Basketball New Zealand

Basketball New Zealand

Basketball New Zealand, like every National Sports Organisation (NSO) relies heavily on volunteers throughout the community to support its programmes.

Whether it is age-group tournaments, premierships, wheelchair events, Koru tours, national team tours or one-off basketball events, we could not deliver these without the support of so many enthusiastic and passionate basketball people.

International Volunteers Day on Friday, December 5, is for us a time to acknowledge all the volunteers who give their time to make a difference to basketball in New Zealand.

Should we thank our volunteers but once in a year when they contribute to our wonderful game every day and night all year round? No, you deserve our thanks every day for what you do. On behalf of all basketball people thank you for all your hard work.

Sports in this country tend to survive on funding applications, sponsorships, levies and consumers spending their discretionary dollar to support a sport.

As the world works its way through a minefield of financial and economic difficulties we all have cause to think carefully about how to spend this discretionary dollar. When times are tight, sectors such as ours tend to suffer the most.

This makes the role of the volunteers even more crucial to our ongoing viability.

Next year is a huge one for basketball in New Zealand.

Against this turbulent financial backdrop we are hosting the country’s first-ever international basketball tournament with the FIBA U19 World Championship for Men in Auckland from July 2-12. This event will succeed, in the main, because of the hard work of hundreds of volunteers.

I urge you to continue your commitment to our sport.

Our Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns, our age-group teams, our tournaments and leagues all need you. Our stars of today and tomorrow are all the better for your support.

Nga Mihi

Dale Stephens
Chief Executive