Dame Lisa Carrington brings golden touch to basketball

There have been a few famous faces trek through the sport and recreation labyrinth that is Hiwa in the past few months, but none better known than Dame Lisa Carrington.

Kayak queen Dame Lisa, Aotearoa New Zealand’s most successful Olympian ever with eight golds to her sporting name, visited the gym on 28 April for a TV interview about her latest venture.

Dame Lisa has taken 2025 off from competing on the Kayak World Cup circuit but still has plans to compete at the LA Olympics in 2028. She is still training, but has a little bit more flexibility with her time. So why not fill it up with something completely different?

The reason for her visit to Hiwa (see her there in this Insta video) was to talk about becoming one of the owners of the women’s basketball team BNZ Kāhu, the first all-women-owned sports team in New Zealand.

She and Kāhu general manager Jo Caird, basketball coaching legend Jody Cameron, and two Kāhu team members spent time in Sports Hall 1, to talk to media about the move, and check out the venue.

Dame Lisa says she approached Caird a few months earlier. “I asked her, ‘how are you doing this, how are you owning a professional team as it’s not something that’s done often in New Zealand, in women’s sport especially. I’d been wondering how I could continue to be involved in women’s sport, once I do finish my own. I think being part of Kāhu is a unique opportunity.”

The canoeing powerhouse says she’s by no means a basketball expert but is keen to see more girls play the game, and she knows what it takes to be successful in sport.

That’s the mission too at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, for both men’s and women’s basketball.

Med student Dominique Stephens is assisted in balancing sport and study by the University’s High Performance Support Programme. She is part of the Tall Ferns wider training squad and on the NZ 3x3 women’s basketball team and NZ Under 23s. BCom student Bart Jackowski, is also part of the HPSP and plays for the Auckland Tuatara in the NZ National Basketball League.

Albie Eaton, sport development manager at the University, says with basketball the second most popular sport at high school level, it makes sense to get them playing at University as well.

“We haven’t done as well as we are capable of in basketball, against other universities, but with our amazing new facility, which is great for spectators as well, we’re really hoping to up our game.

“We want to become the university of choice for top Kiwi basketballers. We see them returning from overseas after basketball scholarships, and they may want to continue their studies or do postgraduate. They need to know there’s a well-supported basketball programme here with top coaches and opportunities to play in regular leagues.”

She’s excited about the National Tertiary Basketball Championships, which will be held at Hiwa in September, the same month the Kāhu kicks off their season.

“It would be great to get a win there and in the National Tertiary 3x3 Basketball Champs, traditionally dominated by southern teams.”

Eaton says while some top school basketballers head overseas to universities on basketball scholarships, for many students that’s not possible.

“So, we want to ensure that if they do make the decision to stay in New Zealand, they consider studying and playing with us with our fantastic facility and a basketball programme that is in line with the high-performance nature of Hiwa as a sports venue.”

Part of the reason for the Dame Lisa/Kāhu announcement at Hiwa, was to champion and support women in sport.

“The BNZ Kāhu is the first franchise to have all women owners and we want to tautoko that,” says Eaton. “Using Hiwa as a backdrop for their announcement was a no-brainer and gave the creative team an opportunity to showcase the facility.”

It was also an opportunity for the University to build a relationship with the BNZ Kāhu with the possibility of games or training camps on campus.

“That would be so exciting for our students. Watching live sport in our own space really creates connections and vibrancy for the campus.”

And it has been done before. In 2015, the University created a successful MOU with NZ Football, which led to securing the two top Futsal coaches in New Zealand to be part of the University sport community and therefore attracted top players to come to the University of Auckland.

“The goal is to do that with basketball, so we’re hoping to start building relationships with franchises and the regional and national bodies,” says Albie.

“Last year, we toured [former professional basketballer and CE at Basketball NZ] Dillon Boucher, who is now President of Basketball Operations at the Breakers, and he was extremely impressed by the facilities.”