Thursday 30 May 2013

SKYCITY Breakers are coming to Gisborne!

Turanga Health is bringing the SKYCITY Breakers to town for three days in June!

The SKYCITY Breakers ‘Are You Ready To Be A Champion?’ Turanga Health Tour 2013 runs June 16, 17, and 18 and thousands of kids will be given the chance to meet the tall superstars up close.

SKYCITY Breakers coaches Dean Vickerman and Judd Flavell will visit, as well as players CJ Bruton, Alex Pledger, and newest recruit Jeremiah Trueman. Tall Black Hayden Allen who works with the franchise will also be coming.

The players and coaching staff will run a basketball skills road show in schools and with sports groups, but more importantly they will be using their unique style, charisma and wisdom to encourage and inspire youngsters to become amazing adults and community champions, says event coordinator Dwayne Tamatea from Turanga Health.

“The SKYCITY Breakers are well known to be a community programme that has a professional basketball team attached to it, rather than the other way around. Turanga Health has always wanted to share the SKYCITY Breakers programme with Gisborne’s youth.”

Mr Tamatea says the guys offer a positive role model to kids “especially when it comes to making the right choices around alcohol and drug use”.

“The SKYCITY Breakers will share their messages around the importance of family, balance, respect, sacrifice and belief in yourself, and they do it in a relaxed, often hilarious way, all the while teaching kids about basketball and life.”

The SKYCITY Breakers certainly have the credentials to empower others. They are the only New Zealand basketball team in the Australian National Basketball League and this year became three-peat winners of the ANBL trophy.

Head Coach Dean Vickerman is thrilled to be coming to Gisborne for the first time. “We don’t always get to see how big an impact this team is having around the country and so we are really looking forward to coming.”

Vickerman says the SKYCITY Breakers’ values around family, trust and player support, are a draw card. “Being part of a family, or a team, that supports one another, keeps you on the level - it’s been one of the reasons I have stayed. It’s improved me and definitely made me a better person.”

He says kids coming to the school-based training sessions next month will have a blast “learning how to trust each other with a number of games and skill challenges”.

“It’s going to be loads of fun for anyone, whether you are into basketball or not, and that’s important because it’s exactly what you want sport to be - fun.”

Public events include Breaking the Ice: An Afternoon with the SKYCITY Breakers on Sunday 16 June. Come along to the YMCA to see the basketball stars in action, hang with them on court, and listen to live on-the-couch interviews.

Breaking out the Big Guns: Dinner with the SKYCITY Breakers on Monday 17 June will be a unique opportunity to listen to coach Dean Vickerman discuss the SKYCITY Breakers’ recipe for success.

Mr Tamatea, a legend in local basketball having played and coached the provincial team, says Midlands Health Network and Eastland Community Trust have helped Turanga Health secure the SKYCITY Breakers tour.

“The SKYCITY Breakers are focused on community initiatives, getting youth to be the best they can be on and off any sports field. We are extremely lucky to have them coming. Many thanks for everyone’s support - I urge everyone to come along and see the big men from the SKYCITY Breakers.”

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For more information contact: Dwayne Tamatea, Turanga Health Service Delivery Manager, 027 212 6704.

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