There are other venues in Manawatū to play basketball, but they’re not always available.
The continuing surge of popularity and participation in basketball is putting the squeeze on court space in Manawatū.
Participation trends suggest basketball could soon be the most played sport in New Zealand and Manawatū is no different, with all leagues bursting at the seams and putting pressure on existing playing venues.
Basketball Manawatū general manager Mike Ryan said primary, secondary, social and senior competitions were all full and made maximum use of the nine designated basketball courts at CET Arena with the time available.
There are other venues in Manawatū to play basketball, but they’re not always available.
“We can’t keep up with space to play,” he said.
Although Ryan conceded not having enough court space was a great problem to have. It spoke to the rise in popularity of the sport. Basketball could soon eclipse netball as the most popular secondary school sport in New Zealand. Participation has increased more than 60% since 2000.
“When you see kids walking down the street, what kind of ball are they holding? How many do you see with basketballs?” he said.
“They see it as a fun sport. They see Stephen Adams. There are so many opportunities in basketball. There are competitions all over the world,” he said.
There’s been a rise in basketball and basketball merchandise sales as a result. Statistics NZ data last year showed basketball imports rising consistently in the past 30 years and a whopping 353,000 were imported last year, compared with 280,000 rugby balls for that same period.
Top of the list were footballs with an estimated 355,000 balls imported last year, but basketball imports continue to trend upwards each year and could top the list soon.
It was only a matter of time before girl’s and women’s basketball also started to catch up. There were 12 premier teams in the men’s grade compared with only five women’s teams. There were even fewer women playing in social leagues − about 25% of social players were female.
Ryan said Basketball Manawatū was keen to have more women and girls participate.
“We’re trying to engage with girls to get them involved,” he said.
In the meantime, some secondary school leagues were encouraged to increase the amount of players they carried in their squads from seven to 10. A school like Palmerston North Boys' High had 35 teams.
Another solution would be to have a designated secondary school league set aside for Wednesday afternoon. Ryan said it worked well for secondary school sport in Christchurch. It would also make better use of the basketball courts at the Arena because they aren’t in use at that time of day.
“Sport Canterbury introduced it down there and it would be one of the ways to solve the problem – play during school time,” he said.
As crazy as it seems, he said there could even be appetite for a midnight league to maximise court space at CET Arena.
Census data for secondary school sport participation for 2023 shows netball remaining the most popular sport with 26,950, followed by basketball (26,572), volleyball (24,970), rugby (24,930) and football (22,350).
Basketball New Zealand has reported nearly 78,000 players nationwide in 2023.
This season Basketball Manawatū had 60 teams compete in two summer leagues, 143 primary and intermediate school teams, 117 secondary school teams and 42 adults teams compete.
It was estimated more than 4000 games of basketball were played in Manawatū this year. At an average of seven players a team, more than 2500 players were involved each week.
The association also has 22 representative teams and there are also provincial wheelchair and Special Olympics basketball tournaments staged at the premier venue.
Ryan said they would continue to build on that growth and aspire to make basketball the No 1 sport of choice for players of all ages and abilities.
“We at Basketball Manawatū strive to be the best and despite issues with court availability, I believe we have the best basketball system and competitions in the country, and the basketball community we have here in Manawatū is envied across the motu,” he said.
“We always need to bear this in mind to put some perspective on matters.”
Palmerston North City Council has provision in its long-term plan for a further four basketball courts at CET Arena.