Basketballer Waikimihia has a bright future ahead. In 2022 she was MVP at the NZ Area Schools national tournament, placed 3rd in the NZ Māori basketball competition and was selected in the NZ U15 basketball team. The NZ U15 team travelled to Guam in 2023 November for the FIBA Oceania Championships and finished as runners up. Waikimihia also played in the U17 Women’s Team in U17 World Cup in Mexico in 2024. as well as representing her school Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Koutu on the national kapa haka stage.

Also in 2024 her team, Te Koutu, won the National Secondary Schools Single A Tournament and Wai picked up the MVP award. Later that year she was recognised as a Rotorua Young Achiever. Waikimihia will be heading to the US in August 2025 to take up a basketball a scholarship at The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB).

TDF Scholar #62