Special Olympics World Summer Games Berlin 2023: New Zealand basketball team to make history

The New Zealand Special Olympics 3x3 basketball team, with head coach Simone Kokaua (front left), and (from left) Laura Montgomery (Hutt Valley), Nathan Winkelman (Canterbury), Hayden Wilson (Manawatu), Unified partner Reuben Tearle (Counties) and 3x3 coach Wi Te Pou (Counties). Photo / Supplied

The New Zealand Special Olympics basketball team will break new ground at the World Summer Games in Berlin next month when they compete as a unified team for the first time in history.

Unified means the team is made up of players with and without an intellectual disability, making it a “true embodiment of inclusion”, Special Olympics New Zealand says.

The New Zealand basketball team is led by head coach Simone Kokaua (Ngāti Hinerangi, Kuki Airani), of Hamilton, who says unified teams are the future of Special Olympics.

“In most cases, we talk about inclusion, when our athletes are allowed to compete into everyone else’s world, but we think that real inclusion is when we include the outside world into our world,” says Kokaua.

The team is made up of Special Olympics players Nathan Winkelman, of Canterbury, Laura Montgomery, of Hutt Valley, Hayden Wilson, of Manawatu, and their unified partners Reuben Tearle and Jazmyn McGregor, of Counties.

Kokaua says Winkelman is the tall timber of the team, “our kahikatea tree”, who has a real presence on the court, while Montgomery “shoots like superstar Stephen Curry”, and Wilson has great skills driving to the hoop with accurate shooting.

“McGregor and Tearle have a beautiful manner of guiding our Special Olympics athletes to improve their skills and build their confidence in each other,” Kokaua says.

The team is preparing for their final training camp in Pukehohe, before competing in the 3x3 competition at the Special Olympics.

Kokaua says her team has incredible ball skills and athletic abilities and will be able to make a real impression on the international stage.

“Some teams will be there only to win, which is not in the spirit of the Special Olympics, but the organisers will have observers at our Unified Games to ensure all players on the team get roughly the same court time and touches on the ball to avoid one really good player dominating a game,” she says.

Kokaua will bring her experience from two previous World Summer Games, in Los Angeles in 2015 and Abu Dhabi in 2019, to the table. Her team is also supported by coach Jamie Reddish from the Franklin Basketball Association, and experienced 3x3 coach Wi Te Pou from Counties.

At the upcoming World Summer Games in Berlin, 7000 athletes from 190 nations will be competing in 26 sports. The opening ceremony, on June 17 in the historic Olympiastadion, is already sold out with nearly 80,000 spectators.

However, Kokaua is not concerned her athletes will be overwhelmed by the enormity of the event.

“In Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi, we also had huge crowds, but the athletes loved it. With thousands of people waving, most athletes were convinced they are all waving at them personally, so they really enjoyed it.”

The New Zealand delegation of 39 athletes and 22 support staff and coaches will leave for Germany on June 7 for an acclimatisation camp and the host city programme near Munich, before they travel to Berlin.