Despite a State of Emergency in the Nelson-Tasman region, sporting competitions will go ahead as scheduled this weekend.
Extensive flooding across the top of the South Island has forced rugby and basketball administrators to get creative to ensure their teams are able to continue.
"Nelson's been through a lot with the floods, and just to have something on and give people a bit of a smile on their face," said Mainland Pouakai guard Lauryn Hippolite.
The Pouakai are one of four teams in Nelson for the inaugural women’s basketball league finals, and for some - like local Maia Jones - this is home.
"Luckily I wasn't affected at all, but people around me were," Jones said. "I'm just glad the finals are going ahead."
NBL general manager Huw Beynon admitted they'd been cautious and did their due diligence before giving the finals the green light.
"Through our conversations, once we were confident we weren’t being a hindrance, we were actually being a help by using hotels, restaurants and bars - it was an easy decision," said Beynon.
The tournament on the back burner for now.. for these basketballers it was back to school.. to bring the community back together.
Both Tasman rugby teams - the Mako and their Farah Palmer Cup counterparts - needed a little help of their own to relocate to Blenheim using a local airline.
"Our final solution was Origin Air, so they're doing literally eight small flights to get the boys and girls in and out," chief executive Lyndon Bray said.
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