Rotorua’s Xanda Marsters, 17, is shooting for the top and catching people’s eye with his basketball talent.
A number of trials were held around New Zealand, and Xanda was selected as one of the top 24 players in the under 17s age group to attend a New Zealand camp.
The camp was held earlier this month, and from those who attended a top 12 will be identified to travel to Papua New Guinea in October to participate in the Oceania Basketball Championships.
This will be the first of three championships the New Zealand U17 team will be part of, and the team will be finalised in July.
Xanda, a Year 13 student at Rotorua Boys’ High School, says it was a great feeling to be selected to attend the national camp, and it was another step in his basketball journey and towards his goals.
He says the camp was an overall great experience which involved a lot of training sessions. He enjoyed the whole process - the coaches, meeting new people, the trainings and seeing what it is like at a national level.
“The intensity of the practices was demanding.”
Xanda says he says been playing basketball since the age of 7-8. He currently plays for the Senior A Rotorua Boys’ High School team and the Rotorua reps U17 team.
Trainings for the school team are on Mondays and Wednesdays, and for the Rotorua reps team on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
He says he plays in the point guard and shooting guard positions, and one of his favourite things in the sport is to get the ball through the hoop.
Xanda’s hopes for these teams in 2023 is for the Rotorua U17 rep team to make it as far as possible in the U17 nationals, and for the RBHS Senior A team to win nationals.
He is also part of the Rotorua Boys’ High School Basketball Academy, which includes training sessions three times a week.
Xanda says the academy is great because he gets to do extra trainings during school and receive specialist coaching from coaches Theo Tait, Doug Courtney and Mark Elers.
He says being selected to participate in the Oceania Basketball Championships would be a big confidence boost, and if selected it would be a huge honour to represent New Zealand.
In the future he also wants to go overseas to study and play basketball professionally.
Coach Theo Tait, director of the Rotorua Boys’ High School Basketball Academy, thinks the camp was a fantastic opportunity for Xanda.
Theo says Xanda has been in the academy since Year 9, and that over the years his skill level has really improved and his confidence has grown. He says Xanda has a really great work ethic.
“We’ve watched him as he’s grown since Year 9 ... He’s got a great feel for the game, it’s like the game is in his blood.”
Theo says the primary goal of the basketball academy when students first start is to have that fun element, and then to build the players to try and reach their goals in basketball.
These goals could include making Rotorua rep teams, making national rep teams, and getting experience in other top grade tournaments.
He believes there is a lot of opportunity for players once they finish school, which the academy aims to be a pathway to, including to progress on to the New Zealand National Basketball League.
“The other part of our academy is to create good young men for the community ... the academy is there to help them and show them a pathway.”