces dominate preceding’s, however with 22 regional teams there are always upsets and this year proved no different as Waikato, Manawatu and Taranaki all proved their worth at the quarterfinal stages.
The final was played out between Auckland and Canterbury. Both Auckland and Canterbury had suffered nervous semi-finals with both semi’s decided on shoot-outs.
The final itself was extremely close even though the 5-0 win to Auckland appeared as one-sided. Auckland won this match more on its defence as it came under immense pressure at times. The defensive line was led by King’s players Ed Mitchelson (Year 13, Marsden) and Will Downing (Year 13, School). They were supported by an immovable midfield in Henry Fletcher (Year, 12 Major), Tarquin Johnson (Year 13, School) and Charlie Middleton (Year 13, Averill). King’s were also represented in the strike line by mercurial striker Oliver Stewart (Year 12, Marsden) who along with Tarquin Johnson scored in the final. Oliver had been hampered by a hamstring strain since the final match of pool play but insisted on playing through the knock-out stages and he proved largely the strike difference for the final.
This win secured a three-peat as Auckland had won the previous two Under-18 National titles with King’s College players Scott Illerbrun (School) as captain in 2024 and Tom Migounoff (St John’s) as captain in 2025.
National Under-18 Girls:
Two King’s players - current student Scarlett Morris (Year 13, Middlemore) and Old Collegian Te Aria Nathan (Marion Bruce, 2023-25) represented Auckland A in the national U18 girls tournament in Palmerston North.
The team were desperately unlucky to go out at the quarter final stage on shoot-outs to eventual tournament winners Waikato.
The team performed superbly throughout the tournament and went through unbeaten in normal time winning 6 of their 7 matches comfortably. The quarter final loss on shoot-outs after a 1-1 full time score was a bitter pill for the team to swallow but they rebounded to convincingly win their remaining matches.
The full list of players representing their regions were:
- Ed Mitchelson - Auckland A
- Tarquin Johnson - Auckland A
- Will Downing - Auckland A
- Henry Fletcher - Auckland A
- Oliver Stewart - Auckland A
- Charlie Middleton - Auckland A
- Oliver Carlisle (Year 12, St John's) - Counties
- Aston Alexander (Year 11, Major) - Counties
- Scarlett Morris - Auckland A
- Alexis Tree (Year 12, Taylor) - Auckland B
- Jessie Bickelmann (Year 11, Taylor) - Auckland B