NZ teens compete for bronze at U17 World Cup

New Zealand’s Under 17 men’s basketball team has a chance to achieve something no Kiwi team has ever done at a FIBA ​​World Cup tournament – ​​playing for a bronze medal in Türkiye.

The Kiwi team is punching well above their weight, beating fancied teams like Lithuania and Türkiye before falling to the heavyweight American team in the semi-final.

Coach Leyton Haddleton told 1News history is on their minds.

“There’s a belief that we might be able to go one better than the 2002 World Cup team,” he said.

New Zealand’s best result at a World Cup came 22 years ago when the Tall Blacks finished fourth – well before any of the U17 men’s team was born.

The biggest hurdle for this crop of players has been off court, with all of the players paying their own way to be at the tournament.

“There’s resourcing and a few other things that need to go on,” Haddleton said.

“The s****y gyms that we’ve trained in, the stinky hotels, the bad food – those are the trials and tribulations that are our journey.”

There are stark contrasts to their American opponents last night – seven-time champions who are on a 50-game winning streak.

“We have three coaches, a manager, and a physio. We look over to the USA and they have about 10 people helping them.”

But forward Troy Plumtree thinks flying under the radar has been beneficial too.

“A lot of people underestimated us which helped us,” he said.

“We were always underdogs going into games so there was no real pressure.”

It’s also helped that the young players also compete in their local men’s NBL league.

“They are playing and training against men week in, week out,” Haddleton explained. “They come physically prepared which is something that none of the other junior teams have had before.”

The dream now is to get that bronze medal and make history.

The bronze media match is live and free on TVNZ+ from 2am on Monday.