Ancient ball games, Māori tennis, and a physical wero/challenge 💪🤾🏽♀️🏅
Tēnā koutou e hoa mā,
Nau mai, haere mai, welcome back to Te Arawhata newsletter, where we highlight epic arts, media, and events to fill your cultural kete.
This week our kaupapa is ‘moving our tinana/bodies’, which may or may not be a loosely veiled attempt to get ourselves back on track with those fitness resolutions we set in the holidays.
Auē! We haven’t exactly had the fresh start to 2024 we envisioned on that front…
Whether you’ve been feeling similar or smashing it, the picks today are all about celebrating movement; its place in Māoridom, impact on our hāpori/communities, and hauora/overall wellness.
Enjoy!
"We embrace everybody and treat them like our whānau members and that’s not often what you get at other events.”
- Heather Skipworth, co-founder of Iron Māori, on their unique approach.
This is a read for anyone who might felt excluded from Iron Māori because they don’t wear latex, run record times, kōrero te reo Māori fluently, or even whakapapa Māori.
You can do it. Truly. When Wairoa Rogers entered her first event she could doggy paddle 10 metres. At 73 years she had completed 11 events with no plans to stop.
Te mea/The thing that keeps her coming back? Whanaungatanga. It’s a key value for co-founder, Heather Skipworth, who launched the organisation after becoming disenchanted working other events that she believed vilified people instead of encouraging them.
Iron Māori prides itself on hosting events for all ages, abilities, and ethnicities. It’s not just about sweating it out, but rather building hononga/connections, improving hauora hinengaro/mental health and enjoying the journey.
See you at the rarangi timatanga/starting line?
Find it: read the article for inspo on the RNZ website, then enter your team on the Iron Māori website
Time: 3 mins
Cost: $55+
“Here’s a lady from those courts at Te Koutu, who beat all the top women players in New Zealand with no formal coaching and is next thing on a plane to Wimbledon, competing and beating most of the world’s best.”
- Dick Garratt, president of Aotearoa Māori Tennis Association introduces Ruia Morrison.
Dame Ruia Morrison shrugs in this video as she unemotionally explains her haerenga/journey to compete in Wimbledon in 1957.
It’s other people who highlight what a huge achievement that is.
She made the quarter finals, was ranked top 10 in the world, and is the take/reason Margaret Court is only tied with Novak Djokovic for most grand slams in the world (Ruia beat her in the 1960 ASB Classic)—all while being completely snubbed by Tennis NZ.
This series celebrates sporting heroes who were never recognised but deserve to have their legacies in lights.
Ruia obviously feels no need for a fuss but perhaps obliges to support her community, for whom acknowledging Māori success is tino hirahira/very important.
We reckon watching this slick little video, directed by Ra Pomare, is a great way to support them too.
Find it: on The Spinoff
Time: 11 mins, 30 secs
Cost: free
“It's a fun game. Touch players are good because of the footwork, but you want people with mean rocket arms to get the ball to the bin.”
- Te Arawhata reader Jason gives us a quick rundown on Kī-o-Rahi
It’s well known in Māori schools, has been embraced in Itāria/Italy for 50 years after being introduced by the Māori Battalion, and was played by 30 thousand schools in America through McDonalds ‘Passport to Play’ hōtaka/programme—heoi/but for many of us, Kī-o-rahi, a traditional Māori sports kēmu/game, is unfamiliar.
Played on a circular field, it involves two teams dynamically attacking and defending to outscore their opponents.
Like anything in te ao Māori it’s based on deep whakapapa. Kī-o-Rahi refers to ‘the ball of Rahi’ which will make sense after you listen to this epic podcast about the legend of Rahitutakahina and Tiarakurapakewai.
Whether you’ve got a mean rocket arm or not, this podcast is a mīharo/awesome opportunity to get to know another aspect of Māori culture at a deeper level.
Find it: on Spotify, then check out the official Kī-o-rahi website
Time: 17 mins
Cost: free with your account
“Come and join the Mātātoa/Time2Train team for some FREE family entertainment full of fun and learning.”
- an opportunity from the Mātātoa team
You know how we’re entering a team into Iron Māori now? Well we’ve got a good training idea…
Aotearoa is full of waka ama clubs and a huge number of them host sessions for beginners. It’s the perfect opportunity to move the tinana/body, and make more hononga/connections with the Māori hāpori/community.
While we couldn’t highlight them all, google is your friend on this one and helped us to find a doozy in Tāmaki Makaurau as an example;
Mātātoa is a Māori-centred initiative on a mission to establish connections between whānau and the taiao by embracing traditional customs. They’re inviting the whole fam down for a waka paddle at Kiwi Esplanade tomorrow through their time2train programme.
Get amongst e te whānau, there are more opportunities out there than we realise.
Find them: Mātātoa is on the eventbrite website, use google to find your own local!
Time: an hour or so
Cost: free
That’s us e hoa mā!
We know some of the wero/challenges in today’s newsletter might feel big but between all the books, films, and music, we really want to encourage you to get involved with Māori initiatives kanohi ki te kanohi/face to face.
We know it can be scary. But even Kuīni/Queen Stacey Morrison is on your side.
Next week we’re tackling a biggie with recommendations to have you feeling fully prepped and confident for Waitangi Day convos.
Till then, mauri ora!
Liz, Grace, and Han.
