Basketball New Zealand has announced a new women's national basketball league aimed at retaining some of Aotearoa's top talent.
Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa was called "game-changing" by Basketball NZ officials at Wednesday's launch with the competition offering equal pay between the men's and women's leagues for the first time in the NBL.
BBNZ board member and former Tall Fern Megan Compain told Breakfast the revamp of the league is a major turning point for women’s basketball in New Zealand.
"I grew up thinking that the only way I was going to play sport in New Zealand was playing netball but the minute I found basketball at 13-years-old, I didn't want to go back," Compain, a former WNBA player, said.
"I had to forge my path overseas as many of my Tall Ferns teammates had to."
Compain noted the creation of Super Rugby Aupiki along with New Zealand hosting multiple women's world cups over the next two years as helping in Tauihi's creation.
"We're riding this wave of advancement in women's sport," she said.
"We're just the next one's to take advantage."
The competition's name Tauihi in Te Reo Māori means "to soar" – a theme continued in the names of the five teams that will feature. BBNZ kāumatua, Dr Taku Parai, was consulted throughout the process.
Leagues GM Huw Beynon said the squads will play and represent entire regions, not just a single city, as they chase a national title.
“Teams will aim to have games played at multiple venues across each region, which makes the league even more accessible and allows teams to engage at a community level as well as a basketball level," Beynon said.
“This helps to give young women in the region something to aspire to; having professional basketball available to them in their backyard and a platform for players to achieve their hoop dreams.”
The competition will tip off from 29 June, with a finals series scheduled for 26 August at Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre venue.
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