Elise Gilbert had to grow up quicker than most teenagers. Kayla Hodge meets the impressive Southern Hoiho guard, who had her son at 16 and is chasing her basketball and academic dreams to make him proud.
Basketball was the pillar of Elise Gilbert’s life.
The young guard was making a name for herself on the Waikato basketball scene, winning several age-group national titles with her home region and becoming a key member of the Hamilton Girls’ High School team.
That led to national recognition. She pulled on the black singlet from 14 and climbed through the ranks.
More success followed when the Northern Kahu came calling, offering her a training partner contract for the newly formed Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa League.
Then things changed.
Gilbert was in year 12 when she found out she was pregnant, and she was 16 when she welcomed her son, Kyzaiah, who turns 3 at the end of next month.
Naturally, it was a big adjustment period for her and partner Kobe Tuhakaraina, now 21, as they came to terms with being new parents.
She turned down the Kahu offer — "I didn’t want to put too much on my plate" — as she focused on her pregnancy and studies.
Gilbert, now 19, sat her NCEA level two exams in a room by herself two weeks before giving birth, and she was determined to return to school as soon as possible.
Her support network encouraged her, and her partner’s parents, Amber and Tobias, owned a daycare, which made the transition to motherhood easier knowing her son was in good hands while she was at school.
"My journey is built off my support system," Gilbert said.
"We got through our first year of being parents, which was really cool."
Then came basketball.
Three months after giving birth, Gilbert suited up for the secondary schools 3x3 tournament and attended a national camp the following week.
Her son came with her to the camps — "New Zealand Basketball were so supportive" — and two months later she was invited to Basketball Without Borders in Abu Dhabi.
"It was a really hard decision because I was still breastfeeding and I obviously couldn’t take baby.
"All of my support systems said just go."
So she did. She weaned her son off breast milk, went to the camp and was later one of 40 secondary school players from around the world — excluding the United States — selected for the NBA Academy Games.
She also captained the Junior Tall Ferns in 2023 and 2024 during Oceania and Asia Cup tournaments.
"That was an amazing experience.
"Being able to represent your country at an international level by itself is an amazing opportunity, but to have a leadership role in that environment ... it was just so cool to be able to support the girls and help guide us through such a cool experience.
"I look back at it as one of my favourite moments."
Chasing her basketball dreams has come with tough calls. She has had to give up "precious time" with her son as an infant to continue to create a better life.
She acknowledged her biggest challenges came while she was at secondary school. She had to get herself, and her son, ready for the day, drop him at daycare, attend school, and head to several trainings for her premier basketball and netball teams.
"Throughout the first six months of his life, he came with me to all my trainings.
"That was really difficult in the fact I was getting maybe four hours broken sleep and still had to train every day, go to school and submit assignments.
"I look back at that and I’m, like, ‘holy crap, how did I do that?’.
"All of my systems have been really supportive, which has made it a lot easier moving through my basketball journey."
But one late night in December 2023, she and her partner applied for health sciences at the University of Otago — and both were accepted.
"We got our families together and we told them we’ve decided we’re going to move down to Otago. We’re going to take the hard route to allow for an easier route in the future."
Gilbert’s parents, Calie and Darren, told their daughter they would help, and packed their bags and relocated to Dunedin to support the young family.
"That’s been a huge part in why we can do what we do down here."
Gilbert is wrapping up her second year of studying dentistry, following a lifelong dream of giving back the help she received growing up.
Her partner studies medicine, making for many late nights in their household, but they always make it work.
"My partner, he’s amazing. He’s left when I go on away trips for two nights with baby by himself."
Support systems were the "core of being able to raise a baby", she said.
"Everybody says it takes a tribe and honestly, without my tribe, I don’t think I would’ve been able to take these steps, and the leaps, that I’ve taken and continuing to achieve my goals.
"Just having that support to fall back on when things are tough ... it’s really helpful mentally just to know that I do have so many people wrapping their arms around me."
That extended to the Southern Hoiho, who had been supportive and welcomed her, and her family, with open arms.
"The girls down here are so genuine.
"All the coaching staff, all the players, they love having baby around.
"It’s definitely really nice and a welcoming environment for mothers."
It is often hard to take a minute to reflect on the rollercoaster of motherhood.
Asked if she was proud of herself for chasing her sporting and academic dreams as a young mum, Gilbert said: "I don’t really think about it because I lived it".
"When I talk to other people about it I then reflect after and I go ‘OK damn, I have done something quite cool’.
"I think I need to look at that more and take more appreciation of myself. To be able to share my journey for other girls who may be in other similar situations to know ‘OK this has happened ... you can still chase your dreams’."
She loved being a mother and seeing her son developing into his own person.
"I just love seeing what I put in to him, him replicating it and growing and learning.
"It’s crazy how fast it goes, but seeing the different stages of life in him — it just blows my mind that he is a part of me.
"I think that’s one of my favourite things."
Returning to school, representing the Junior Tall Ferns, moving to Dunedin for university and chasing her basketball dreams were all driven by the pillar of her life now — her son.
"When it first happened there’s so many different thoughts going through your mind ... like what are people going to think?
"I thought to myself I can look at it this way or I can prepare myself to go and achieve better things for him and use him as my why.
"He’s going to need me in the future and I’d rather provide stability for him rather than just throwing it all in and giving it up."
She was also determined not to be a statistic, she said.
"I think that really got me in the sense that so many people were like ‘oh cool, another teen mum, Maori girl, she’s just going to fail to the system again’.
"And I was, like, you know what? No I’m not.
"I’m going to achieve more than normal people would because, why not?"
