The first Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) U16 National Camp for 2023 is in the books, with 52 of Aotearoa’s most exciting age group athletes attending a four-day event at Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College.
The camp follows on from the four BBNZ regional trials held throughout Aotearoa in February, where U17 coaches Mel Bennett and Leyton Haddleton spent time evaluating the age group talent available for the upcoming U17 World Cup cycle.
Beginning with last year’s FIBA U15 Oceania Championship in Guam, the current U17 World Cup Cycle saw the U15 Boy’s and U15 Girl’s teams both finishing second to qualify for the 2023 FIBA Asia Championships – the U16 Women’s Asia Champs held in Jordan this July and the U16 Men’s Asia Champs in Doha this September. Both teams will be eyeing a top-four finish, which in turn qualifies New Zealand for the U17 FIBA World Cup in 2024.
Coach Mel Bennett says the talent level was ‘extremely high’ with the 27 female athletes who attended the camp within the U16 girls setting.
“It was really promising for our qualification chances to see the talent on display, typically we’ve been very guard-orientated in the past but now we have a good selection of forwards and centres to choose from – which is nice to have,” says Bennett.
“The player’s understanding of what was required coming into this camp was very clear, so their fitness levels and conditioning were of a very high standard – and now that we’re aligned better with the Tall Ferns programme it’s been a big step up for athletes in terms of turning up ready to compete. We’ve also seen a high standard of basketball IQ here which is great, this helps make the decision-making on the final squad a much more difficult task for us.”
Coach Bennett says it is important to build a squad who can compete against the likes of China, Japan, Korea and other top-level Asian basketball countries at the Asian Championships.
“We’ll look to name our squad [for the U16 Women’s Asia Champs in July] sometime within the next few weeks. There’s limited opportunity to come together for mini-camps due the geographical location of the players [based in New Zealand and Australia] being too vast; so we’ll have to make the best use of technology to keep the players in alignment. It’ll be a case of regularly monitoring each player’s fitness and individual loading up in the meantime, as their conditioning needs to be at an elite level come July.”
The second part of the BBNZ National Camp – this time with invitees for the U19 World Cup Cycle – starts tomorrow, with attendees for the U17 boy’s and girl’s categories at Saint Kentigern College from 13-16th April.
U17 World Cup Cycle
- U16 Women’s Asia Champs – Amman, from 10-16 July 2023
- U16 Men’s Asia Champs – Doha, Qatar from 17-24 September 2023
- U17 FIBA World Cup 2024 (date and location TBC)
U16 Girls at April 2023 National Camp
- Alexis Beasley, NZ
- Lucy Dawson, Nelson Basketball Association
- Nadia De Thierry, Basketball Hawkes Bay
- Waikimihia Douglas-Karauna, Rotorua Basketball Association
- Rica Chanel Enriquez-Paea, NZ
- Bailey Flavell, Harbour Basketball
- Sophia Hickey, NZ
- Keriana Hippolite, NZ
- Pahlyss Hokianga, Basketball Hawkes Bay
- Eva Jeffries, Waikato Basketball
- Jennifer Mailei, NZ
- Keija Miringaorangi, Waikato Basketball
- Anaiya Nelson, Waikato Basketball
- Graecyn Parahi, Basketball Hawkes Bay
- Hana Paterson, Waikato Basketball
- Ophelia Powell, Canterbury Basketball Association
- Rafferty Powell, Canterbury Basketball Association
- Emma Rogers, Tauranga City Basketball Association
- Lily-Grace Kahurangi Skudder, Basketball Manawatu
- Zenthia Stowers, Harbour Basketball
- Emily Tanira, Counties-Manukau Basketball Association
- Cassidy Thompson, NZ
- Mya Tipene-Tagoai, Hutt Valley Basketball Association
- Ashleigh Tuumaialu, Counties-Manukau Basketball Association
- Jessie Whinwray, NZ
- Kodee Williams- Sefo*, Harbour Basketball
- Storey Sadler*, Basketball Hawkes Bay
*unable to participate due to injury
U16 Boys at April 2023 National Camp
- Xavier Ah Tong, NZ
- Jackson Ball, Basketball Hawkes Bay
- Ihaka Cate, Canterbury Basketball Association
- George Clydesdale, NZ
- Kobe Costley, Canterbury Basketball Association
- Lachlan Crate, Basketball Manawatu
- Gus Dallow, Harbour Basketball
- CJ Flavell, Tauranga City Basketball Association
- Oscar Goodman, Basketball Taranaki
- Jake Holmes, North Canterbury Basketball Association
- Krisnan-Cole Ioane, Hutt Valley Basketball Association
- Hayden Jones, Nelson Basketball Association
- Bronson Curtis, Waikato Country Basketball Association
- Kingston Manihera-Dankwa, Basketball Manawatu
- Mana Martin, Canterbury Basketball Association
- James Matthews, Nelson Basketball Association
- Fred Oppenhuis, Wellington Basketball Association
- Troy Plumtree, Wellington Basketball Association
- Jameer Reed, Harbour Basketball
- Merrick Rillstone, Waikato Basketball
- Arana Robertson, Hutt Valley Basketball Association
- Dov Silberstein, Wellington Basketball Association
- Liam Van Der Heyden, Waikato Country Basketball Association
- Malachi Witehira, NZ
- Jackson Kiss*, BasketballAuckland
*unable to participate due to injury
