Alice Soper: Basketball soars ahead of other codes in drive to attract young women

Northern Kahu player Krystal Leger-Walker takes on the Tokomanawa Queens defence in last year's Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa Grand Final. Photo / Photosport

OPINION

One of the most interesting developments in women’s team sports is taking place well away from the football buzz. The Tauihi Basketball league has entered its second season and continues to innovate. Responding to the needs of players and the desires of fans, it is growing from its strong foundation to become one of the most ambitious new offerings in Aotearoa’s sports scene.

At its launch last year, Basketball New Zealand was all in from the jump. Pay equity with their male counterparts was offered to attract top-tier international talent. It paid off with nine WNBA players signed for this season. Their participation is helping to lift the bar for our local talent and building a bridge of player development between the two leagues. With Megan Compain still the only New Zealander to feature in the American competition, Tauihi’s networking could soon see a second.

This league has sought to establish unique brands for its women’s teams – unlike Super Rugby Aupiki which leans heavily on name recognition of the men’s franchises and the Wellington Phoenix, where men’s and women’s teams play under the same name. Each team has an identity of its own and with that an opportunity to build something new. Double-headers too were the exception, not the rule.

All of this gave fans of the sport a different type of access, one usually reserved for fans of men’s teams. They had their own social-media channels, their own websites, their own membership and ticketing options. Most importantly, they had their own merchandise. All of this meant that fans could buy into the league from year one. As a result, I’ve seen more Tokomanawa Queens gear than Black Ferns merch at rugby games here in Wellington since the competition launched.

That vibe carried across into home games. The Tokomanawa Queens already claimed the win in this space before they lifted the tournament trophy. Fans are gifted T-shirts, posters, trading cards and basketballs at matches. They are kept entertained through any stoppages by the ultimate hype man, King Kapisi. A DJ provides energy for the resident dance crew and there are on-court challenges for local kids. They signalled a commitment to inclusion with the choice of their drag queen mascot, Queen T. The result is a family-friendly atmosphere, where ice creams outsell beer and kids range free around the stadium.

They are doing just as much to serve their emerging talent as they are their emerging fan base. This season there are six personal fouls rather than five, to allow players to adapt to this faster pace of play. The hottest addition though is the Rapid League. The ultimate warm-up act has each team’s development players engage in fast and furious four-minute quarters with a minute turnaround between each. There is only one time out on offer to each team which can only be called by the players themselves. This gives the one thing we seem to always starve our aspiring athletes of, game time.

All but those in the main matches starting line-up can feature in the Rapid League. Here is where you get to see the true growth in performance and depth in talent. Feeder teams are always a gold-plated investment. In a women’s sporting world that sees us put so much into our top-tier talent without enough support for those coming through. It will be the making of this competition and of women’s basketball in New Zealand for the years to come.

We all know that the growth of women’s sport right now is exponential. Our growing pains come as our sporting organisations struggle to keep pace. We need them to move quicker than the women’s game and for the most part, we have seen traditional sports moving stubbornly slow. Tauihi by contrast, is the most agile offering out there. The challenge is for other codes to take note as they are running short on timeouts.