It’s more than a very successful basketball team. It’s a culture.

“It’s about growing boys into great young men,” says coach Makayla Daysh. “And doing it through something they love.” Basketball. 

‘The Mambas’ out of Tauranga Intermediate are Zespri AIMS Games New Zealand champions. They haven’t lost a game or a tournament all year. They’re good.

And beating the best at home has got them noticed in the hotbed of global youth basketball, the United States.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” says the coach, dubbed ‘Maka’ by her boys. She’s also head of basketball at a basketball-crazy Tauranga Intermediate. “We have been invited to two high level tournaments in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.” A major step up, but the tournament directors have seen video of the Mambas and are confident they will be competitive.

Once in a lifetime

The “once in a lifetime” experience has a $70,000 price tag. “A lot of money but the boys are aware it’s a big task, and they’re doing the hard yards.”

The Mambas have been seen at Steamers’ rugby games with donation buckets, there are sausage sizzles – lots of them – a shoot-a-thon, a sponsorship marketing campaign, and there’s a “good raffle” going.

This is a basketball team that is impressive both on and off court. “We are really heavy on discipline, respect and responsibility – how to be a good person,” says Maka. The team mantra is “a constant quest to be the best version of one’s self”.

That means being gracious to the opposition, not putting people down, being great team mates, having each other’s back, supporting and encouraging each other. It’s hothousing, a high performance, professional sports environment. “We stick strongly to our values and morals,” says Maka.

And it shows. A young Mamba strides confidently up to The Weekend Sun reporter in the school gym. “Kia ora, I’m Stephen Akeli.” And there’s a firm handshake to cement the introduction. A 12-year-old with maturity and style. Mamba style.

Making a difference

“Every day you see our culture making a difference to these boys,” says Maka. “And that’s the most rewarding aspect of being coach of this team. Even more than winning.”

An 11-year-old Mason Ayshford says it takes a lot of skill, effort and practice to be good at basketball. “There’s a lot of people who don’t want to do that.” But he does.

Basketball is far and away the school’s most popular sport with 16 teams. Two-hundred kida trialled for the Mambas early this year. Just 12 made the grade.

Among them Chairo Tapsell – just 12, already near 2m tall and still has another four years of growing. “The team culture is a tough one, but we don’t mind that because I enjoy the victories.”

Chairo says it helps that coach Maka has been through it herself – has played in the USA and is still a pro. “Her experience is now our experience and it’s working for us.”

Chairo wants to be a pro basketballer. “But I have to think about the now, concentrate on how I am going achieve that goal.”

The spirit of the late, great shooting guard Kobe Bryant lives on with this team – it adopted his ‘Black Mamba’ nickname after Bryant died in a chopper crash in 2022.

The serpent is even entwined around a capital ‘M’ on their team logo. They live and work by Bryant’s credos. “If you don’t believe in yourself, no-one will do it for you”, “hard work outweighs talent every time” and “it’s a constant quest to be better today than you were yesterday”. It worked for Bryant.

If you’d like to be part of the sponsorship of the Tauranga Mambas, contact coach Makayla Daysh at: taurangamambas@gmail.com