The New Zealand Olympic Committee and Basketball New Zealand have named the men’s basketball team for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Head Coach Paul Henare says the 12-strong roster has a great mix of youth and experience, with all players recently vetted at international level.
“It's always an honour to be in the NZ team and it's going to be a great experience going over to the Commonwealth Games,” says player Reuben Te Rangi.
Four Māori will feature in the Commonwealth Games team for 2018.
Derone Raukawa of Ngāi Tūhoe and Ngāti Raukawa ponders the moment he made the team, “We were talking about what the future looks like for me and I said 'I’m available to play at the Commonwealth Games', and [Paul Henare] stopped me there and he said 'oh, you know you're in?" and I was like 'ohhhh!'
"It was a shock aye, I was just making sure that he knew I was available. It's ridiculous, I was so excited when I got told I’m going to the Commonwealth Games. It's like a dream come true.”
The last time the Commonwealth Games were held in Australia was in 2006 in Melbourne. That team won silver.
Only Mika Vukona from that 2006 side is still in the team, with a mixture of old and young players in this 2018 squad.
NZ will play Nigeria, Canada and Australia in pool play, the top two teams from this pool will progress to semi-finals.
“All teams are going to be tough. We're in a tough pool right now- Aussie, Nigeria, they're all going to be tough teams,” says Jordan Ngātai.
Despite asking different players what they want to take from this experience, there was only one aim. To win gold.
The first match for NZ is against Nigeria on April 6th.