Hoop Nation to bring 700 basketballers to Whanganui

HoopNation founders KJ Allen (left) and Paul Berridge are returning home to launch their massive off-shoot HoopNation Junior Showcase in Whanganui over Easter weekend. Photo / File

Whanganui will be treated to the largest junior basketball tournament it has ever witnessed when it hosts the inaugural HoopNation Junior Showcase over Easter weekend.

On April 2-5, the HoopNation Junior Showcase will feature 70 teams and 720 players from throughout New Zealand competing on five courts at three venues – Springvale Stadium (three courts), Whanganui Collegiate School and Cullinane College (one court apiece).

The event was initially billed as a 36-team HoopNation junior tournament for Under 12-16 grades, as an offshoot of the original senior tournament, now called HoopNation Classic, which started at Springvale before being moved to Tauranga six years ago.

The Classic has grown to now cater for 163 teams that include some of the best basketballers in the nation.

HoopNation was founded by Whanganui basketball fanatics Paul Berridge and KJ Allen who are also at the coal face of the HoopNation Junior Showcase launch in the River City.

"We had hoped to launch the Junior Showcase last year, but Covid got the better of us," Berridge said.

"At that stage we had 36 teams ready to go, but now we have 70 teams and more than 720 players and will feature some of our best youth players. It will be the biggest youth basketball tournament Whanganui has ever seen."

A big drawcard is that unlike the regular HoopNation tournament, the Whanganui version is to be contested under Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) rules from the United States.

A number of New Zealand teams were scheduled to travel to compete in Las Vegas in July and so jumped at the chance to play under those conditions domestically before they would leave.

"It was really awesome times, and exciting times to see what this means to the basketball community," said Berridge.

"We're really excited to come home, and we were embraced by a lot of people that have supported us in the past."

Teams from the Waikato, Tauranga, Taranaki, Manawatū, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Auckland and Brisbane had all previously signed up to take part. Teams from as far afield as Dunedin up to Northland had since joined the party. Previous HoopNation events in Whanganui boosted the town's economy by an estimated $1.6 million.

As well as the three basketball courts inside Springvale Stadium, Berridge said one court each at Cullinane College and Whanganui Collegiate School would be used over the four days of play at Easter.