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Members of a local basketball team are working hard to raise funds, including undertaking an extensive beach clean-up after the Anniversary Weekend floods.
The team, Whanga Coast Ballers, is made up of Year 8 and 9 Whangaparāoa College students – Daniel Winslow, Kaelan Perenara, Max Cockayne, Luca Hutchison, Tane Muaulu-Kelleher, Noah Boyle, Aston Soper, Luca Hutchinson, Luka Foster, Liam Cresswell, Nikora Peihopa and Noa Salvert-Polard.
Every week, they have three hours of on-court training, plus two hours of endurance work on the beach, led by coaches Mike Castagna and Jacob O’Brien. They play teams well above their age.
Their clean-up of 11 local beaches on March 5 included removing piles of logs – a trailer was needed to haul the rubbish away.
Gaining sponsorship for the clean-up is one of many ways in which the team is raising funds so that they can go to the USA next January for a four-day Golden State Warriors Basketball training academy.
Making that possible means raising $340 each, every month, to secure $4000 by the end of the year. The money will go towards airfares, accommodation, food and the four-day basketball academy training camp. Any funds left over will go towards more basketball courts and hoops on the coast.
One of their next fundraisers is a ‘layup- athon’, in which sponsors donate money to players who have to make a layup for every dollar donated.
Donations to help Whanga Coast Ballers reach their goal can also be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/basketball-team-trying-to-get-to-usa-academy
