Palmerston North will welcome close to a thousand players, coaches, and staff when the New Zealand Secondary Schools Nationals roll into town for the eighteenth year in a row.
67 teams will enter the region come September 27th, all vying for the chance to call themselves National Championships of New Zealand. A total of 48 schools will enter into ‘AA’ competitions, whilst twelve boys and seven girls schools will compete for the ‘A’ grade titles.
The ‘A’ grade competition was created for smaller secondary schools across Aotearoa. In order to qualify for the ‘A’ grade, schools of a single-sex must record a roll of less than 300 students (as at the 1st of March of the competing year). Co-ed schools must have a roll of under 600 students to be considered a “small school”.
Unlike the ‘AA’ Premierships which are divided into four zones, the ‘A’ Premierships are simply divided into North and South Island competitions. From there, seven teams from the North, and five from the South qualify for the pinnacle event in Palmerston North.
The ‘AA’ National Tournament are for the “bigger” schools of over 300 students (single-sex) and 600 students (co-ed) as at March 1st of the same year of competition.
Four zonal Premiership are completed during Winter Tournament Week each year to find the 24 qualified boys, and the 24 qualified girls teams that make up the ‘AA’ Nationals draw.
Zone 1 consists of teams from Northland down to Pukekohe, encapsulating some of the biggest powerhouses in New Zealand Secondary Schools Basketball. Seven boys teams and six girls teams from Zone 1 qualify for Nationals each year.
A little further down the road, teams from Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and Taupo battle it out in Zone 2 for a spot at the National Tournament. From this zone five boys schools and six girls schools qualify for Nationals each year.
In it’s simplest form, Zone 3’s region is the Central and Lower North Island, where teams from Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū and Wellington compete for six places at Nationals each year in both boys and girls competitions.
The South Island hosts Zone 4, with it’s competing teams coming from the top of Te Waipounamu (Nelson, Marlborough) all the way down to the deep dark depths of the Southland region. Just like Zone 3, six boys and six girls teams qualify for Nationals each year.
The schools attending New Zealand Secondary Schools Nationals this year are below:
New Zealand ‘A’ National Championships
North Island Boys
Central Hawke’s Bay College
Hato Pāora College
Ngā Taiātea Wharekura
Ōpunakē High School
St Peter’s College, Palmerston North
Te Aroha College (CHAMPIONS)
Te Kura o Te Koutu
South Island Boys
Garin College
Geraldine College
Greymouth High School
Māruawai College
St Kevin’s College (CHAMPIONS)
Girls
Buller High School
Ōpunakē High School
Taita College
Te Aroha College
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kura Kōkiri
Te Kura o Te Koutu (NORTH ISLAND CHAMPS)
Waimate High School
New Zealand ‘AA’ National Championships
Zone 1 (Auckland & Northland)
Boys
Auckland Grammar School
Dilworth School
Mount Albert Grammar School
Rosmini College
Saint Kentigern College
St Peter’s College, Auckland
Westlake Boys’ High School (CHAMPIONS)
Girls
Epsom Girls’ Grammar School
Mount Albert Grammar School
Rangitoto College
Saint Kentigern College
St Mary’s College, Auckland
Takapuna Grammar School
Waitākere College
Westlake Girls’ High School (CHAMPIONS)
Zone 2 (Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Taupo)
Boys
Hamilton Boys’ High School
Mount Maunganui College (CHAMPIONS)
Rotorua Boys’ High School
St Paul’s Collegiate
St John’s College, Hamilton
Girls
Hamilton Girls’ High School
Mount Maunganui College (CHAMPIONS)
Rotorua Girls’ High School
St Peter’s School, Cambridge
Tauranga Girls’ College
Zone 3 (Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū, Wellington)
Boys
Feilding High School
Hutt International Boys’ School
Napier Boys’ High School
New Plymouth Boys’ High School (CHAMPIONS)
St Patrick’s College, Kilbirnie
St Patrick’s College, Silverstream
Girls
Mana College (CHAMPIONS)
MANUKURA
New Plymouth Girls’ High School
Queen Margaret College
Scots College
Wellington East Girls’ College
Zone 4 (South Island)
Boys
Cashmere High School
Hillmorton High School
Nelson College
St Andrew’s College (CHAMPIONS)
St Bede’s College
Shirley Boys’ High School
Girls
Avonside Girls’ High School
Cashmere High School
Hillmorton High School
St Andrew’s College (CHAMPIONS)
St Margaret’s College
