KEY POINTS:
Life has just got a whole lot more interesting for Tall Ferns forward Lisa Wallbutton.
The 21-year-old last night signed a professional basketball contract to play with the newly-formed Christchurch Wildcats in the Australian WNBL - a contract that will see her not only take up the life of a fully professional sportswoman but also a contract that will see her move out of her native Auckland for the first extended period in her life.
The 1.83m 21-year-old signed for the new venture with Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe, Noni Wharemate and Charmian and Natalie Purcell.
Wallbutton spent some time training with the Dandenong Rangers in the AWNBL during summer, even getting a couple of minutes' court time when injuries hit that squad.
She says the signing of a couple of quality imports will be crucial if the Wildcats are to be competitive in a league generally accepted to be one of the world's best.
"It will help us be more competitive, definitely. And when you play with better players, it can only make you a better player as well."
The strength of the league is something Wallbutton says cannot be overestimated.
"I've heard it is right up there, behind only a couple of the leagues in Europe and the [US] WNBA," Wallbutton says. "All the players are good. There are no weak links. You've got your starting fives and then the bench players are equally capable."
Wallbutton made the Tall Ferns in 2005, ticking off one of her goals last year with a place on the silver medal-winning Commonwealth Games team, "the greatest two weeks ever", she says. Signing a fulltime professional contract is another dream ticked off.
There's another staring at her, too, just over a year down the track.
"The Olympics are a huge goal. Everything I'm doing now, even with the Wildcats, is looking ahead to that. We're trying to get as many of the Tall Ferns together as we can so we can get really familiar with our games heading into Beijing."
Canterbury Basketball, in partnership with Basketball New Zealand, secured a licence to compete in the Australian Women's National Basketball League last year.
The licence ended a year of hard work by Canterbury Basketball Association CEO George Kazan, several Christchurch business leaders and Basketball New Zealand.
The team will be called the Christchurch Wildcats, using the name of the local women's NBL franchise, the Canterbury Wildcats, which was established in 1982.
The WNBL features players from the Australian Opals and runs from October to February each year.
This timeframe allows players to also compete in the mid-year US-based WNBA, with Australian players peppered across those sides.
The Wildcats will join the likes of the Warriors, Breakers and Kingz/Knights/Phoenix in playing in Australian national leagues. Although the Warriors made the 2001 NRL Grand Final, all the franchises have struggled.
Meanwhile, Harbour guard Wharemate is the new captain of the New Zealand Tall Ferns.
The 25-year-old takes over because of the unavailability of incumbent Donna Wilkins and veteran forward Aneka Kerr for next week's three-game tour of Japan.
Coach Mike McHugh said the role will probably be revisited later in the Beijing Olympic campaign.
"At this stage, until she signals otherwise, Donna is the Tall Ferns captain," he said. "She is unavailable for this tour and if for any reason she doesn't return to the team, we might reconsider the captaincy situation.
"Aneka is another senior player and we might consider co-captains or a senior leadership group.
"But without wishing to denigrate the people in those roles, I think captaincy is a bit out-dated in sport today. Personally, I prefer a model in which everyone in the team is a leader. But it's always an honour to be named captain of your country and I respect that tradition."
As a point guard, Wharemate is a natural leader. She graduated from the University of Texas El Paso in 2004, setting a new school record for career assists and debuted for the Tall Ferns the following year.
