Marlborough ‘lucky to accommodate’ boom in young basketballers

A sport in Marlborough is suddenly booming, and it’s not played on grass.

Nearly 100 primary and intermediate grade teams are playing basketball in Marlborough this season, which Marlborough Basketball development officer Farishta Peterson-Ihaka said was probably the most ever.

“Yeah, it’s pretty big,” she said.

And the region’s young ballers just can’t get enough, Peterson-Ihaka said, recalling one young player that was reportedly devastated when last year’s season ended.

“His mother let us know – he had his last game, he went home, didn’t talk to anyone, went to his room, put his headphones on and lay on his bed, like ‘What now? What about my basketball?’ They just love it.

“People ring us up and say, ‘Is there a court? Can I just come down and shoot hoops?’”

The number of girls playing in junior grades had “doubled” in the last couple of years. Peterson-Ihaka said the growth was being driven by Girls Got Game – a national programme aimed at introducing girls to basketball, which had been rolled out in Marlborough last season.

“So there’s a lot of focus going into getting girls into the game, and we’ve certainly doubled our numbers in the girls’ competition, there’s much more interest coming from girls,” she said.

“And I have to say, it has totally upped the girls’ participation, and hence, we got a really good showing for our under-13 trials.”

She thought the creation of a women’s national basketball league last year, Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa, likely helped the boost in girls’ participation.

And inspiring the boys, no doubt, were the Tall Blacks playing the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Steven Adams’ NBA success, and the creation of 3×3 “street ball” competitions in Marlborough, she said.

Marlborough’s winter basketball leagues boomed this year, with 96 teams entering into primary and intermediate school grades, and 39 high school teams. Peterson-Ihaka said the league was lucky to have accommodated them all.

“The primary league starts at 3.45pm and goes till 8.30pm at night, just to fit all the games through,” Peterson-Ihaka said.

“It’s well-supported by schools and by parents, because obviously everyone has to have a coach and a manager, so it’s quite a big ask of everyone, but they seem to be getting on board and doing it.”

She said her role as development officer was only created by Marlborough Basketball in 2022, “purely because there is a lot to do … in terms of all the competitions we run and all the teams that we send to tournaments and things like that, on top of everything else that’s needed”.