A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Tonight, tomorrow and this Friday night are all about having fun by going hard.
The club league finals at the Gisborne YMCA are set for Saturday — the men’s open grade at 4pm, the ladies’ championship 5.30pm, and men’s premier grand final at 7pm.
And in the time-honoured tradition of the Gisborne Basketball Association and former Poverty Bay Basketball Association, the play-off games to come may yet produce fireworks.
It has been 25 years since the legendary “Man of Steel” Riki Gear, of Ideal Electrical, lowered his shoulder rugby league-style on an epic, end-to-end drive v Old Surfers enforcer Scott Low and the Vapors’ Dale Hailey turned by Pure Sound titan Jason Tichborne on a superb three-point play.
These events have lived in the memory of club ball diehards for a quarter of a century.
Tonight at 5.30pm in the ladies’ competition, the Non-ballers under Mikila Takarangi and the 23K-Ballerz ,for whom Jayda Nepe has played a splendid season, will open up the play-offs with the game to decide seventh and eighth positions.
Following that, the fifth-sixth play-off between an In Living Colour posse who have learned to play without (but still miss) fearsome Dyani Johnson, and Ūawa 2.0, led by Nadia Whaitiri-White, at 6.30pm should be a “hive of activity”.
Hive of activity in this context means fast and furious.
Bringing down the curtain on this evening’s action at 7.30pm will be the Dreamers, turbo-charged by two generations of the Mackeys, and an exciting Gisborne Girls’ High School unit under the captaincy of Kohine Aupouri.
Without overstating the point, it is thrilling to see a young team, absent complex structure, shoot the ball with form — especially from the outside.
Tomorrow night’s play-off games in the men’s premier league follow the same placings order and time for the opening tip.
Both the Coastiieez and Waengapu Stallions “shoot from the hip” but unlike many free-wheeling club ball teams of the last decade or so, they have come in with older players and no qualms about physicality.
The Coastiieez’ Daniel Low opened his team’s scoring v the Raiders last Tuesday and scored three consecutive field goals in the fourth quarter of that 38-97 loss. He is a counter-puncher who will fight hard for every put-back.
Three Coastiieez scored eight points apiece in Week. Manu Jones and Dylan Akurangi did the same for the Stallions. David Sweeney’s Stallions are spirited.
The Massive Marauders could get up one more time for Game 3 but Gisborne Boys’ High School, a team still finding their feet, have what it takes to end their club ball season on a winning note.
The Marauders have missed Sport Gisborne-Tairawhiti CEO Stefan Pishief as a scoring option inside, but Adam Harford and Ray Noble have produced magic here and there. Those big men make clever plays.
They, a Luke Bradley now taking the ball to the hoop more aggressively and solid interior defence, are what a Gisborne BHS crew with a little bit of size must now cope with.
Ngaru Grayson scored 23 points at guard v the Waengapu Stallions in Week 7. He was one of four players to make double figures for GBHS on September 12.
Green Bean v SE Systems now have grudge match status.
It was Systems’ 69-67 win in Game 2 seven days ago that cost Weighn Wilson’s Green Bean a chance to contest the grand final. Like the young who depart before anyone knew that they’d gone, Green Bean will leave vivid splotches of colour on the canvas — such as Nuku Taylor’s 27 and Safin Tuwairua-Brown’s 22 on September 12.
Thomas Kepa (24), Nickson Nikora (12) and Adrian Peachey (9) were key to SES’ win last week. It was bittersweet for Green Bean in that the result meant a Raiders and City Lights grand final would be the showpiece, despite Green Beans having a wonderful debut season.
The next 48 hours should have the GBA faithful at the YMCA in big numbers. With the Coastiieez and Waengapu Stallions leading off, gallantry will take its last bow.
Gisborne Basketball Association club competition playoffs —
Ladies Championship, YMCA, tonight, 7th-8th, 5.30pm: Non-ballers!! v 23K-Ballerz .
5th-6th, 6.30pm: In Living Colour v Ūawa 2.0.
3rd-4th, 7.30pm: Dreamers v Gisborne Girls’ High School .
Premier men’s championship, YMCA, tomorrow, 7th-8th, 5.30pm: Coastiieez v Waengapu Stallions.
5th-6th, 6.30pm: Gisborne Boys’ High School v Massive Marauders.
3rd-4th, 7.30pm: Green Bean v SE Systems.
Men’s open grade, YMCA, Friday, 7th-8th, 5.30pm: Paikea Whalers v Gizzy Gilas.
5th-6th, 6.30pm: Horouta v Old Surfers .
3rd-4th, 7.30pm Uawa v Uawa AMP.