Meet the four young girls with big dreams of creating an all-girls-school basketball league.
A Hawke’s Bay teen has the chance to become the youngest ever to play for the New Zealand women’s basketball side at this week’s Olympic Qualifier Tournament in Xi’an, China.
One of a group of young national team prospects from Hawke’s Bay, with a core in Bridge Pā, PahlyssHokianga turned 16 last October 9.
Hokianga was called into the squad after Charlisse Leger-Walker, 22, was forced out. The star guard was injured while playing for Washington State University side the Cougars in the United States at the start of last week.
Leger-Walker, who now needs ACL reconstructive surgery, is the youngest to date to play for the Tall Ferns, having made her debut at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, when she was aged 16 years and 202 days.
Pahlyss Hokianga playing for New Zealand against Japan at last year’s age-group basketball tournament in Jordan. Photo / Fiba
The daughter of Colin and Ngavero Hokianga, the Hawke’s Bay teen has grown up in Bridge Pā and Flaxmere in a family steeped in rugby and rugby league.
With her dad having captained league side the Hawke’s Bay Unicorns, sport was always going to feature in her life.
Even her name Pahlyss, (pronounced Palace), had a league link. They thought she was going to be a boy, her mum says, and it was a take on the name of Australian star Gorden Tallis.
But at age 8, a pupil at Peterhead School, she veered towards basketball and the Bridge Pā club, and at 9 was in the Hawke’s Bay under-13 girls’ team.
The range of skills of Pahlyss Hokianga, displayed in two major international tournaments, was obvious from a young age as she was growing up in Bridge Pā and Flaxmere. Photo / Fiba
Mentored by Tinaka Taito, who started the Ngati Poporo Academy, and by Dustine Sadler, she progressed through Hastings Girls’ High School to represent New Zealand in the 2022 under-15 Oceania championships in Guam.
New Zealand was third in the Asian tournament last July in Jordan, where a crucial game-high 31 by 1.66m-tall guard Hokianga in a 95-73 win over China in the last group match propelled the Kiwis into the 2024 under-17 women’s world championships in Mexico, to be held in July.
It was during this event that she came to the notice of such people as Basketball New Zealand age-group coaching leadership group member Mel Bennett, who suggested stepping up to WNBL, despite her age, then still 15.
Her mum said the dream was to play in the United States, but she had to take the opportunity when it was offered to play in the national league, and while in Melbourne she was aware of a chance of a Tall Ferns call-up if needed.
At the time she learned of the call-up she was in the HoopNation X-posure tour in Melbourne. Travelling via Hastings - with a frantic effort to get the visa sorted - she joined the squad in China by the end of the week.
She was quoted by Basketball New Zealand as saying she was entering the Tall Ferns camp without “too much pressure”, seeing it as a “huge” opportunity to improve her game.
“It’s an honour and I’m excited to be selected,” she said, ahead of her arrival in Xi’an. “I was confident that I’d be chosen (at some stage of her career) and I can’t wait to join the team in China. I feel like being in a high-level environment and playing some of the best teams and players from around the world, is only going to make me better.”
Hokianga said the squad and the staff had been incredibly supportive of her selection, and a couple had “reached out and congratulated me”.
“I know they’ll look after me in China. I’ve played with – and against – a lot of them in the past.
“Their advice is that I don’t have anything to lose by being here, not to put pressure on myself and to just give it my all when I get on the court,” she said. “It’ll be an amazing experience.”
Sadler said Hokianga’s elevation to the top levels isn’t a surprise, because she’s been showing talent for some years.
She’s one of at least four who’ve been coming through the grades together “from the ages of 6 or 7” who are now “in the mix” for the under-17 world tournament this year, joined by his daughter (Storey Sadler), Grayson Parahi and Keija Miringaorangi.
He text-messaged Hokianga to congratulate her on “making history”, reminded her of the time when she was about 12 and they talked about what she would have to do if she were playing China.
“Now she’s there,” he said. “And it’s a whole village behind her.”
No 23-ranked New Zealand play No 2-ranked China in the opening game, shown on TVNZ+ from 11.50pm on Thursday, and then play Puerto Rico on Saturday (11.50pm) and France on Sunday (9.20pm).
It’s one of four Olympics qualifying tournaments being held globally during the weekend.
