Whakaaturanga

This weekend was a very interesting. Sadly I lead into the weekend knowing that I wasn't going to be participating in the whakaaturanga. Having had to sit on the side for my rugby grand final I had accepted that the same thing was to happen so I was mentally prepared for that.

My aim was to go into the weekend helping where ever I could and be beside my brothers and sisters along the way for encouragement.

As the night went into day and the day into night I observed everyone learning the final moves, knowing where there places are, perfecting grasps of their rākau, preparing the marae atea, weaving and fitting kākahu, embodying the movements of their rākau, embodying what is looks like to be a certain bird, mastering the footwork, mastering moving as one,  thinking about the best place to stand, remembering lines, battling with egos of others, battling with your own ego, trying not to think about being hungry, working in the heat, sore feet, containing excitement of whānau that are coming to watch, thinking about what whānau will think,  working alongside each other and teaching what you know and have learned, protecting your ariki (if it was me again nope!, battle formations, remembering what side to go to or not, sparring, controlling your ihi,  karo, pao, ngā ahae mezmerized whānau, excited tamrariki, kina, kina, kina!!

The journey leading up to the whakaturanga is always special but I was blown away by the efforts of my brothes and sisters. At one point of the whakaaturanga a whole heap of smoke was blowing over the atea as I looked over one of the kids had pulled a few of the big rākau out of the fire and they created a heap of smoke. I went over to Bon and said "Oi!! you were supposed to be looking after the fire!' he seemed to be in a somewhat trance, he steps out of his trance and says 'nah sis i'm the audience at the moment." At that moment I turned to the all the people watching and every single person was mesmerized with what they were seeing. It was such a cool sight to behold and made me so proud of all whānau.
Ko tō manawa, ko tōku manawa.

E whara e!

I am totally pissed!

A game of hopu ariki and I whara au taku waewae😭

No rugby final

No whakaaturanga

No running

Cant even walk at this stage.

3 months off

What has this taught me?

Dont protect your ariki?

Dont have fun?

Dont do exercise?

Dont pick up your rakau?
or when you are not in the right head space do a karakia?

Take note of your head space?
Take time to rest man!

Stop trying to do everything man!

Whatever the lesson better start listening I hate this injury shit!🔴

Horowhenua Womans Rugby Champs

Following on and to complete my rugby journey that taught me more on team work and going into battle and relying and trusting my team mates much like rākau this week this group of amazing woman won the first woman's rugby final!! I was totally gutted that I was unable to participate in the game but I was so proud to be apart of the team. What an awesome bunch of positive, uplifting, serious, competitive and fun lot of personalities. Can't wait for next season!

Mā kahurangi mā whero i oti ai ngā mahi!

#rāhuiforlife

OUCH!

So this week we had our 2nd game of rugby and OUCH!! my body is sore, the brusies from last week and this week make me look like I been in the wars. I was scared to move when I woke up on Thursday cos i wasn't sure what would move and what wouldn't. I am still mobile so thank goodness for that! We have a bye next week so I can rest up and recover.

This has been great for my fitness I am feeling more and more motivated and im feeling as things are tracking well!! Wowhoo!

Move your body!!

Having read through my reflections I had realized that I was singing the same tune about being time poor and wanting to make a change but not being able to. I also come to realize

This week after stating in our zoom hui that I was going to work harder at making it happen and then one of the bros say we will hold you to your word. I made the intention to get up and go running.

Every morning I park up outside the local laundromat, some days I will dry a load of clothes and sometimes I wont but I have 25 minutes to run to the BP and back again. I have made it to Haruatai Park and back in that time and I am slowly making progress to the college.

I did 4 runs this week I am pretty proud of myself!

Mana Wāhine - Taha Tinana

No words just wow! Mana Wāhine at its best!

This is a post!- Taha Whānau

A what?

A post about the Silver Ferns Development Team!! Check us out!!

Tonight we had our first netball game with our team Silver Ferns development team.
The skill sets among st our whānau is dynamic. The way each player moves around the court was spectacular to watch. Each warrior had some fantastic movements on court, the way Tarns darted around the court to the way Karanama could fly from one end of the court to the other in the blink of an eye. Chaka and I missing all shots right under the goal post was a sight to behold. Taylah and her māmā playing to their hearts content. What more can I say but this journey had ignited the fun of getting fit!!

Te Utanga Tutahi

Te Utanga Tautuhi

This weekend we had the honor of listening  and watching Te Utanga Tautuhi talk about his whare Te Ngākau o te Toka.

Te Utanga talked us through many aspects of their processes and tikanga that left me feeling intrigued of wanting to learn more about our art.

When we went onto the marae atea I was totally mezmerized throughout his wero display. He had every little movement perfected. Every little turn of his taiaha was purposeful. Every step he took was done with precision. He embodied every movement with poise. I was in total awe of his display.

Te Utanga's display has made me think about my understanding of our whare and how much I do know and how much I don't know. I have so much to learn.
Watching him has inspired me to take time to perfect my own practice when I pick up the rākau.

Rob the Nest - Taha Tinana

A lot of our fitness this weekend was based around games and having a bit of fun, this was so good! It was awesome to see a game we play with kids be so competitive for adults!

Here is a snippet of the Rob the nest contest that took place. I'm happy to say that our team were very successful and the different strategies we used assisted us in gaining many wins.