Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) has received a much-needed boost to its High Performance programme just before Christmas, with the announcement of a $3.3 million allocation by High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ) spread over three years.
The allocation of $1.1 million per annum has been made for the Paris 2024 cycle – leading up to and through the 2024 Olympics in Paris – as part of HPSNZ’s new Aspirational Fund. It covers five areas of BBNZ’s High Performance programme: the Tall Blacks men’s national team, Tall Ferns women’s national team, 3×3 men’s and women’s national teams and programme management.
It is the highest level of funding ever provided by HPSNZ to BBNZ, and comes after the former recently transitioned into a new Targeted Investment Framework. The new framework is built around finding targeted investment in priority campaigns, which focused specifically on performance outcomes within the Paris 2024 cycle.
BBNZ Chief Executive, Dillon Boucher says that this news is especially welcome leading up to Christmas and what is shaping up to be a busy 2022 in the organisation’s High Performance space.
“This is fantastic news for our High Performance team and for basketball in New Zealand, so thank you to HPSNZ for their investment and belief in our programme,” says Boucher.
“This is a huge improvement on the core funding we received in 2021, and allows us to build our High Performance programme the way we want to – so we can be active and competitive within the Paris 2024 cycle.
It also means we can invest more in developing our talented kiwi players, so they can succeed on the world stage in the black singlet.”
HPSNZ Chief Executive Raelene Castle says basketball is a great example of the opportunities that have opened up for sports through the new Aspirational Fund.
“It has significant participation in New Zealand, it has a raft of players in the NBL and approximately 130 people in colleges in the USA, many of whom have the potential to go on to greater heights,” says Castle.
“It is building strong foundations and has a big future with the potential to inspire many more New Zealanders.”
Boucher says that a massive amount of work had gone into BBNZ’s submission to HPSNZ for this funding.
“I want to acknowledge the massive amount of work put into the proposal document by many, but in particular (Head of High Performance) Leonard King and my predecessor Iain Potter.
“The countless hours they both spent making this document the best it can be, is a big reason we have been so successful in this round.”
