Popular basketball fundraiser destined to be sponsored competition?

An over-subscription of basketball teams at a recent competition has encouraged the organisers to consider turning the fundraiser into a monthly event.

Waikato women’s basketball team, the Wizards, held a fundraising tournament recently at St Peters School, Cambridge.

The one-day tournament, which boasted an impressive selection of local talent, was to raise money for the Wizards to attend a Women’s Basketball Competition (WBC) tournament in Nelson in June.

Event organiser and Wizards coach, Puke Lenden, was happy with the turn out and hopes this is the first tournament of many to come.

“With this sort of turn out, we hope to aim to make this a monthly thing,” Puke said.

The tournament, which made $1500, was limited to six teams per grade, meaning three men’s and two women’s teams were unable to compete.

Lenden hopes to extend the tournament to include more teams, with the eventual goal of having a sponsored competition.

Co-organiser and Wizards player, Natasha Lenden, said the tournament also aimed to encourage people to play basketball at all age groups.

“It’s not just a fundraiser, we want this to be an event for all ages,” Natasha said.

Fraser won the men’s competition, while Hamilton Girls took out the women’s, winning all their games for the day.

Other than Puke, who is a former Pistons player, the tournament included other local talent such as Torr Woodhouse and James Comer (both Pistons players) and former students of Cambridge High School.

Comer enjoyed the tournament and hopes to be a regular player.

“It’s a good cause and I love basketball, so I will play as long as I can,” Comer said.

The Wizards will now have two months to work on their game before playing in the WBC tournament.