Indigenous Games student wins gold

REPRESENTING THE COAST: Hinemoana Pardoe-Crawford with her gold medal in tug-o-war from the World Indigenous Games in Palmas Brazil. She was one of three Tolaga Bay Area School students selected as part of the New Zealand delegation to travel to the games. Picture supplied

A TOLAGA Bay student has returned from the World Indigenous Games with a gold medal for tug-o-war. More than 30 countries attended the first ever World Indigenous Games held in Brazil, featuring a multitude of cultures and tribes.

The games are as much a showcase as a competition, with forums and displays making up a large part of their content.

Four Tolaga Bay Area School students, Hinemoana Pardoe-Crawford, Kahurangi Delamere, Brook-Benton Raroa-Chambers and Hoakima Harris-Marino were selected as part of the 34-member Aotearoa delegation that attended the games in Palmas from October 23 to November 1.

Their main job was to showcase ki o rahi to the world, which they did in an arena in front of thousands of onlookers. Hinemoana says this was one of the highlights.

“That was so cool. All the cultures gathered and one-by-one they showcased themselves to the arena. We even got the other cultures to design their own pou to stand with ours.”

They also directed forums about Maori culture and demonstrated it through kapa haka and te reo. But the four were not just there to wear the silver fern, they were there to compete as well.

There was a diverse range of traditional games to partake in, from football, to the spear throw, to xikunahity, a football-style game in which the ball is controlled only with the head.

Hinemoana set her sights on tug-o-war, representing Ngati Porou in the Kiwi team alongside other girls from the New Zealand delegation, and they won.

“There were five pools and I do not think the Brazilians thought the Maoris would make it to the final.”

Two teams forfeited against the girls, after watching them in pool rounds.

“It felt good to win. It made me proud — my family too.”

Despite this fantastic achievement, home was never far from their minds.

“It was great but you do miss the little things at home that you take for granted. For example, grass does not grow in Palmas so they had to cut it out and place it there . . . and you could not exactly flush the toilets.

“The really cool thing was seeing different cultures and meeting everybody.”

Hinemoana says other cultures were fascinated by and loved “the Maoris”.

“We took around 40 pictures a day. So many photos that my cheeks were sore.”

The Tolaga Bay Area School group found out they had been selected for the games near the end of term three. This gave them a short window to fundraise the $30,000 needed to get them to Brazil. They say the community stepped up.

“Thank you to everybody who supported us.”

Teachers Whetu Rangihaeta and Earle Karini travelled with the students.