Female full-court press in basketball takeover
Jo Caird was tired of being being continually frustrated with the state of women’s sport in New Zealand; sick of standing on the sidelines and criticising what wasn’t happening.
A former New Zealand junior tennis player and the All Blacks’ first official photographer, Caird had watched in awe as the Kiwi public got in behind the women’s Rugby World Cup and then the FIFA Women’s World Cup held here last year.
“But it was so frustrating seeing the interest just drop off straight after those two events,” she says. “There was nothing being provided for fans of women’s sports. So I decided to do something about it.”
As Caird began looking into becoming more involved in a women’s sports team, she focused her attention on Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa, about to begin its third season next week.
And now she’s one of five female owners of the BNZ Kāhu franchise – who believe they are one of the first sports teams solely owned, coached and managed by women, globally. And she’s had advice from one of the founders of the most valuable women’s sports team in the world.
“Women’s basketball is obviously one of the fastest growing sports in the world, especially looking at the WNBA and Caitlin Clark, and what our Tall Ferns have been doing here,” Caird says. “Basketball is the fastest growing sport in New Zealand [at youth level], so it’s riding a wave.
