Tall Black Tom Abercrombie launches Hoops in Schools in the Bay.
When Lyron Leach grows up he wants to be like Tall Black Tom Abercrombie.
Not just because "he's tall and famous" but because he's a professional athlete playing a sport that 10-year-old Lyron loves to get involved in.
Abercrombie, a professional basketballer who has racked up 110 appearances for the Tall Blacks since his debut in 2006, started playing the sport when he was not much younger than Lyron.
"I started playing when I was about 8, just playing at primary," Abercrombie says.
His mum - a keen basketballer - was his coach and remembers a lot of his early stages in the sport being on his school hoops. Without them, he may not have got to where he is today.
Now Lyron, and his peers at Gate Pā School have the same opportunity with their school being selected as one of 12 schools throughout the Bay of Plenty to benefit from the Hoops in Schools Programme.
Basketball New Zealand's manager of basketball development and technology Dan Dawick says Hoops in Schools is a national initiative they run in partnership with local basketball associations and local funders.
The programme started in south Auckland in 2018 and Tauranga City Basketball is the second association to be part of Hoops in Schools, bringing in 24 hoops to 12 schools throughout the Bay of Plenty.
Gate Pā School's Lyron Leach, 10, would love to be like Tall Black Thomas Abercrombie when he grows up. Photo / Andrew Warner
"We identify schools that are in need of basketball hoops," Dawick says.
Abercrombie was in the Bay of Plenty helping to launch the programme in the region, visiting seven of the schools involved, including Gate Pā School, Welcome Bay School, Te Kura o Matapihi and Arataki Primary School yesterday and Greerton Village School, Edgecumbe Primary and Te Puke Primary today.
While there, Abercrombie led a skills and drills session for pupils, with Lyron and his school mate Jorja Thompson, 10, coming away from the day excited about basketball. The pair are big fans of the new basketball hoops at their school.
"I just like shooting ... dribbling the ball and just having fun," Lyron says.
"It's pretty cool because I can play with my friends," Jorja says.
Abercrombie says you don't need a lot of equipment to play and enjoy basketball and hopes to see more people in the Tauranga community get involved in the sport.
"It's such a great sport for everyone to play," Abercrombie says.
Gate Pā School principal Rochelle Jensen says the hoops were installed in time for the start of term one and have had a positive impact on the number of children trying out a new sport and having fun in doing so.
"The other real positive is the community is using them as well," Jensen says.
As part of the programme, the Tauranga City Basketball Association will provide a skills programme in the selected schools.
General manager Mark Rogers says there are 4500 people actively playing basketball from Ōpōtiki to Waihī and he hopes to see it continue to grow.
