Basketball support lacking

Despite basketball being a mainstream sport in New Zealand, Rodney has little to offer in the way of adult competition for the sport.Ex-Mahurangi College player Connor Patton and his brother Tom were referees for a junior league set up by North Harbour in Warkworth last year, but this fell apart after the organisers abandoned it.

Connor says it is important to maintain a strong junior basketball competition so that the quality is there to feed into an adult league.

Colleges in the area offer basketball for students but the closest adult league is based in North Harbour.

“It’s a bit hard to have to travel to the North Shore each week if we want to play,” Connor says.

“It would be a lot more convenient to have a league in Warkworth.”

Currently, a group of boys play socially once a week at Mahurangi College gym or at the Warkworth Showgrounds court, but there is no structure for a tournament.

Mahurangi Sports Collective member Mark Illingworth says they have asked for someone to take up a basketball management role, but no-one has yet stepped forward.

Kaiwaka Sports Association offered an open basketball league for the first time this year with about 70 people across six teams competing.

Organiser Cheryl Anderson says she has run a couple of other sports modules through the association which were well-received and this encouraged her to give basketball a go.

Even with this response, Cheryl hasn’t made the call if it will run as a competition next year.

“I’m undecided if I’ll run another module,” she says.

“I am going to ask everyone at the prizegiving after finals if they’re keen. If I get a good response, then I’ll probably do it again.”