In August, Kaipara College’s under 19 basketball team won the Harbour Basketball League 2 division to secure Kaipara College their first basketball Championship. This came after an excellent season, in which they won 9 out of 10 of their games.
The team was comprised of Jacob Smith, Sam Nobilo, Jaden Kok, Tej Chawla, Tamati Birch, Riley Southern-Vasey, Jimmy Cheng and Andre De’Beer, and was coached by Matt Rhodes. From the team, Sam Nobilo has also played for the Harbour Basketball National Team.
The basketball program at Kaipara College has grown in leaps and bounds from when the under 19 team’s coach, Matt Rhodes attended Kaipara College himself. As a year 9, Matt had to play for the under 19 basketball team because that was the only option. Now there are seven teams, including the first girls’ basketball team at Kaipara College in many years.
This year, Kaipara College’s first ever 1stV Basketball team was formed. One of the coaches, Lee Taylor, was a driving force behind the 1stV team. This team means that the best basketball players in the school can play in the same team, ranging from year 11-13. This is a step forward for basketball at Kaipara College. Matt Rhodes said, ‘This is the first step towards creating a clear direction of where you can go with basketball in the college if you choose to, similar to the direction of Rugby with the 1st XV in the college.’
Unfortunately, the tournament the 1stV was supposed to compete in this year has been cancelled due to the Covid lockdown. The team will have to wait until next year to showcase their talents. The 1st V was fortunate to be sponsored by Harcourt’s Helensville alongside Auckland Towbars.
Many other sports teams from Kaipara College were also poised to play their final games before the Level 4 lockdown hit. The girls’ football team was due to play in the final for 1st or 2nd place in the North Harbour Senior A2 grade on the first day of lockdown. On the same night, the boys’ hockey team was going to play for 3rd/4th place in the North Harbour grade 2A. On the 19th of August, the girls’ hockey team should have played for 1st/2nd place in the North Harbour grade 5A. North Harbour rugby has cancelled the rest of the season. There were no formal results for the 2021 rugby season, however Kaipara College was leading the Youth 14 grade. The 1st XV were sitting in 3rd place & the Youth 16 were sitting in 4th place.
Basketball in our area is booming! In 2017, the local basketball club (Rodney Basketball) was formed. This club has children playing basketball in the Kaipara College gym on a Sunday through the school term. They aim to provide a fun environment which allows skill development. Children from all over the area participate in this program. This means that basketball players at Kaipara College can enter with more skills. It is really cool to see how basketball is growing in our community through the Rodney Basketball club. To get involved yourself you can contact Matt Rhodes through their website www.rodneybasketball.co.nz or on Instagram or Facebook. 
