A tall order
Basketballer Blaine Fitzgerald is on the up – and not just because he’s six foot six (198cm).
Basketballer Blaine Fitzgerald in action. Photo: Supplied
The Taupō 18-year-old has recently made it onto the Whaikaha New Zealand Basketball team, an official national side that includes a squad of 10 to 15 high-functioning athletes with intellectual disabilities.
The first team came together in September 2024 and Whaikaha has since travelled overseas to play in tournaments such as the Ivor Burge Men’s State Championships in Australia last year.
He will be off to Japan or Bangkok later this year for a tournament featuring sides from around Asia.
Blaine describes himself as a high-functioning autistic person.
“It affects my learning ability but not in a negative way, I just think differently to others because of my autism.”
One thing he is sure of is chasing his basketball dream.
Blaine has been playing since he was about eight years old and would one day “like to get into the NBA.”
“Playing for the Auckland Breakers would be pretty cool too.”
He is also part of the under 20 representative Taupō team.
Getting selected for the national side was not that easy, he says, involving pre-trial training and then a trial, last month in Porirua – though the training made him more confident and at ease with the other players, all picked on merit.
“You have to try out and put the work in. It’s not just like a walk in the park kind of thing.”
With his debut for the Whaikaha New Zealand side in November, it looks like some of his hoop dreams are starting to be realised.
He is “stoked” to have been named in the side which is funded by the New Zealand Basketball Association.
And in the meantime Blaine, who is currently unemployed, will keep looking for a job that will allow him to maintain his training in pursuit of even higher basketball honours.
As well as Blaine, the 2026/27 Whaikaha NZ Basketball mens team includes players from Tauranga, Nelson, Auckland, North Canterbury, Porirua, Wairarapa, Manawatu and Auckland.