June 28, 2022
Women’s basketball tourney set to soar
Women’s Basketball has taken on a Māori flavour with the launch tomorrow of the new Tauihi professional competition.
New Zealand Māori Basketball Association president Taku Parai the majority of basketball players in Aotearoa are Māori, because it’s a sport where all you need is a pair of sneakers to get on the court,
He says Women’s Basketball decided to take a new approach and asked him to advise on Māori values and help name the new GJ Gardiner Homes-sponsored competition.
“So we did that and came up with the name Tauihi which means to soar, to glide, to excel, to go for the stars and to go and be the best you can be, was all tied into that name,” Mr Parae says.
Teams were encouraged to work with their local iwi to pick names that amplify the Tauihu theme, with the northern team being Kahu or hawk, mid-north being Whai or stingray, the lower North Island represented by the Tokomanawa Queens after the centre ridge pole of a meeting house, Mainland Pouākai or Haast’s eagle flying out for the upper South Island, and the rest of Te Waipounamu being the territory of the yellow-eyed penguins, Southern Hoiho.