Grandad Pinetree’s words lift basketballer Tyler Mitchell

When Tyler Mitchell was felled with a serious knee injury, she felt her basketball dreams slip through her fingers.
In the days leading up to the secondary schools’ national basketball championships in 2019, the Hamilton Girls’ High School baller was charging in for a simple lay-up in a club game when an awkward collision with a defender essentially changed her basketball aspirations. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and found herself sidelined during her final year at school.
Throw in a global pandemic and Mitchell’s recovery became one of her biggest challenges so far,and it took all of her strong will, a large dose of inspiration from her sporting family and a quotefrom her well-known grandad to get her back on the basketball court – and eventually into NewZealand’s premier women’s competition, as a shooting guard for the Hoiho in the Tauihi Aotearoa Basketball League.
Hailing from Te Kuiti, the 22-year-old comes from strong sporting stock. Her Dad, Paul, is a former Chiefs and Blues rugby player (younger brother of former All Blacks coach John Mitchell) who went on to coach King Country while Mum, Shelley, is a former Tall Fern, and her “Aunty Rhonda” (Rhonda Wilcox) is a former Silver Fern.
But it is her grandad Sir Colin ‘Pinetree’ Meads who grabs the lion’s share of conversation starters whenever Mitchell’s family tree falls into the spotlight. “It’s crazy really, just hearing all the stories from everyone and how I can just mention his name and every person knows who he is. “To me though, he was always just my grandad.”
That’s not to say the former All Black great’s sporting deeds have not made an impact on Mitchell’s own endeavours on the basketball court. “I think he and my parents are a big part of my [career] and why sport was such a major thing. Grandad was such a hard worker and got out there and just did the job.
“A quote of his that I loved was ‘you’re only as good as your last game’ and I think that helped meon my recovery from my knee injury. I’ve just wanted to get better than I was before.”
The devastating ACL tear could not have come at a worse time with Mitchell having finally madethe decision to prioritise basketball as her main sport having juggled both basketball and netballto a high level for much of her junior years.
A trip to Utah with the New Zealand ELITE team during her Year 12 year at Hamilton Girls’ HighSchool gave her an insight into what the College basketball pathway could look like for her. For a number of years, Mitchell admits she was the “shy, quiet girl” whenever she ventured tonational trials for age-groups. “I didn’t have a voice to speak up and confidence at that time.”
The trip to the States changed that. “I think I finally realised I could compete at a high level, that I had it in me,” she says. “Coming back to New Zealand and I was thinking maybe College is something I could actually do.”
But those overseas dreams were shelved following the knee injury, made worse by thelimitations she faced with her recovery due to the pandemic. “I wasn’t able to get to the gym or anything because of Covid so it actually made my recovery that much harder. I kind of knew that College was no longer an option.”
Mitchell admits it was a tough moment in her career and remembers the conversations she hadwith medical staff about her possibility of returning to the court. “It was mentally really hard having to bounce back from it. Sitting in the room with the surgeon and they’re telling you that not many people get back to the level that you’re playing at now. “It was a bit of a kick.”
But it also sparked that competitive drive that has always burned inside of her – “not much choice when you come from a big sporting family, and I always wanted to be better than mysisters” – which was the catalyst to proving the surgeon wrong and her desire to get back playingat an elite level. She made some big career decisions and packed her bags to head to Dunedin and Otago University where, for the past four years, she has been studying to become a pharmacist.
The move south also opened other doors for Mitchell, one which eventually led to her suiting upfor the Hoiho where she has featured in the three years of the Tauihi competition.
There was little doubt she would fall into basketball with two parents who had played the sport, her mum a Tall Fern and the instigator behind a new miniball league in Te Kuiti when Tyler Mitchell was at primary school.
Her mum is still involved with her career and is often the first person she calls following a game.“I would probably have to owe the smartness of my game and knowledge to her. After every game I call her and talk it through and say, ‘this is what I saw’. It’s funny how much now that we see the same things.
“She just encourages me and helps me get better. Giving me that level of knowledge – knowingthat she has it – I can trust what she has to say.”
There have been plenty of phone calls over the past three years after Mitchell earned her spoton the Hoiho roster, playing in the inaugural league in 2022.
She had limited court time but played in every game last season and was signed for her thirdseason with the southern side this year.
It has been a slow start to the league for the Hoiho with three straight losses, but they haverebounded following important wins over the Whai and Pouākai, before a loss to the Whai on Saturday.
“Unfortunately we’ve got the 3 ‘Ls’ to our name but that definitely doesn’t represent how it wason court,” she says.
“It’s a short season and we don’t have much time to turn things around, but we’ve got lots of work-ons. I love this team, and I know that every team in this league has got amazing players init and everyone’s there to compete. Our time will come.”
It hasn’t been the College experience that she had once dreamed of, but Mitchell is grateful thatthe Tauihi league even exists. “When I went down to Dunedin there was the Goldrush in the national league, but this (Tauihi) is really next level.
“Last year I got to play with the likes of (American import) Ashten Prechtel who was the MVP of the season, and she was just amazing. And then we’ve got Paige Bradley who is here for hersecond season and has just come off a WNBL season.
“The experience that they all bring is just unreal and it’s something that not all Kiwi players get tosee.”
Mitchell says it wasn’t just the knowledge that they bring to the basketball court but also being able to train alongside them and in the gym. “You learn so much – it’s definitely been one of my highlights.”
And now the league is set to get that little bit harder with expansion next year and the inclusionof an India-backed and Auckland-based women’s team to join Tauihi.
Owned by InBL Pro, the Indian Panthers will feature leading national players from India alongside internationals from the US and Australia and will be known as the Indian Panthers.
“It’s such a tough league,” Mitchell says, thanks to the calibre of imports mixing it with the Kiwis.
Which makes the prospect of stepping away from the game next season all that more difficult. She believes she is playing some of the best basketball she has ever played after dedicating lastoff season to training and fitness work.
Mitchell was instrumental in helping her varsity team claim victory at the National TertiaryTournament last year, earning the MVP title and she was a standout player for the Hoiho at theSchick 3×3 Cup finishing as one of the top scorers of the tournament.
It was the stimulus she needed to put in the hard yards over the summer to be able to deliverher best game for the Hoiho in the Tauihi League. Immersing herself into student life in Dunedin has helped her take that next step in both her career on and off the court.
“Studying pharmacy and playing has had its challenges. It’s a big degree and a tough one whichis quite demanding so finding that juggle with basketball was tough. I’ve got good classmateswho help me a lot when I’m missing things.
“But I’m the first one to put my study down to go play basketball,” she says with a laugh.“Google calendar became my best friend.”
Now in her fourth year of study, Mitchell will take up a pharmacy intern role in Tauranga next yearand is unsure how the full-time work and study will mix with a position in the league if she wasable to land one.
“It might just have to be a year where I hang up my boots maybe and work on my career. I’m moving to Tauranga because I know there’s the Whai there and a good culture.
“Where I can get in, I would try, but at this stage I’m not too sure what that’s going to look like.”
It won’t however be the end of her basketball career – Mitchell has a deep-set love of the gameand the friendships and relationships that have developed during her time as a baller.
“I also love the escape from everything else, I just love it. When I step on the court my mind is just on that and everything else is left behind until that final whistle goes.
“All the hard work that you do in training and then you step on court and it’s time to put it alltogether and just play.”