Maori Basketball NZ, would like to thank Trust House for the support given to run the International Indigenous Basketball and Cultural tournament at TeRauparaha Arena, Porirua. Without this support, we would not have been able to bring this event to the Porirua community. Over 280 youth from local primary schools participated in the youth development clinics run by Australian Indigenous Basketball and Ngati Toarangatira.
Porirua and Ngāti Toa-raised Jordan Ngatai spearheaded the Ngati Toarangatira invitational team, Ngatai is a NZ Tall Black, NZ Breaker and Saints Basketballer Jordan Ngatai said: “Being Maori is not just what I am, it’s who I am and indigenous basketball is growing, so I’ll support it and this tournament as much as I can”.
The aims for the tournament were:
- To establish an indigenous International Basketball tournament for Maori to showcase their skills and culture to the local, regional and international arena.
- To grow an international indigenous basketball calendar to showcase Maori talent.
- To provide both Maori and non Maori youth (primary schools in the Porirua region) and the broader community with both basketball and cultural development sessions run by the teams attending. Some of these were live streamed to both the international and broader basketball community of Aoteroa.
- To improve the physical fitness and wellbeing of families.
- To grow Te Reo
- To provide a platform to change the norms of the New Zealand community and the wider world (basketball included) to become more aligned to Te Ao Maori.
Porirua Mayor Mike Tana said it was fantastic to have this level of sport in the city.
“This is a great chance for our people to come down and see some top quality basketball and experience the culture of the other indigenous teams at the kapa haka evening.
“It’s awesome that we can attract international teams of this calibre to Porirua and play this tournament at Te Rauparaha Arena.
“It’s an honour to have an indigenous sporting event like this choosing Porirua, which is such a diverse city in its own right.”