The YMP master women’s crew Puketapu, with help from the club’s J16 paddlers, entered a team called Rua-o-Hinetu Open Women in the premier women’s W12 500m and finished sixth in their semi-final. Photo / Waka Ama NZ
YMP Waka Ama had more of a presence in the adult divisions of the sprint nationals this year, but the focus remains on their youth, says club president David Jones.
A hastily assembled master women’s crew would have qualified for the world sprint championships in Singapore if they had been formed early enough to meet the deadline for getting in their qualification deposit.
The crew named Puketapu made both master women’s sprint finals at Lake Karapiro this month. They were fourth in the W6 1000 metres (with three turns) and seventh in the 500m final.
Team coach – and club head coach – Nancy Tarawa also made the W1 500m final, finishing sixth.
Last year, the club won six gold and two silver medals with an eight-team contingent that stopped at the J16 (16-and-under) age group.
This year, the core of that boys’ J16 team moved up to J19 level and made the final, finishing eighth.
The master women’s crew, with help from the J16 paddlers, entered the premier women’s W12 500m and finished sixth in their semi-final.
YMP won the same number of medals as last year but this time the loading was different – five gold, two silver and one bronze.
“We always wanted to move to adult competition at some stage, but the primary focus has always been our kids,” Jones said.
“They are our future. When we built the club, we wanted to imbue into the kids the same lessons we had been given, about resilience and hard work that go together with doing well.
“We’d been talking about having adult teams, so the young ones could see us do it as well.
“Our master women’s team was a last-minute option. They signed up in December, just before the cut-off for entries, and after the cut-off for registering an intent to compete at the world sprint champs. Most of them were ex-paddlers and a lot of them were parents of club members.
“We’re happy that our adults are starting to be part of it [competing], but our kids will always be our focus.
“We still have the numbers coming through from the babies [midgets] all the way up. A few end up going to other clubs, especially at the J16 and J19 levels, but we will take what we have and build them to the best they can be.”
While YMP sports clubs had a strong connection to Manutūkē, the waka ama club also had families from Te Karaka, Muriwai and Kaiti taking part, Jones said.
“A lot of them have seen what we’re doing and have brought their kids to us.
“We strive to teach resilience through waka ama because life isn’t easy. Some of these kids have never had to run 3km. In our training, they’re expected to do 3km runs, as well as off-water training. They’re timed, and we see improvements in application.
“I believe one of the key features of our success is the whānau support we get. A lot of families come to the river to support their kids, and some are managers. They connect.”
This summer, the club had “quite a few” wananga, where teams would spend two or three days at a time at the Waimatā River, Jones said. “That’s like a boot camp, based at the marina, paddling there.
“This year, when they closed the river because of the floods and release of sewage, we asked our relatives at Tolaga Bay if we could train up there. They said, ‘Absolutely’.
“We had three or four days in a row there, driving up in the morning and back each night.”
Jones said it was encouraging to see the taitama (midget boys’) team Te Pahou repeat last year’s feat by winning both races they entered – the W6 250 metres and, with the taitamāhine (midget girls’) team Pipiwhakao, the W12 250m. This year, Pipiwhakao also won their W6 250m final.
“For us, that’s great to see in terms of their hard work paying off on the water, and we see they’re progressing through the grades.”
The YMP intermediate girls’ team, Whakato, claimed gold in the W6 500m straight sprint, were second in the W6 500m (with a turn) and provided half the members of the gold-medal-winning Waimatā YMP team in the W12 500m (the other half came from Mareikura Waka Ama Club teams).
In the single-seat events, YMP paddler Nicholas Tahiwi was second in the intermediate boys’ W1 500m final.
“We had 13 paddlers take part in the W1 trials and 10 made it to the nationals, including one of our midgets who paddled up a grade. He was 9 when the trials were held, but he wanted to test himself, and he qualified for the intermediate W1 500m (for paddlers aged 10 to 13). He’s just turned 10, and he only just missed out on making the semifinals.”
Jones, Tarawa and club treasurer Courtney Onekawa started YMP Waka Ama in 2016, in time to send “about five teams” to the sprint nationals in January 2017.
They had all been trained in their youth by Mareikura Waka Ama Club founder Matahi Brightwell. Even then, it was their dream to set up a club and “bring it home to Manutūkē”.
They started with two waka they borrowed from Horouta Waka Hoe Club for a year or two – Horouta stalwart the late Kiwi Campbell had helped smooth the way there – and they were up and paddling.
Ten years on, they’re still going strong.