Seventeen-year-old Mairangi Bay teenager Brooke Blair is passionate about basketball. Her love for the game and commitment to the sport has been rewarded by the recent announcement that she was selected for the New Zealand under-19 women's basketball team.
Brooke will travel to China with the New Zealand Junior Tall Ferns team on April 25 to compete at a tournament in Chongqing.
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As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brooke chooses to reserve Sundays for worship and family time, and does not play basketball.
The tournament in China is being used as a warm up for the qualifying games against Australia later this year to determine who will go forward to the FIBA Junior World Championships in 2013.
Brooke trains or plays every day except Sunday. She plays for Rangitoto College and North Harbour, and she also loves to play touch rugby, tag football and netball. Her two sisters, Mikayla and Shinae play for the Harbour Breeze basketball team, and although her three brothers also play basketball, Brooke says, "They are more into rugby."
Brooke is in Year 13 at Rangitoto College and is hoping to apply for a college basketball scholarship in the US after she leaves school.