By Jane Sewell

Copyright newsroom

Charlotte Whittaker feels the weight of every basketball singlet she pulls on and the next one she wears will be no different.

The 1.9m forward will don the Mainland Pouākai singlet in this year’s Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa league and she will feel a little extra on her shoulders every time she steps on court.

It is a weight she loves to carry and it’s personal for the 25-year-old.

“I’m not just representing myself, I’m representing my family, my hometown, the people that got me to where I am today, those that have gone before me and my country – no matter what team I’m playing for.”

She has been signed for the 2025 Tauihi season, the fourth edition of the women’s professional league in New Zealand, which will start with a home game against the Southern Hoiho at Cowles Stadium in Christchurch this Friday.

When she pulls on the Pouākai singlet for the first time, Whittaker will realise a dream she never thought possible.

As she left for her US college experience in 2019, the North Canterbury baller wondered if she’d ever play basketball in her home country again, let alone the province she grew up in.

“I honestly never thought I’d be able to play for my hometown,” she says.

“This league wasn’t around when I went over to college, so in the back of my mind I was thinking is there anything to go home to afterwards especially within the professional realm.”

To be able to return to Christchurch to play in the growing league is something of a full circle moment for Whittaker.

Born in Bambury, England, Whittaker moved to New Zealand as a toddler, spending some time in Hamilton heading south and being raised in the small North Canterbury village of Cust. She has scaled numerous basketball mountains since then including earning a scholarship with the University of Colorado as a teenager, reaching the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament and playing 114 Division 1 games, representing her country as a Tall Fern, making her debut in 2024 alongside her younger sister, and more recently winning the 2025 LF2 Championship with Toulouse Metropole Basket in the French LFB league, before returning home.

Basketball has been running through her veins from an early age along with her two younger siblings Mason (23) and Lauren (19), also both on scholarships in the United States – the trio encouraged by their parents Mark and Caroline to pursue the sport that had captured the family’s imagination.

“Basketball brought us together as a family and was a huge anchor for us.”

Having tried other sports as a youngster, Whittaker settled on basketball and her dad made sure they had no excuses for not being fully committed to the sport.

There was a slab of concrete laid in the hay barn when they lived in the country and Whittaker and her dad painted the square on a spare piece of plywood for the backboard, adding a hoop to begin the endless hours of practice and the start of the one-on-one sibling rivalry games.

When they moved in to the small village of Cust, another concrete slab was laid in the backyard as they perfected their foundations for the game.

“It was really nice because all the neighbourhood kids came around as well – we were the house to go to for hoops.”

Her mum and dad also showed their commitment to the game neither had played growing up – netball and football their main pursuits – as they took on manager roles and administration duties. The duo quickly became crucial cogs in running North Canterbury basketball as they recognised what the game could do not only for their own family, but for those around them.

“I think they could see the positive impact it had on our lives and seeing how they could continue to grow that sort of passion for other kids in our community,” Whittaker says. “They were pretty inspirational.”

Age-group representative honours followed but it wasn’t until Whittaker reached high school that she began to think her chosen sport could offer more.

She looked up to Tall Fern Micaela Cocks at the time and the deeds of Krystal Leger-Walker who was then highlighting the pathway and opening doors with moves into the college system in the US.

The teenager, who had been learning at Rangiora High School, shifted to St Andrew’s College in Christchurch to focus on basketball and as her secondary schooling came to an end, the search for the right school on the other side of the world became her goal.

Whittaker says she was grateful to have a number of choices when it came to finding the right fit for college in the US and she had narrowed it down to four schools to visit with her parents when tragedy struck.

Her dad, Mark, suffered a fatal heart attack and died six months before she had been planning to leave home.

“Growing up, mum and dad had been big supporters and either one of them was always at every game – never missed one. To then pursue something without one of the people who believed in it the most and helped me on that journey. It was incredibly hard.”

Whittaker was joined by her mum and siblings to check out her college options but missed the guidance of her dad as she set about making a significant sporting decision without one of her pillars.

Despite making her choice, Whittaker still struggled with the thought of heading to Colorado with the loss still very raw.

“I felt like I was abandoning a lot of people back home.”

She credits the culture at the University of Colorado for helping her through the big changes in her life, both on and off the court.

Whittaker had packed her bags as a 17-year-old who was a standout for her St Andrew’s College school team, averaging 32 points and 14 rebounds a game.

But heading offshore on a full scholarship brought its own pressure as the forward was used to being a key figure on court.

“I was kind of at the top of my game, especially in my area, and then when you go overseas it’s like a whole different ball game,” she says. “I definitely slid into more of the role player in College.

“There was the pressure of going over there on a scholarship – a pressure to perform. At the end of the day, it’s such a huge business and they filter through players a lot, but I was really lucky that my school was quite foundational with the culture, the commitment and loyalty that came with committing to the programme – whatever happened, the ups and downs, performing or not, they always had my back.”

She went to the US with the mindset of knowing that whatever role she would play, that her “position is just leased” and she had to repeatedly earn any opportunity on a daily basis.

But her mental game was to be severely challenged when she was diagnosed with double degenerative hip dysplasia and the surgeries that followed left her playing career in doubt.

Whittaker missed the entire 2021-22 season with multiple hip surgeries and while she was wrapped in support from family and her team, the then-21-year-old wasn’t certain she’d be able to pull on a playing singlet again.

“I’m passionate about basketball and it almost becomes your identity and for me I was anchored to that. So when it was challenged and I was on the verge of not playing anymore, it was like ‘Who am I without basketball?.”

Rebuilding her body and learning how to walk again wasn’t something she had envisioned when embarking on her college experience, but she feels her game is as good as it was prior to her diagnosis and if anything, her mental skills had only strengthened.

“The biggest thing I battled with was, will I be as good as I was before?

“It was learning how to trust my body again. Before the surgeries, I’d play, and my hip would dislocate so learning to trust what had been done to fix that was difficult. For a long time I think my brain worked a lot faster than my body did. It was a fine balance, but I feel stronger in so many ways,” she says.

Her return to the court saw her play her senior season with the University of Colorado and in her senior season, they reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Since then, she has played in Australia and more recently, France.

But her most significant post-surgery step has been onto the international court, making her Tall Ferns debut in the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in 2024 where she got to wear the fern alongside her younger sister Lauren, a moment she holds close.

“It was actually the first time throughout our careers that we’ve ever played in the same team, so it was incredibly special,” she says.

“When you grow up together, and I hadn’t been home in many years, to be able to come together and play for the Fern was unreal and a great honour. I’d jump at the chance to play alongside her again and if that was putting on the Pouākai singlet together, that would be really cool.”

For now, Whittaker gets to bring her game home, and she couldn’t be prouder or more determined to give something back to the region which set her on her path.

“There were a lot of various factors that kind of convinced me of the decision to return home but I think first and foremost, I grew up here. To be able to come home and contribute on and off court was huge in my decision,” she says.

“The goal is really to get that first championship for the Pouākai but if I can give something back to the game off court then that’s a big positive for me.”

The fact that Pouākai’s incoming coach Alex Stojkovic has a similar philosophy was another big tick for Whittaker, despite having never played under him before.

“It’s like we’re jumping in the deep end together and we’re trusting,” she says. “I really liked that he has been able to commit long term and wants to be able to grow the programme here for many years to come.”

Stojkovic, who led the Tauranga Whai to their first ever Tauihi title last year, says Whittaker’s leadership and culture will help shape what is a new-look Pouākai side.

“She believes in the project we’re building here,” he says. “On the court, she brings experience, toughness, and a relentless motor on the glass. Her presence will help set the tone for how we want to compete every night.”

Whittaker expects to feel “pretty emotional” when she steps out onto Cowles stadium again – the Pouākai opening the league in 2025 by hosting the Hoiho on September 26 – and will have her mum courtside for the first home game.

“It’s about family and who I represent – that’s the weight you carry when you go out there. The heavier the weight you carry, the more honoured and more privileged I am to put on that singlet and continue to play.”