Carlos Hihi in NZ u-16 touch team

On the radar: Carlos Hihi wants to put himself on the national radar for touch. Touch NZ picture

TOUCH

Carlos Hihi has everything under control.

Carlos, 16, went last year to the Touch New Zealand talent identification camp held at King’s College and has now — through SMART (Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, Timeframe-contingent) goal-setting — earned higher honours: selection for the New Zealand men’s u16 touch team.

Carlos’s team, under head coach touch legend Counties-Manukau’s Fredo Morgan, was to have toured Australia but because of the Covid-19 restrictions will instead stay in camp with the u16 women and mixed teams in Auckland over October 6-11, playing games in the Waikato, at Whangarei and a mini-tournament.

Carlos attended Gisborne Boys’ High School in Year 9-10. As a Y10 in 2019 he was captain of the first GBHS team to go to the national secondary schools tournament since Jamison Gibson-Park led his 2010 crew to the semi-finals.

He moved to Rotorua BHS in 2020 and came into the Bay of Plenty u16s two weeks before the NZ representative junior tourney in February, being selected for the NZ u16s on his form there.

The young man is focused.

“I set the goal of making the NZ u16s during the Talent ID Camp at King’s last year. Day 1 was about fitness, Day 2 the emphasis was on skills drills and we played games on Day 3, but bonding on the first night was as important as anything else we did,” said Carlos, who turned 16 on August 1 this year and whose position on the touch field is as one of the two “middles”.

“I had seen many of the other people there — not just players but coaches, even NZ men’s representatives, before — though I hadn’t played with, against or met some of them. It was a challenge to learn the terminology used by coaches and experienced players, and there wasn’t much downtime: it was train, eat, shower and bookwork.”

Carlos first played touch as a Y5, captain of the Te Wharau Shakers under his father and coach former GBHS first 15 player Duane Hihi, and has played with his brother Puna (14) under dad in a number of successful school, club and Poverty Bay touch and rugby teams. He played with the Ferris twins, James and Jeremy, for four years in local club touch side Kumaraz, and paid tribute to the dedication and commitment of TK Moeke and Lahaina Moeke for their efforts to revitalise Turanga Touch, thus making it possible for Gisborne players to be seen on the national stage.

An indication of Carlos’s versatility is that he started at first-five for the Rotorua BHS rugby first 15 against fearsome Wesley College at Wesley and came off the bench against 2018 NZ first 15 champions St Peter’s College at Raukura (RBHS) in the pre-season this year.

He was, remarkably for a first-year student of 15, captain of the RBHS second 15 in the Super 8. One of Carlos’s sporting highlights to date has been to play with Puna under Duane as coach with Carmen (mum) as manager in a game televised live during last year’s national tournament.

He is a member of the Rotorua BHS touch team who will compete in the national secondary schools tournament in Rotorua over December 11-13. RBHS lost to Hamilton in last year’s final. Puna was openside flanker and captain of the GBHS u14s this rugby season, and sister, Katelyn, is an aspiring coach and manager.

Carlos thrives on competition.

“I like developing my skills, it’s a fast-paced game, I love the atmosphere — it’s exciting, anything can happen, you have to be skilful.

This will be my first — and last — year at the u16 camp: I’m going to learn more skills, improve my game, get on a pathway to the u18s and u21s . . . put myself on the national radar.”