Celebrating Our People: 2025 Mel Young Easter Classic

26 Apr

The 2025 Mel Young Easter Classic lit up Tauranga over the Easter weekend, with more than 125 teams from across Aotearoa coming together to celebrate the best of youth basketball. Hosted by Tauranga City Basketball Association for Basketball Pacific, the tournament honoured the memory of Mel Young, a true pioneer for basketball in New Zealand whose passion for the game continues to inspire generations.

Across five venues – from Mercury Baypark to QEYC – courts were packed with excitement, whānau cheering from the sidelines, and tamariki giving it their all across U12, U14, U16, U18, U20, and the TUPU Women’s grades.

Among the many talented players who took the court, we’re proud to celebrate two of our own:

Thomas Borrell (Cooper whānau), who represented in the Under-12 Boys grade, and
Carter Elvin (McLeod whānau), who played in the highly competitive Under-14 Boys division.

Both boys have put in the mahi and it showed on the court. Their efforts not only made their teams and coaches proud but also their whānau and wider community here at home.

On behalf of everyone at Mangatawa Marae, we send our heartfelt congratulations to Thomas and Carter.
We are so proud of what you have achieved — you carried the pride of your whānau and hapori with you out on that court.

We can’t wait to see where your basketball journey takes you next! Keep chasing your dreams, keep putting in the hard work, and know that we are all behind you every step of the way.

Tūwhitia te hopo, mairangatia te angitū!
(Kill off the fear and elevate success!)