Nahala Toeleiu: Māori-Pasifika teen from Queen Margaret College joins NZ pro basketball league

"Nahala Toeleiu! Mark that name."

That was what the head of Wellington's Queen Margaret College (QMC) told RNZ Pacific when asked what she thought of the 15-year-old student, who made history as a young player of Māori-Pasifika heritage by breaking into professional basketball in New Zealand.

Nahala, as she is known to her family and friends, is one of the latest signings for the Tokomanawa Queens - a professional women's basketball team that plays in the Tauhi Basketball Aotearoa league.

The Year 11 student is a rising star who QMC's principal Jayne-Anne Young believes will be a revelation in the league and a future force on the basketball courts and beyond.

Nahala joined QMC not long ago, and from the moment she entered one of Wellington's leading schools, the teachers knew there was something special about her sporting ability, Young said.

"That has indeed [proven true] because she has now been selected as one of the youngest-ever players for a professional sports team [in New Zealand]."

Nervous and excited

Nahala told RNZ Pacific she is both excited and nervous about entering professional league basketball.

But she knows the experience will elevate her game, skills and personality, with her eyes set on securing a US college basketball scholarship.

"I'm really excited to be able to play with such professional and experienced basketball players. I'm a little nervous as well but I know I will be able to grow and develop from them," she said.

Nahala made the transition from across the Tasman to New Zealand basketball relatively easy, making the Wellington Under-16s and also receiving invitations to the New Zealand trials for both the under-15 Oceania Cup and the under-16 Asia Cup teams.

As a result, her school awarded her a Silver Fern pin - presented to students who are selected for any age-group New Zealand teams.

Nahala attributes a lot of her basketball knowledge and skills to her dad, Baker, who she said has "always been my number one coach [and] trainer" and her mum, who has "always done the the behind-the-scenes stuff, for me to have all these opportunities".

"[My] family has been the biggest supporters from day one - doing the little things, always watching my games, helping me with my trainings. My family's been a really important part of my basketball career," she said.

"I think you need a good community around you too."

She commends her current school and believes "education is also as important as basketball, and Queen Margaret's a really good school. So that's been really important for me too".

Nahala said that time management and daily organisation are critical in maintaining her balance between education and basketball.

'Marvellous young woman'

Young said Nahala is following on a long lineage of QMC students who have gone into that environment, and the school is thrilled she will have the opportunity to do what she loves.

She believes Nahala is going to be a complete star, not just in New Zealand but internationally.

"I have such faith in both her and her talents. As a student, she is so humble. She does not have an ego on the on the court. That's so important because you cannot have one or two stars [in] a team game.

"We just want Nahala to be that the person that we already know she is. She's just a marvellous young woman."

High praise indeed for a young student who, with the support of her family, school and her coaching team, has grown in leaps and bounds ever since picking up her first basketball as a six-year-old in Melbourne, Australia.

Nahala has her school's full support and they have worked with her to ensure she is also doing well academically - preparing her the best they can for her future.

"We've had that big discussion with the family to make sure that we all understand that the academics have to sit alongside the sport," Young said.

"I have to say, the Tokamana Queens 100 percent support that philosophy. Every single young woman that they've had of ours, they've all left school, but they still apply that thinking.

Young added Nahala's confidence is confidence is growing all the time, which can be seen in the way that she interacts with other students and teachers.

Mum: 'It's a family effort'

Nahala's mum Matea Toeleiu has been the one rallying her other five children together when Nahala and dad and coach Baker are busy with basketball.

She told RNZ Pacific it has been a family affair from the start, and they are excited to see what is happening, especially with the bigger goal of attaining a college basketball scholarship in sight.

Nahala is the oldest of six siblings. Her other siblings are Payton, 12, Reid, 8, Billie, 6, Eden, 4, and Abel, who is 2 years old.

Family support is what has been the foundation for Nahala's growth, Matea said, with dad Baker being her personal coach, while mum and the children are her first group of fans - cheering her and running the errands for her when needed.

"She's the oldest so she's got a lot of responsibility on and off the court as well. [We've] sacrificed our time and our effort and our money to support and guide her in her basketball career.

"[Family is] always on the sidelines cheering her on. It's not just a one person thing, it's a family effort that we've all sacrificed to help her achieve her goals.

Matea said balancing family, education and basketball is tough, but Nahala does when she is grounded.

"Basketball is second, but family comes first. We always make sure that she's doing all the things that she needs to be a good person as well as an incredible basketball player."

Matea said achieving a dream is always tough, but with everyone's support, nothing is impossible.

"It's just being around and surrounded by incredible coaching, management and players that have done such incredible things in their own time," she said.

"For her to learn and grow [and] eventually play in the WNBA, this is just that starting step for her to see what she really wants to do moving forward.

"Reaching her dreams is something that you as a parent always want to achieve."

Nahala started playing basketball at around seven years old in Melbourne for a local team. Since then, her journey has gone from strength to strength, guided by her father, who has been coaching her from the sidelines.

"I think it was about nine or 10 [when] we saw potential - she was growing taller and her skills were getting more refined. Then we put her into the first stage of representative basketball, which was under-12s."

Baker and Matea decided to move to Australia when their family was just beginning, with Nahala as a one-year-old, before they moved back to Wellington in 2023.

Nahala's recruitment is something the family is excited about, with Matea pointing to her daughter's commtiment as a big factor in her growth.

"It's something that most little girls dream about - if they're really passionate about basketball," she said.

"She works really hard. We see all her hard work, dedication and commitment to her craft, and it just shows that anything is possible if you work hard enough for it."

Nahala was home-schooled and was enrolled in a basketball program in Melbourne before enrolling at QMC.

Matea said the baskteball program helped in raising her daughter's basketball IQ and skills, and Queen Margaret has ensured "that she had some strong academic foundations as well as basketball skills to get to college in America".

'Nahala is a hard worker'

Wellington women's under-16 coach Pip Te Hira-Matatia, has worked with Nahala since 2023, told RNZ Pacific the teenager is hard worker.

Hira-Matatia said that she recognised that Nahala was different, silently going about her work at first and doing the extras.

"I met Nahala a couple months after she moved back to New Zealand from Australia, and that was at our under-16 trials back in 2023," Matatia said.

"In the first year that Nahala played for our rep team, she was our vice-captain, and this year she was our captain.

"It's difficult coming as a 14-year-old into a new program. She didn't have friends, she was home-schooled, so she really had to come to trials and try to showcase her skills. But in the same way, try to build relationships with other girls who have been part of the system for a few years."

Hira-Matatia said Nahala is quiet-spoken and it required for her to come out of her shell a little bit.

"And over the last two years, what I've seen in terms of her progress isn't necessarily what happens on the court. It's the off court stuff that I've really valued.

"It's her leadership. It's her growing in her relationship building with other players, and she's a natural leader. She turns up to my training, she's always on time.

"She comes with a professional attitude, and she's always at the front of the line, always giving her best.

"If you're not having to coach that, you've got a whole group of young girls who are looking up to her... she sets the standard and and they kind of follow."

Hira-Matatia said that Nahala's attidude and leadership is an asset.

She also recognises that the player is only 15 years old, and her role as a coach is "supporting her through her mental and emotional journey so that she's able to realise her potential".

"As a 15-year-old it can add a lot of pressure, particularly you know, she's still playing schoolgirl basketball," Hira-Matatia stated.

"There are younger ones that are looking up to her, but equally, there are other girls who they know that's the standard and they are going to be testing themselves against her.

"So, for her, it's going to grow her maturity to be able to understand that she provides an example for others... and for her to understand how she can bring people along on the same journey."

A lot of the things that Nahala does on the basketball courts is attributed to her work ethic outside it at the gym, she said.

"I credit that to both her parents. It's been a family commitment. It's not something that Nahala necessarily has dreamed of by herself. It is something that they've done that as a collective."

Hira-Matatia said Nahala will be better off with the experience she will get in the professional league.

"They're playing professional basketball overseas and they've also represented their countries as well. That's an amazing opportunity for a 15-year-old."

She said the challenge Nahala will be how she can maximise that opportunity.

"The way that she can bring her best self to it because she still young she brings her youth. She brings her energy... her style of basketball. But also, not to get overwhelmed by the occasion.

"I have a lot of time for the coaching staff, Tania Tupu and Mel Bennettm and the environments that they build, particularly for Māori and Pasifika young woman, their record speaks for itself. If anywhere, this is the place where she should will thrive in."

Hira-Matatia believes Nahala will inspire more young Māori and Pasifika girls wanting to get into the male-dominated sport a shot.

"I think that she's very accessible for younger youth, our younger Samoan-Māori, or just generally, Pacific and

Māori athletes."

"She brings her cultural attributes too into any forum that she's in. I know that she will also bring her Samoan attributes into the Queens culture."

'A bright spark'

Queens head coach Tania Tupu calls Nahala "a bright spark" coming through Wellington basketball.

She told RNZ Pacific it was "a non-negotiable for us to get someone of her talent, especially at such a young age, to come through the professional ranks, spend time with us".

Tupu, a former representative basketballer herself, said the Queens are "super excited" about Nahala's inclusion in the club.

Tupu is confident the young player will grow with the club and learn from older and experienced hands.

"She got former Tall Fern and Opal players, and one Asian player, so she is going to be rolling with some amazing talent and it's only going to make her game better," Tupu said.

Nahala will have the chance to stake her claim for starting spots and Tupu expects her to just show her maturity on the courts.

"When she steps out on the court, we're not expecting her to show her age," she said.

"We're just expecting you to play basketball the right way, show her fundamentals, learn from the best play, get ready for the scout that coming weekend and see if she can have an opportunity to play, especially in the Rapid League, which is the competition before the main competition."

The former national rep, who played 93 games for the Tall Ferns and represented New Zealand at the 1994 FIBA World Championships and both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, believes Nahala has come into pro league at the best time.

And the future looks bright for Māori and Pasifika heritage players who want to be part of the growing game.

"We've really fortunate with the way the league set up that there's pay parity; females are getting paid the same as males now in New Zealand, if not a little bit more," she said.

"We just don't play as many games or have as many teams at this stage. But the pathway is now there for Māori and Pasifika."

The competition bounces off in September and Tupu is confident the Queens, with Nahala and the other recruits added to their playing squad, will be able to do better in 2025.

"We've got a mix of old heads, players that are proven internationally, mixed with a whole lot of young guns like Nahala and a whole group of young ones that are pushing to try and really stamp their feet into the league.

"I love the mix of old players here [with] great basketball IQ with the young guns. It's got me pretty excited."

'Be brave'

Tupu said basketball in Wellington and New Zealand is a growing movement, and the environment around the games would be good for young girls wanting to see what it has to offer.

"You've got to really love it, and you've got to bring others on the journey with you. Get all your girlfriends going down to the courts to shoot around and play together," she said.

"The conversation I had with Nahala leading into this signing was that you've got to be brave, but you can't show your age when you step out on the court, especially with a whole lot of pro woman you will be playing with and against.

"You've got to play the game the right way. And if you've got the fundamentals and the skills and you've got that passion and love, there's no reason why you can't really flourish in that environment."