Paul Ramiha "Pāora" Winitana (born 6 December 1976) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player who played the majority of his career in the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) for the

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as th ...

. He was ordained as a

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

bishop in 2005 and chooses not to play basketball on Sundays.

Early life

Winitana was born in

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, New Zealand.

High school

Winitana attended

Hastings Boys' High School Hastings Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hastings, New Zealand. The school is part of the Super 8. The school was founded in 1904 as Hastings High School. In 1922, it became Hastings Technical School under the leadership of Wi ...

and played for the school's A1 team in 1994 where he scored a New Zealand secondary school record for points scored in a single game against Central Hawke's Bay where he scored 96 points. In 1995, he attended the

Church College of New Zealand Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ) was a private secondary school in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand, that was operated by the Church Educational System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was closed at th ...

and helped his team defeat Palmerston North Boys High in the National secondary school boys final. He was selected to the all-tournament team, and was chosen to play as one of the top ten high school players in the country against the country's top ten second division players; his team lost the match but he was awarded the game MVP.

Professional career

In 1996, Winitana played his first year of professional basketball for the North Harbour Vikings and won the NZNBL Rookie of the Year award. After demonstrating his world-class potential in the NZNBL, Winitana was offered several opportunities to play basketball in the United States, including a full scholarship to the University of Wisconsin, Brigham Young University, Ohio State University, and several others. But he turned them down to go on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The mission also meant that he missed out on the chance to represent New Zealand at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In 2001, Winitana returned to the NZNBL and played for the North Harbour Kings (one game) and the

(nine games). In 2002, Winitana was selected to the Tall Blacks squad, making his international basketball debut for New Zealand. He played for the Tall Blacks in the 2002 FIBA World Championships where they came fourth – New Zealand's highest ever placing. He also played for the Harbour Kings in 2002 and averaged 16.7 points in 15 games. In 2003, Winitana returned to his hometown Hawke's Bay Hawks and after averaging 20 points per game in 17 games, he was signed by the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

for the club's inaugural season in the Australian NBL. He continued to play for the Hawke's Bay Hawks in the coming years and led his team to the 2006 NZNBL championship in 2006 while garnering the league MVP award. In 2007, Winitana re-joined the New Zealand Breakers for the

2007–08 NBL season The 2007–08 NBL season was the 30th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. On 21 November 2006, the Gold Coast Blaze joined the league, expanding it to 13 teams. 2007–08 league participants Stadiums and locations ...

. The following season, he played for the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in the state's capital of Adela ...

. In 74 ANBL games over three seasons, Winitana averaged 3.6 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. In 2009, Winitana moved to the Christchurch Cougars and played two seasons for them before returning to the Hawks in 2011. After the Hawks started the 2015 season with a 4-8 win/loss record, the club released coach Liam Flynn from his head coaching duties and replaced him with Winitana, already the team's co-captain alongside

Jarrod Kenny Jarrod Daniel Kenny (born 17 September 1985) is a New Zealand basketball player who last played for the Hawke's Bay Hawks of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He won two championships in the Australian NBL with the Perth Wi ...

. He returned to the Hawks for the 2016 season, but relinquished the captaincy role. Coming into the 2017 season, Winitana was not retained by the Hawks. He ended his career with 304 NBL games, which is ranked eighth all-time. He had his jersey retired by the Hawks on 13 May 2017.

National team career

Winitana played for the Tall Blacks at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

Personal

Winitana and his wife Tia have six children. His son, also named Pāora, plays for

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

References

External links

FIBA profile (2008)

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Pāora Winitana
at mormon.org '' I'm a Mormon''
Basketball: The Bishop's move
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winitana, Paora 1976 births Living people Adelaide 36ers players Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Christchurch Cougars players Commonwealth Games silver medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Hawke's Bay Hawks players New Zealand men's basketball players New Zealand leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Olympic basketball players for New Zealand People educated at the Church College of New Zealand People educated at Hastings Boys' High School Shooting guards Sportspeople from Hastings, New Zealand 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games