The New Plymouth U15 girls' and boys' teams (pictured left) travelled to Nelson to compete in the National U15 championships while the U13 girls' team travelled to Napier for their National event.

The U15 girls' team had a nail-biting pool round -  losing to Rotorua by 2 points and then coming back to beat Harbour by 2 points, all on the same day!  At the end of the second day we were left watching Nelson play Rotorua to determine who would go through to top eight.  Nelson beat Rotorua so our New Plymouth girls went through top of their pool!   This exhausting second day may have taken its toll on the girls as they couldn't secure the following two games, however they managed to win their last and come 7th overall.  A great effort girls!!

The U15 boys' had a tough first two games against Otago and Rotorua, losing both.  They came back with a win against Harbour c on the second day to end 3rd in their pool.  Losing to Tauranga the following day was a blow as they had previously beaten them earlier in the season but they followed that up with two wins against local rivals TCB and mid-Canterbury on days 4 and 5.  By the end of the tournament the boys overall had 3 wins and 3 losses and came 13th overall.

For 11 of the 12 members of the U13 girls team it was their first National tournament and was made all the more tough by playing and losing to two very strong teams, Harbour A and Rotorua, on their first day.  After this exhausting first day they didn't bring their best game to play Nelson and ended up losing this game to end up 4th in their pool.  Losing in their tough crossover with Hutt Valley left them hungry for a win and they played well to beat Tauranga on day 4.  They ended up playing Nelson again to determine their final placing and had a runaway win this time to come 13th overall.

Willie Banks and Brendon Baxter coached the U15 girls' and boys' teams respectively, and Eileen Hall coached the U13 girls' team. Many months of coaching had gone into preparing these teams for these tournaments and the NPBA would like to sincerely thank the coaches and management staff of these teams for their efforts.