Nationwide basketball initiative moves through Whanganui schools

Tall Black Thomas Abercrombie was in Whanganui on Wednesday, teaching Te Atihau students some dribble moves for their new hoops. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui students have been paid a visit by some special guests as part of the latest collaboration between Sport Whanganui and Basketball New Zealand.

Tall Black Thomas Abercrombie and Tall Fern Charlisse Leger-Walker have been in Whanganui over the last two days as part of the nationwide Hoops in Schools initiative by Basketball New Zealand.

The pair were at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Atihaunui-A-Pāpārangi in Putiki on Wednesday, giving a basketball to each student to use on the two new hoops installed through the initiative.

Hoops in Schools is a Basketball New Zealand programme that partners with schools, funders and local basketball associations.

The concept puts more fit-for-purpose hoops in schools, so young people are more active and having fun playing hoops in their communities.

Since launching in 2018, Hoops in Schools has installed basketball hoops and supplied balls to more than 30 schools across New Zealand.

Basketball's popularity in New Zealand has grown significantly over the last five years, and it is now the second most popular sport behind netball according to the 2020 School Sport NZ census.

Tall Black Thomas Abercrombie has been one of the faces of the initiative since its inception.

"The whole aim is to get basketball hoops into as many different parts and corners of New Zealand as possible, especially areas that haven't had access to basketball hoops before," Abercrombie said.

"It's the fastest growing sport in New Zealand and you don't need much to play, you need a hoop and a ball."

Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Atihaunui-A-Pāpārangi principal Betty-Joe Wiari said basketball had always been a popular sport at the school and she expected that to continue with the new hoops.

"Not all of them have the opportunity to have their own ball. We have kids and all they want to do is play basketball. Them getting their own ball is just amazing."

Wiari said the hoops would provide another positive avenue for sport and recreation for the local community.

"It's just another way of getting the community involved in our kura."

Basketball New Zealand development manager Dan Dawick said more hoops in the community could only be a positive step.

He said schools where they had installed hoops had seen increased participation, teams entering local leagues and the wider community using an area they previously didn't.

"More kids are playing basketball and that's what we want," Dawick said.

Basketball Whanganui committee member Evelyn Hiri-Gush said Marton Junction School and Churton School would be the next Whanganui region schools to benefit from the initiative.

"The schools that we picked, we tried to find areas where there weren't any basketball hoops. We are trying to keep them where it's an open school for the public and accessible for anyone else to use."