Hoops in Parks Flaxmere pilot almost complete and ready to be rolled out in other Hastings suburbs

Flaxmere Park Basketball court upgrade and top of the line hoop and backboards complete. Photo / Supplied

The final touches are under way to upgrade the basketball court and Len Harlen Park in Flaxmere.

New hoops at Len Harlen Park are the final action in the Hoops in Parks programme for the Flaxmere community.

The Hoops in Park program will continue with Hastings and Havelock North community parks, the next to be upgraded.

In a first for New Zealand, Hastings District Council teamed up with Basketball New Zealand, Basketball Hawke's Bay and Sport Hawke's Bay to trial an initiative to make shooting hoops more accessible for the community.

Ron Georgi Park III and Flaxmere Park were the first to upgrade the Basketball courts with new hoops and top of the line backboards as part of the initiative.

The Len Harlen refurbishment will include re-surfacing and line-marking the existing court and re-positioning the existing hoop.

Basketball NZ hopes to secure funding for a new hoop for the park later this year.

Flaxmere councillor Peleti Oli said the new courts had been a real hit and meant a hoop was within 10 minutes walking distance for most people in Flaxmere.

The basketball courts have been really popular, and the councillor said that people of all ages are out there using them.

"It really helps to have them so close to people's homes in our parks, so they're easy to get to – it's been a great initiative," Oli said.

Basketball Hawke's Bay general manager Nick Hogan said the organisation's vision was to have a basketball in the heart of every neighbourhood, and the Hoops in Parks project had accelerated this.

Basketball Hawke's Bay wanted communities to be active and enjoy the sport in their own way.

Hogan said the community hoops allow everyone to access basketball when they want to and however they might want to.

"We are thrilled to have collaborated with the other parties on this pilot project in Flaxmere, and we looking forward to the other rollouts planned in Hawke's Bay while also watching similar projects nationwide," he said.