Following last month’s FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in Turkey – which saw the New Zealand U17 Men’s national team finish a historic fourth place – the NZ U17 Men’s national team 2022-24 cycle has come to a close after three years. Basketball New Zealand wishes to give out a massive shout out to everyone who helped to make this age group programme a massive success.
Reflecting back on the team’s World Cup success, Coach Haddleton says that he is immensely proud of the squad and support staff for giving it their all.
“When I reflect back on it, it was just an amazing and surreal experience. I’m extremely proud of the team, who gave absolutely everything we had,” says Haddleton.
“I’m also proud of the coaching staff, the physio, team manager and everyone else; and want to give thanks to the whanau who heavily supported our players, the local coaches and Clubs, representative Associations. We really tried to do them proud.
“To come fourth at the U17 World Cup is an unbelievable result; we always were quietly confident of winning the quarter-final, but that was an emotional moment for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more from these boys.”
Haddleton says that the squad came into the World Cup with a massive amount of confidence, which he contributed to a range of factors.
“We played in the Turkish Cup before the tournament, and we won that – beating Australia and Turkey – and it gave us so much confidence going into the World Cup. We absolutely blitzed Turkey on the first day and put a statement of intent on our group; when you’ve got confidence like that, it’s pretty hard to be stopped.
“It was also the style we played; playing with pace, being physical on defence and aggressive on attack – it suited the personnel we had out on the floor. I think nearly everyone on the team averaged at least 10mins a game, and that was the confidence we had in our boys that we could rotate them in and out, keep them fresh and at their best – and not have to overplay our best players. We just had absolute confidence in them.”
Coach Haddleton believes that team culture also had a major impact on their success over the three years of the cycle, which saw them play in Guam (2022), Doha (2023) and Turkey this year.
“As a team we talked about culture every session we were together; we’d talk about representing your whanau, your Association and your school – making sure you’re putting it out there not just for you, but for everyone who has every worn the singlet too.
That really drove everybody, and it replicated the tall Blacks culture – giving them structure but also freedom to play too. Everybody knowing their role, that was the main factor and a key part of the culture.”
Haddleton also look back on the growth of the athletes between years one and three, and credits their conditioning coming into the World Cup as being at a high level.
“Definitely the boys got way more physical [over the years], and I believe that was thanks in part to their Sal’s NBL and Rapid League experience; training against imports and playing against older and more experienced players. So they were well-hardened by the time of the World Cup; in previous tournaments it might take us up to 2-3 games to get used to the pace, the physicality and the talent of the opposing teams, but for this World Cup we came in and felt just as battle-ready as any other team – except maybe the United States.
“One of the things I hope will come of this experience is more external funding [for future teams]; so that athletes don’t have to pay as much to go on these trips. I know Dillon [Boucher] is working hard on this, so that New Zealand as a country is able to provide even more support to these athletes.”
Coaching & Support Staff:
Head Coach: Leyton Haddleton
Assistant Coaches: Jason Crummer (years 1 &2), Brent Matehaere (Year 1), Darron Larsen (years 2 & 3), Greg Brockbank (year 3)
Team Manager: Christina McMillan
Team Physio: Jeffrey Huang
Team Doctor: Rory Laubscher (year 1)
NZ U17 Women’s National Team Cycle:
Year 1 – FIBA U15 Oceania Champs
Guam, November 2022
2nd place (Silver)
Year 2 – FIBA U16 ASIA champs
Doha, September 2023
2nd place (Silver)
Year 3 – FIBA U17 World Cup
Turkey, July 2024
4th place world ranking
