The team has qualified for the Basketball New Zealand A national secondary schools tournament in Palmerston North starting on Monday.
The A tournament is for secondary schools that have a roll fewer than 300 students in years 9-13 for a single-sex school, or fewer than 600 in the same year levels for a coed school.
Coach Jacob Fowler is excited to return to the national event.
"To get to nationals is a good achievement, and something that we definitely strive to do at the start of the season.
"There's definitely some momentum building [with the team] and there’s some potential there too which is exciting for this year and years ahead."
The players who attended the tournament last year will be better prepared having had some experience playing at that level, he said.
"Last year when we played our first game, the boys were a bit shell-shocked so hopefully that doesn’t happen this year.
"The boys that got to experience it last year, just coming back seeing how much they’ve grown and the leadership especially that they’ve stepped up with has been cool to see."
The team have been laser-focused in their preparation.
"We had about a month between South Islands and nationals so we reset ourselves and set some goals leading up to nationals.
"We’re more focused on just sticking with our process and not getting too far ahead of ourselves."
Fowler hoped it would be a enjoyable experience for all the players.
"I went there when I played and I thought it was an awesome experience. Just hanging out with your school mates and being involved in that top level basketball.
"Obviously the playing is cool but that sort of aspect is really cool, not just on the court but off the court."
St Kevin’s finished fourth at the South Island tournament last month to qualify.
