A college dream is taking young Māori athlete Ihaka Cate from Aotearoa to the United States, where a full scholarship is opening the door to world-class education, elite competition, and a chance to share his culture on the global stage.
The talented basketball player (Ngāti Porou) is preparing to leave for Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts after earning a full scholarship for one year. The move is the next step towards his ambition of playing at the highest level while pursuing engineering or architecture at an Ivy League university.
Cate’s path has been anything but conventional. He only began playing basketball around five years ago, which has already taken him to national representative opportunities, the Canterbury Rams environment, and now the United States.
He gives credit to resilience and hard work rather than talent alone for helping him reach this point.
“One thing that has really led to my development and my success, especially over the past few years, is learning to grow through failure,” says Cate. “A lot of people see failure as this horrible thing, but it’s the thing that allows you to develop. It’s something that allows you to grow.”
Cate hopes his story encourages other rangatahi to see setbacks as opportunities rather than obstacles.
“If you strive through adversity and you really strive for the goals that you desire, you’re going to go even further than you ever think you would.”
While basketball is his passion, Cate says it has also become the vehicle for him.
“Basketball has been the ultimate pathway for me to go and pursue those goals,” said Cate.
The scholarship will allow him to further both his sporting and academic aspirations before he works towards earning a place at an Ivy League university, and he says he is determined to get there.
“Wherever I go, home is always with me.” Despite preparing to move halfway around the world, Cate said his connection to home will remain constant.
“I want to show the world what being rangatahi Māori and coming to play sport is all about.”
He plans to share te ao Māori with teammates in the United States and says he has already begun introducing some of them to Māori culture during an earlier visit.
Cate says representing his whānau and whakapapa is just as important as his personal achievements, and hopes his journey will inspire other rangatahi Māori to pursue opportunities they may have thought were out of reach.
As a core player in the Canterbury Rams environment, he says he has developed immensely in his sport alongside experienced players and coaches. The former Head Boy of Christ’s College also won the Waitaha Ngā Manu Kōrero competition last year for Korimako (Senior English), and went on to represent the region at Nationals.
Knowing he will not be entirely alone, Cate is looking forward to reconnecting with other Kiwi players already based in the United States. He says having familiar faces nearby will help him settle into life overseas while remaining grounded in his culture, friendships and his support network back home.
