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GIRLS BASKETBALL 2009
The Junior Girls basketball had an awesome year in 2009. They trained and played hard all year which paid off in the end, winning Lake Taupo Basketball Association’s winter women’s league finals taking out the experienced Shooters team.
They also came 4th in Basketball New Zealand’s Regional Junior Secondary Tournament held in Morrinsville on Saturday 29th August to Tuesday 1st September 2009. The girls played hard beating Hamilton Girls High School to go through to the semi finals but just didn’t have the height and numbers to win against the mighty Rangitoto College who took out the tournament convincingly.
These players represented the Lake Taupo Basketball Association in 2009.
Under 17s
Waimarie Stone, Nadia Matautia, Chelsea Katene, Samantha Mita-Morgan, Jadie Heke, Cala-Jane Chapman, Briar Pearson
Under 15s
Piatarihi Biel, Dion Martin, Memory Rakei
And last but not least a big thank you to all those parents who helped throughout the year and at the girls’ tournament. We couldn’t have done it without you.
na Whaea Steph aka coach BOYS BASKETBALL 2009
Well, the year started with big talk of what we could achieve and how it was going to happen. Practices were going well and we were ahead of where we had been in the previous year. Signs were good for a successful year.
A core of six players returned for a shot at 2009. We would regularly get seven players at practice, so we needed to recruit some new players. Isaia and Krystian joined us from the “B” team, Artur from Brazil and Mike who received dispensation to play for TNT instead of Tauhara. This coincided with Big Mike helping out with coaching. We became a unit of 11 players and two coaches.
In the local competition we ended up in 4th place, a position that we should have been higher than. Leading up to the tournament week we had two two hour practices per week to fine-tune ourselves and get ready for Rotorua.
As usual the team was ably led by Thomas who, at tournament, played every possible minute, except for when he was fouled off during the first game. In that game we lost to Howick by five points, a result that will haunt us for years, as that effectively put us out of the Top 8. We beat St Peters and Cambridge but lost to Fraser High School, to end up 3rd in our pool on points differential. In the next round we beat Western Heights, but then lost to St Kentigern (again a game we should have won). The last game at tournament was a win against Pakuranga.
The Rotorua tournament was a great learning experience for the team and one that will be remembered for a long time with memories of “if only…”
Thanks to the coaches, Mr Boyden and Mike Wells for their time and effort during the season.
Team of 2009
BOYS BASKETBALL 2008
10 eager boys went to Tauranga for the Senior Boys Basketball tournament. The team started slow, but gained momentum as the week progressed. Losing the first 4 games was not part of the plan, but fortunately we won the remaining 3 games to finish with confidence. All players got court time in each game and all improved their skill and tactical awareness as the tournament went on and the team began to gel.
Thomas Stebbing and Carl Bennett shone throughout the week to get the attention of other teams and their coaches. Bradley Smith and Zane Sorenson-Kereama used their skill to give invaluable momentum to the team, which the rest of the boys followed on with. The players (and coach) had some tense moments, with four or five closely fought matches that the boys learnt a lot from.
These experiences will hold the team in good steed for 2009, as most of the team will be back at TNT next year.
(Jason Boyden)
GIRLS BASKETBALL RESULTS 2008
TNT Secondary School Junior Basketball Girls Squad
BBNZ Secondary Schools Premiership Tournament - Rotorua 30 August - 02 September
Waimarie Stone (C), Cala-Jane Chapman, Nadia Matautia, Chelsea Katene, Sam Mita-Morgan,
Piatarihi Biel, Casey Davison, Shaedyn Wairau
Our squad carried the most Year 9 Girls of all the tournament, and the comments from other schools, umpires and coaches was that this team were a lovely team to watch, play and umpire. Overall we placed 10th, from 16 teams.
All other teams had already competed at this level, we could certainly see their experience and knowledge, however our girls went in there did their very best. They have certainly come away with lots more knowledge and a new found respect for play at this level.
We stayed at Mary McKillop House, Jean Paul College in Rotorua. The team, coach and supporters lived "Hostel Style" for the duration of our stay. The Hostel life was brilliant, cooked meals, entertainment rooms, TV rooms and we met so many borders the girls made lots of friends. We can't wait for next years tournament.
Thank you to all the parents, caregivers and whanau supporters who helped us fundraise at the very last minute to get the girls there. This has definitely been an invaluable experience. It was great to see Basketball being played in school colours again this year and a boys team competing at Tournament week. They competed very well for such a young and relatively inexperienced team.
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