Te Aka Poitūkohu EBBOPBBA

What’s the kaupapa?
The kaupapa of Te Aka Poitūkohu is to create fair and equitable access to basketball for tamariki and rangatahi in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. We’re about building community and life learnings through basketball — we’re focused on reducing barriers, uplifting our communities, and developing young people through a kaupapa grounded in te ao Māori values like whakapapa, mana, panekiretanga, and hapori. We believe every kid deserves the chance to play, grow, and succeed.

What do we do?
We provide basketball opportunities for kids of all ages and levels — from social players to those with aspirations to compete at the top. That includes:

Who is involved?
Te Aka Poitūkohu is made up of a group of committed parents, coaches, supporters, tamariki and rangatahi from across the Eastern Bay of Plenty. Many of us are volunteers, and we’re all passionate about basketball and our communities. Our players come from a wide range of backgrounds, and our club is united by a strong sense of whanaungatanga and driven by the shared belief that our kids deserve access to great sports and development opportunities.

What’s the background story?
As parents and supporters, we kept seeing the better facilities and opportunities youth in other regions have compared our kids. Our region is full of hugely talented kids who deserve these opportunities too. So we came together, pooled our skills, and started building something ourselves.