New Zealand's Kiwi Hoops record historic rise in participation

Gold Coast (Australia) - Basketball New Zealand's (BBNZ) Kiwi Hoops program has recorded a massive 220% increase in the participation rate since its inception in 2015.

FIBA Executive Director David Crocker commended the Federation with the phenomenal growth of the program.

"Basketball New Zealand's Kiwi Hoops program is one of the model youth basketball-oriented projects in the region. With their smart and efficient planning, BBNZ has helped basketball become one of the most popular secondary school sport in the country," said Crocker.

"We are very delighted to see the continued success of the program and believe that it will grow and help develop basketball even further in the future," he added.

BBNZ released a statement that more than 23,000 Kiwi kids participated in their youth basketball program in 2019, a significant 220 percent increase from its original year of launch in 2015.

“The growth has been positive along with ongoing growth in Associations that have invested in the program, notably Capital basketball, but also Basketball Hawke’s Bay and Southland Basketball," shared BBNZ Community Basketball General Manager, Brad Edwards.

Auckland Basketball Services was another standout and did brilliantly with this program too," he added.

According to BBNZ, "Kiwi Hoops is the Basketball New Zealand junior basketball program. It uses basketball activities and games to provide fun and enjoyable learning and participation experiences for young people from 5 to 13 years of age."

Damien Ekenasio, General Manager of the Capital Zone Basketball Trust emphasized the "fun and enjoyable learning" philosophy as a key to the success of the program.

“Kiwi Hoops is all about fundamentals, with emphasis on ‘fun’. Learning the game through fun games is the reason children love it so much. Children, parents, and teachers are loving Kiwi Hoops," shared Ekenasio.

"Every year numbers have grown with last year being the biggest with over 5000 kids participating in Kiwi Hoops across our Capital Zone," he added.

BBNZ also disclosed the number of participants annually of the program and saw a steady increase every year. You can find more information here.

FIBA