MISSION & VALUES
Taranaki Basketball aspires to provide a high quality basketball programme on and off the court, by involving our fans in the games and providing our players and coaches with the opportunities to develop their skill sets and achieve success. We aim to achieve our vision by working hard and emphasising our core values being
• Mutual respect for each other and the community
• By p
roviding our fans with superior entertainment
• By helping out sponsor build their brands and grow their business
• Develop athletes and coaches through talent identification and coaching mentorship in programmes laid out by BBNZ. TARANAKI BASKETBALL HISTORY
Taranaki Mountain Airs are a New Zealand professional basketball team that compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). They have previously been known as the New Plymouth Bulls (1986–93), the Taranaki Bears (1994–98), the Taranaki Oilers (1999) and the Devon Dynamos Taranaki (2008–09). Due to a lack of funding they did not compete in the New Zealand NBL from 2000–2002.After having been absent from the national competition for three seasons, there was a need to redevelop the local talent. In 2003, the Taranaki Basketball campaigned to launch a team in the NBL. A rejuvenated pool of talented players came together, a team was selected and the vision became a reality. With tremendous public and media support, the Taranaki Mountain Airs had an outstanding reintroduction into New Zealand basketball’s major stage. Their best results in the NBL were third place in 1988, 1991 and 1992. Player Willie Banks was named NBL MVP in 2004.
