Slam dunking secondary schools action set for Rotorua

Darrell Pene, the co-organiser of the Tip-off secondary schools preseason tournament. Photo/File

Rotorua is set for plenty of slam dunking secondary schools basketball action over the weekend.

It's that time of year for the annual Tip-off secondary schools preseason tournament at the Energy Events Centre.

An estimated 500 players will take to the courts vying for top titles with their sides in the tournament that started today , with play running through to finals day on Sunday.

This year 21 teams are involved across the senior boys divisions, including sides from Napier, Hastings, Wellington and Auckland with Rotorua Boys' senior A team ones to watch out for locally.

Six sides will contest the senior girls' competition and Rotorua Girls' and Western Heights High both have a good shot at taking out the top prize.

In the junior section 26 teams will contest across the girls' and boys' competitions.

Tip-off has been running locally for over 20 years - following on from the formerly popular Western Heights High School multisport festival.

Event co-organiser Darrell Pene said he expected a "tight tussle" for titles this year despite a decrease in team turn out with another schools tournament on in Auckland this weekend.

"It's unfortunate about the clash but there's still all the top teams here," he said. "Rotorua has lots of chances across multiple divisions so hopefully we can celebrate some positive local results.

"It's brilliant that this tournament is still going strong and I think the finals are going to be very close contests for all the titles."

Pool play continues tomorrow , with finals starting from 9am on Sunday.

Full tournament draw and information here