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Basketball got a $4600 boost at Whangaparaoa College recently, with the installation of a new adjustable height hoop.
The hoop was paid for with a grant obtained from Sport Gulf Harbour by the Coast Youth Community Trust (CYC), which has a close relationship with the college.
CYC director Josh Sanford says that involvement in sport is part of its mentoring work with young people. He says he hopes that installing the hoop is a way to encourage more young people to be active in a way that is fun and engaging and results in greater all round health.
CYC youth worker Ash Mowatt, who coaches basketball at the college, says the sport provides a positive environment for relationship building and training.
“You don’t need full teams, you can shoot hoops by yourself or with a group of friends – it’s accessible,” Ash says.
Principal James Thomas, who played basketball for decades, agrees.
“You put a hoop up and in a second, you get a group forming to play,” he says.
The hoop was officially ‘launched’ with an informal shooting competition on August 2.
The college currently has five basketball teams competing at North Harbour and the same number, including a girls’ team, at the Stanmore Bay Leisure Centre.
The college’s director of sport, Joe Duffett, says that there is phenomenal growth in basketball and there is a desperate shortage of coaches, which is the only thing preventing the school from forming more teams.
