Age barriers fall to Pahlyss’ prodigious talent

Pahlyss Hokianga has swapped one Bay in Aotearoa for another, at the same time as her basketball journey explores new frontiers around the world.
The 17-year-old youth grades basketball star grew up in the Hawkes Bay towns of Bridge Pā and Flaxmere in a family steeped in rugby and rugby league.
But after attending a game involving the Bay of Plenty-based team Whai in the inaugural season of Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa League in 2022, Pahlyss’ parents, Colin and Ngavero, spoke to the Whai organisation to see what opportunities were available if their daughter was to make the move to Tauranga. The result? She joined Whai for the 2023 season.
For anyone, leaving home for the first time is a challenge, but doing so at such a young age is even more difficult.
Hokianga is honest and admits how hard it was to move away from her family. She says that it’s getting better and is living with the family of one of her school teammates from Tauranga Girls’ College.
Days can be long with training before and after school, and sometimes at night as well. Her parents do their best to come up and watch when they can.
“They support any decisions that I make and they will always be there for me,” Hokianga says.
Director of basketball and Whai head coach Alex Stojkovic admits that despite her talent, he also had his reservations about the move.
“To be honest, at the time I wasn’t 100 percent sure if it was a good idea for her to move up from Hawkes Bay when she was only 15,” he says.
“Moving away from home at that age is quite a big challenge, being away from your parents and friends and your community. But to her credit she’s shown great resilience right from the start. To be able to come in as a 15-year-old and perform the way she did, I haven’t seen anything like it, and I’ve been coaching for 20 years.”
When she was a pupil at Peterhead School in Flaxmere, she veered towards basketball at the age of eight, attending the Bridge Pā club, and by nine she was chosen for the Hawkes Bay U13 girls’ team.
Hokianga continued her progression through Hastings Girls’ High School to represent New Zealand in the 2022 U15 Oceania Championships in Guam.
Last year, she played in the Tauihi Rapid League and swept the board when it came to accolades.  She was the Tauihi Youth Player of the Year, an inaugural Rapid League All-Star 5 member, and also the Rapid League’s MVP.
“She played pretty fearlessly right from the start. What serves her well is she’s got a very competitive nature and great work ethic, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted the impact she would have straightaway,” Stojkovic says.
Her international experience expanded as she played for New Zealand in the U16 Asian championships in Jordan in July 2023. The side finished third after a game-leading 31 points from Hokianga saw them defeat China 95-73 and qualify for the U17 World Championships in Mexico in July this year, where they finished 12th of 16 teams, equalling their placing from their previous two appearances. Hokianga played all seven games, coming 12th in individual assists for the tournament.
But before she was able to play in the U17 worlds, in February this year the then-16-year-old Hokianga was called into the senior Tall Ferns squad for an Olympic Games qualifying tournament in China as replacement for injured star player Charlisse Leger-Walker.
“It was an unexpected experience because I was in Australia, playing a tournament over there, and then I got the call-up. It was quite overwhelming and there were lots of emotions. It was a good experience, learning from the older girls and being in that environment. I felt welcome and the girls looked after me,” Hokianga says.
Unfortunately, the Tall Ferns were unable to progress to Paris, losing their three qualifiers to China, Puerto Rico and France. Hokianga took to the court against China and France, with her debut against China being at the age of 16 years, 115 days, beating the record for youngest player set by Leger-Walker debuting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games aged 16 years and 202 days.
“Her main strength is that she’s aggressive offensively. She’s pretty good for her age running the pick and roll and I think that’s I think she’s got the opportunity to become the best New Zealand guard in terms of using on-ball screens which is quite a difficult skill to master, but she’s already pretty advanced for her age,” Stojkovic says.
“She’s got the potential to be an amazing defender. The main challenge for her is consistency. Her ability to concentrate for long periods of time isn’t quite there yet. She has good hands, good natural speed, so I think over time she could also develop into a world-class defender.”
Hokianga’s Whai side started the 2024 season of the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa League with a 98-80 home win against the Mainland Pouākai, but have followed that with four consecutive defeats, at home to the Kāhu 87-75, two on the road, a narrow 92-90 defeat to Tokomanawa Queens and an 83-76 loss to Southern Hoiho, and then a home defeat 85-73 against the Queens again.
Now, sitting fifth on the ladder, they’re in the middle of three home games out of four in a run which will likely decide the fate of their season. The top four sides make the finals round.
Next year will be Hokianga’s final year at Tauranga Girls’ College and she is looking to play college basketball in the USA from 2026. She’s already talking to some colleges and after she makes a final decision on where she wants to go, she will study there for four years, probably focusing on sports psychology or sports management.
From there Hokianga’s intentions are to travel and play professionally in different countries while still ensuring she makes herself available for the Tall Ferns.
As far as Stojkovic is concerned, it could be a long career in national colours.
“Last year was such an amazing year for her and that raises expectations, it builds pressure and if you look at her performances, they have been a little up and down and I think we have to keep in mind she is only 17-years-old. With what she’s shown so far and with her work ethic, I do think she will be the New Zealand point guard for well over the next decade. She can play at a very high level.”
The Whai are at home this Saturday at 5 pm against the Southern Hoiho. All matches are shown on SkySport