The Muriwhenua under-13 girls have being doing the hard yards to ensure they're up to scratch before heading into the competitive cauldron of the National Maori Basketball Tournament in Rotorua at the end of this month.
Coach Shane Pika McDonald said he began training for the upcoming tournament four months ago. He stepped the regime up to four days a week over the holidays which included a three-day boot camp-styled session at Matai Bay.
This saw the squad getting up to run the beach at 6am every day, followed by hikes, swimming and variety of other cross fitness/ endurance activities to improve their stamina.
Pika said he was impressed by the way his side of rookies had responded to the challenge and knitted together strongly.
"They are all first-year basketballers, all netballers transformed to basketballers. They have come a long way," he said, adding the relatively intense training regime would help ensure all his players will be carrying the necessary firepower required to face other teams in their division, including several sides from schools where students "live and breathe" the indoor court game.
