Pushing for pay parity is one way that Aotearoa's first all-female owned and coached basketball team is trying to change the narrative of women's sport.
The BNZ Kāhu basketball team was recently bought by five women - a basketball legend; a former Football Fern; a dual international; a New Zealand tennis rep; and the founder of a women's sports media organisation.
As well setting an example for pay, they're attracting overseas players and even teams - with two from the Indian league joining the competition next year.
Jo Caird, a former New Zealand tennis representative and the first official photographer for the All Blacks, is now one of five women to own a professional women's basketball team.
After becoming connected through the industry, she and Jody Cameron, "Georgie" Paula George, Rachel Howard, and Dani Marshall came together to buy the Kāhu, the professional women's basketball team representing Auckland and Northland.
"I pretty much just got frustrated, frustrated at watching how fantastic the women's Rugby World Cup was, how fantastic the FIFA Football World Cup was, and then after that how there's just nothing for these fans of women's sports, they were just left wanting," she said.
"In rugby and football, we couldn't get involved. But basketball was something we could get involved with. We started talking to the team and it kept coming back to the owners.
"It just became obvious that the way we could make real change was to buy the team, become owners ourselves."
Jo Caird (left) and Dani Marshall are co-owners of Northern Kāhu basketball team. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Kāhu won the Tauihi Basketball Aoteaora competition last year, it launched in 2022 as our professional women's basketball league.
Teams in the league include the Tauranga Whai, Wellington's Tokomanawa Queens, Christchurch's Mainland Pouākai and Dunedin's Southern Hoiho.
Player wages in the women's league doubled this year for this season, as it aims for pay parity with the men's league.
Co-owner Dani Marshall said the team was trying to set an example for the industry.
"It's the first sports team in the world that is, as we believe it to be, solely owned, managed and coached by women, which is really special and only really in New Zealand would you have that kind of opportunity," she said.
"It's really special too, because none of us have deep pockets, we don't come from money. We're very different than maybe what you would think a traditional sports team owner would be, five normal everyday women, but just who felt so passionate that we can make a real change."
The season is only a few weeks old, but the co-owners said they have been getting heaps of positive feedback.
"The people that are coming out to us, even at the supermarket, random people just saying, 'wow, this is amazing what you women have done,' they're really inspired by it."
The team has inspired other women in the industry and given them ideas, she said.
"My daughter when she went to bed last night, she said to me, 'mum, when I'm older, I'm gonna get four friends and I'm gonna buy a basketball team too'."
Fans going to games in Auckland and Whangārei can get in for free - as BNZ is funding all general admission tickets to those games and is the team's main sponsor. The games are also broadcast on ESPN overseas, Youtube, Sky Sport and Tiktok.
Team captain Penina Davidson said this showed how far the game had come in the 18 years she had been playing basketball.
In her early days, she said women's teams were not the norm.
"There wasn't a lot of women's team or girls teams cause it just wasn't very popular for girls, so I had to play in the boys team. I must have been about like between 5 to 8 years old."
This season, the Kāhu has attracted five players from overseas.
Northern Kāhu player Megan Mullings. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
One of them is Megan Mullings from Phoenix Arizona, who has played for multiple professional teams across different countries.
She said thousands of people of all ages watched the team's first game in Auckland.
"It's been absolutely amazing being here, seeing how many people in this community really want to support women's basketball, it helps that the girls got the job done last year and won the whole thing," she said.
"People come back because they want to see those girls again and being added to such an amazing programme that's already got its legs underneath it makes our job easy.
"After the game, we had all these kids come up and getting autographs from us and they were just ecstatic, they were so excited."
Players in the team want to inspire people all ages to get into the sport both competitively and socially.
"How do we get young people involved? How do we let people know, it's not too late, you're not too old to get involved in this sport, you can have fun with it, you can enjoy it," she said.
"I think the biggest thing is just letting women know, young or old, that you can be seen in the sport, you can make waves in the sport, you can be loud and you can be heard."
BNZ Kāhu is on the road between October and December - playing in Auckland, Whangārei, Tauranga, Wellington and in Christchurch.