Two of Te Kauwhata’s Squash Club’s interclub teams have emerged victorious with pennants in the latest round of the Auckland Squash competition.
TK Rebels clinched the Men’s Division 5 comp after beating Papakura in a tense final recently.
The team on the night contained two father-and-son duos, with varying results.
After Caleb and Ryder Brown had won their matches in convincing fashion, both 3-1, it remained for the Barlows to bring the victory home.
With both matches being played at the same time, old man Terry and son Liam were both 2-0 down. TK needed 3 games to secure the victory.
Liam turned things around to get to 2-2 and while he eventually lost the match 3-2, that meant that TK needed a single game from Terry to claim the pennant.
Terry delivered, doing enough to claim the one game before losing his match 3-1.
And TK sneaked home by a single game on the night. What made the pennant win all the more impressive was that it came off the back of a pennant win in the previous round.
Other TK Rebel squad members for the round included: Elliot Parkes, Alex Brown, John Brown and Shaun Edwards. Special mention to Liam and Ryder for playing every one of the nine rounds.
Meanwhile, TK Revolution bounced back from a difficult previous round to claim the pennant in Men’s Division 8.
This win was more convincing as the team for the final – Chase Baranyai, Rodney Pilbrow, Joe Williams and Richard Lockwood – all won 3-0 to smash Silverdale 12-0.
The final win was great reward for the squad who thoroughly deserved their victory after improving steadily as the 2025 season wore on.
Other squad members for the round included: Steve Baranyai, John Albao, Phil Grigg and Kayne Colbert-Thompson.
Tournament tops expectations
Meanwhile Te Kauwhata Squash Club held a hugely successful tournament late last month.
Numbers maxed out a month in advance, as the club hosted around 50 players from as far afield as Titirangi and Whitianga.
Thanks to generous sponsorship from WILDZ Sports and John Shearer; the committee’s hard work, and the club’s renowned hospitality, the tournament was hailed as the best held since 2021.
Other highlights
– The club will hold its club champs next month, and it is likely that youth will prevail over the old guard in the men’s section. The crop of seven ex-TK Primary boys, including reigning champ Finn Parkes, who all started playing five years ago or so continue to progress up the grading list and dominate the top 10 rankings.
– Congratulations to Elliot Parkes, Ethan Walkley and Alex Brown who made up half of the Hamilton Boys team that claimed bronze at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs.
– Congratulations to Tyla Baranyai who came second in the Waikato-wide Werder Junior One Day Series.
– And congratulations to Finn Parkes for representing Waikato in the NZ Junior Inter-District Champs.
