Future netball stars could emerge from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga in Hastings after being awarded an ANZ Netball Grant.
The kura has combined with fellow Kura Kaupapa Māori Te Ara Hou and Te Wānanga Whare Tāpere o Takitimu to enter a netball team in the local competition.
Netball coordinator and coach Raiha Huata applied for an ANZ Netball Grant with the aim of reducing costs and demands on parents. The result is the team has been awarded netball shoes, training gear, including match and training balls, a ball bag, markers, bibs and netball hoops.
Huata says the news that the kura had been awarded the grant came as a surprise.
"I ohorere pai au, me taku hurō. I kī mai ngā tamariki, 'Whaea, he aha te mate?' Ko tāku 'kei te harikoa ahau! Kua riro i te kapa poitarawhiti ētahi hū, ētahi pōro me ērā taputapu hākinakina."
(I was blown away, and cheered loudly. The kids asked 'Whaea, what's the matter?' I said, 'No, I'm happy! Our netball team has won some shoes and balls and all sorts of gear."
But she says it's been a huge relief.
"He nui te utu o ngā hū poitarawhiti kounga nei. Tōna $260 pea te utu o ngā Asics, nō reira tino waimarie mātou te kapa poitarawhiti. I riro i ia kaitākaro ētahi hū Asics, ka mutu ko ēra hua kua taka ki ngā mātua.
(Quality netball shoes are expensive! Asics shoes can be around $260 a pair, so our team is really lucky. Each player has been given a pair of Asics shoes, and that is a big burden taken off our parents.)
"Kāore ā mātou pou tarawhiti, nō reira he āwhina nui ērā pou tarawhiti kua tukuna mai. Ko ērā pou he momo pou tarawhiti nekeneke, nō reira ehara i te mea ka rāhuitia ki tētahi wāhi kotahi anake engari ahakoa ki waho, ki tō mātou whare hākina rānei ka taea te nekeneke haere. Nō reira e noho whakaiti ana i ēnei taonga."
(We don't have any netball hoops. So these ones we've been awarded are a huge help. And they're mobile hoops, so we don't have to keep them in one place, so if we want to train outside or inside we can move them around. We're really humbled by these resources.)
The combined schools have entered two teams in the Hawkes Bay school's junior grades, but Huata has ambitions of promotion to the elite grades in coming years, including the Super 12, featuring the top secondary school teams in the Bay.
"Kāore anō tētahi kapa Kura Kaupapa kia whai wāhi ki taua kaupapa. Ko tō mātou kapa inaianei he ākonga tau iwa, tau tekau, nō reira ko te pae tawhiti i roto i ngā tau e rua, e toru pea e kainamu mai nei, ka whai wāhi atu ki taua whakataetae."
(No Kura Kaupapa team so far has reached that grade. Our team currently is made up of year 9 and 10 students, so hopefully in the next two or three years we can reach that premier level.)
Huata, who is a former student of the kura played representative netball herself in Hawke's Bay. She hopes the grant can help more Kura Kaupapa tauira also follow their sporting dreams while remaining at kura as opposed to exploring options at other schools.
"E pērā ana ināianei, e wehe ana ngā tamariki me te pōhēhē mā te haere ki ngā kura aunoa anakē e eke ai rātou ki taua taumata nui taioreore o te hākina. Engari koinā tā mātou e whakahē nei, ana kua whakarite rautaki, kua whakarite kaupapa e tū pakari ai ngā tamariki i te ao Māori, i raro i ngā mātāpono o Te Aho Matua, e tū pakari anō i te ao Hākinakina."
(It's happening already, where students are leaving for mainstream schools assuming that is the best path to a career in sports. But we disagree with that, so we are creating opportunities for our tamariki to thrive in their Māori world, in Te Aho Matua as well as helping them thrive in the sporting world.)
Huata encourages all Kura Kaupapa Māori to apply for any grants that will help provide resources for tauira to excel in the sports field.
"Tonoa! Kei noho wawata noa! Ko wai ka hua, tērā pea ka riro i a koutou he hū, he pūtea he taputapu hei whakakipakipa, hei āwhina hei whakamāmā i ngā taumahatanga o te whakahaere i ngā mahi poitarawhiti o roto i te kura."
(Apply! Or you'll always be wishing you did! Who knows, maybe your kura could get shoes, funding or resources that will inspire, help and ease the pressures involved with organising a netball team within your kura.)
