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New career options for women basketballers
2/8/2007 7:40 AM Basktball New Zealand has been granted a license for a professional team, which will be based in Christchurch
Top New Zealand women basketballers no longer have to head offshore.
New Zealand will have a professional team in the women's Australian NBL based in Christchurch from next season.
Basketball New Zealand has been granted a license for a professional team and chief executive Bryn McGoldrick hopes the team will keep top players in the sport, pulling them away from netball.
McGoldrick says they want the Canterbury team to be a developmental vehicle for local talent and to provide a career path for female basketballers which is probably why there has been a disparity in the numbers playing the game compared to netball.
The new team will not follow the Breakers and other trans-Tasman New Zealand teams in importing the bulk of their side.
The Breakers only had four New Zealanders on their roster this season but McGoldrick says the Canterbury side will maintain a strong New Zealand influence.
McGoldrick is looking to have five or six Tall Ferns on the roster, and the international players who have been sounded out have been enthusiastic.
He believes the franchise, likely to be called the Christchurch Wildcats, will cost around half a million dollars per year to run, and it will be managed by the Canterbury Basketball Association and the Wildcats company, in partnership with Basketball New Zealand.
The WNBL season starts in October.
2/8/2007 7:40 AM Basktball New Zealand has been granted a license for a professional team, which will be based in Christchurch
Top New Zealand women basketballers no longer have to head offshore.
New Zealand will have a professional team in the women's Australian NBL based in Christchurch from next season.
Basketball New Zealand has been granted a license for a professional team and chief executive Bryn McGoldrick hopes the team will keep top players in the sport, pulling them away from netball.
McGoldrick says they want the Canterbury team to be a developmental vehicle for local talent and to provide a career path for female basketballers which is probably why there has been a disparity in the numbers playing the game compared to netball.
The new team will not follow the Breakers and other trans-Tasman New Zealand teams in importing the bulk of their side.
The Breakers only had four New Zealanders on their roster this season but McGoldrick says the Canterbury side will maintain a strong New Zealand influence.
McGoldrick is looking to have five or six Tall Ferns on the roster, and the international players who have been sounded out have been enthusiastic.
He believes the franchise, likely to be called the Christchurch Wildcats, will cost around half a million dollars per year to run, and it will be managed by the Canterbury Basketball Association and the Wildcats company, in partnership with Basketball New Zealand.
The WNBL season starts in October.
