Two sons of former Hawke's Bay NBL basketballers were in the Hastings Boys' High School team which won the Junior A title at the National Secondary Schools 3 x 3 tournament in Tauranga last week.
Tzar Smiler, a son of the former Hawks guard with the same name and Denim Tuala-Fata, a son of former Hawks forward Peleti Tuala-Fata, were joined by Rongo Maaka-Morrell, Rudy Ioasa, a son of 2006 Commonwealth Games Sevens gold medallist Tafai Ioasa and Tyler Mau in the Regan Spooner-coached side which won the title with an unbeaten run in 12 games.
Coach Spooner believes Smiler jnr and Tuala-Fata jnr both have the potential to be better players than their fathers were in future and he can't wait to see how the entire squad performs at senior level.
HBHS beat St Thomas of Canterbury College 17-15 in their final and Hamilton's Melville High School 21-11 in their semifinal on Friday. On Wednesday HBHS won all four of their games and on Thursday all six of their games.
For Tuala-Fata it was his first tournament after returning from a United States tour with the Swish Toki team last month during which they met New Zealand's most famous NBA star Steven Adams. All five of the HBHS players are Year 10 students and won't be eligible for the junior grade next year.