Fourteen young Wānaka basketball players will attend the South Island Primary Basketball Tournament in Rangiora this coming Easter, the fourth time a team has attended from Wānaka.

Aspiring Basketball Academy coach Beth Mackie said her goal this year is for the Wānaka team of year 7-8 players to finish in the top half of the pool.

“Every year is different but it's our first tournament of the year so a good starting block. It gives the kids an opportunity to see how much of a bubble we live in and how talented kids their age in other regions are,” she said.

“It’s great exposure for kids from a small town.” 

This was the first time only boys were attending the tournament as half the girls’ team had other plans for Easter weekend, Beth said.

The 3x3 format on Friday nights draws more than 90 young people. PHOTO: Wānaka App

A former professional Scottish basketball player who set up the Wānaka academy in 2022, Beth has seen a dramatic increase in the sport’s popularity locally.

Read more: Pro basketballer sets up local academy

When she established the academy it attracted 36 young people in the first term.

This term there are 80 players (30 of them girls) training weekly.

There are also more than 90 young people competing in the popular 3x3 basketball format each Friday from 3.30-7.30pm.

Wānaka players at a previous South island tournament. PHOTO: Supplied

Beth puts that down to the academy spotlighting a new sport for kids to try, as well as the success of some locals in the sport.

“We have six or seven athletes who have gone off to Christchurch, Dunedin and Auckland on scholarships or for basketball specifically and are succeeding there,” she said.

“We are now averaging eight to 12 players each year making Otago Representative teams.”

Last year four athletes from Wānaka (two boys and two girls) were called up for the New Zealand South Island Camp for trials for the national team. 

The South Island Primary Basketball Tournament will take place in Rangiora from April 18-20. Beth said the tournament gives local players “the inspiration to dig in to their training” before the next tournament in June or July.