New Zealand basketball royalty open second court in Flaxmere
Students from several schools were put through their paces by New Zealand basketball royalty at the opening of Flaxmere's second Hoops in Parks facility.
The brand-new court on Flaxmere Park, with its top-of-the-line hoops and purple synthetic turf, was officially opened with a school skills day on Monday.
Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the opening was limited to the local schools - Flaxmere College, Flaxmere Primary School, Irongate School and Peterhead School.
Each school had just over an hour on the new courts with Tall Black’s head coach Pero Cameron, Tall Fern Lauryn Hippolite, Hawks player and former Tall Black Everard Bartlett, and former Tall Black and New Zealand Breakers player Hayden Allen.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and Flaxmere councillors Henare O’Keefe and Peleti Oli were at the court to see the action.
“This court is the perfect addition to Flaxmere Park and I know that it will be very well-used by our families from Flaxmere and wider Hastings,” said Mrs Hazlehurst. “This park was named New Zealand’s
Most Active Park 2020, and it really is living up to its title.”
She says the council is determined to ensure facilities match the needs of Flaxmere residents.
“The community let us know how popular basketball is in Flaxmere and that they were really short of facilities. By working with our partners, we’ve been able to address that. Flaxmere is growing, and it really
is its time to shine.”
The programme is a trial for a national roll-out of courts, aimed at making basketball facilities more accessible to communities. A basketball court at Ron Giorgi Park III was opened earlier this year.
Both courts have been made possible through a partnership between Hastings District Council, Basketball New Zealand, Basketball Hawke’s Bay and Sport Hawke’s Bay, with the Flaxmere Park court supported with funding from Eastern and Central Community Trust.
Basketball New Zealand’s Hoops In Parks project lead, Daniel Dawick, said the public response to the new facilities in Flaxmere had been fantastic.
“While it is about making basketball more accessible it’s not only that; it’s about helping our kids to improve their well-being by giving them opportunities to be physically active.”
The completion of the new basketball court will be followed by the installation of a moveable pump track in a couple of weeks. It will be on Flaxmere Park for about three months, after which the construction of the new skate plaza will start.
