Haka tributes for gold medal winners

GOLDEN GIRL: Azalleyah Maaka holds the gold medal she won as a member of the New Zealand women’s rugby sevens team at the Summer Youth Olympics in Argentina this month. The Gisborne-East Coast connections in the team were strengthened by the presence of Maaka’s Coast-connected cousin Kalyn Takitimu-Cook. They only discovered they were cousins while talking at a national trial at the start of the year. A contingent of family and Ngati Porou supporters were among those cheering on their efforts. Picture by Liam Clayton

RUGBY

TWO stirring haka were the icing on the cake for Gisborne Girls’ High School student Azalleyah Maaka and her East Coast-connected cousin Kalyn Takitimu-Cook, of Manukura school in Palmerston North, after they helped the New Zealand sevens team win the gold medal at the Summer Youth Olympics in Argentina.

After the team beat a fired-up French side 15-12 in the final, the Kiwi men in the crowd — including Maaka’s papa Epi Poi, father Tojo Maaka and uncle Tripoli Poi and Takitimu-Cook’s father John Cook and grandfather Daryl Takitimu — performed a haka to honour the champions.

The teenagers were not the only ones brought to tears.

Also in the 16-strong Ngati Porou support contingent were Maaka’s nan Hine Poi, mum Ripeka Poi, sisters Iraia (8) and Hineaira (3), and brother Eia (5), and Takitimu-Cook’s mum Joni Takitimu-Cook, grandparents Daryl and Helen Takitimu, grandmother Aomihi Cook and cousin McKenzie Cook.

“It was really emotional,” Hine Poi said.

“There were tears everywhere. We were all so proud of our girls and the team.

“Winning gold was amazing, and it was good to get one back on the French supporters, who had drowned us out with their support in the pool game (won 26-12 by New Zealand).

“The French were all together, whereas we were scattered around the ground.

“After that match there was lot of texting and Facebook posting going on to make sure that didn’t happen in the final. It didn’t . . . we were all with the rest of the New Zealand supporters.”

The second haka came after the team got back to the Games village, when the rest of the New Zealand contingent — including Gisborne swimmer Michael Pickett and judo coach and official Kiki Velloza-Reedy — paid another tribute to the girls with a haka.

“We’d found a bar 100 metres from the Games village and we watched the team going back into the village after the game,” Hine Poi said.

“As we watched, the tears started all over again.”

Maaka and Takitimu-Cook were also members of the New Zealand under-18 girls’ sevens team who won the Oceania Championships in Australia in April.

What now for Maaka?

“I finish school next week and I’m looking for a job so that I can stay in Gisborne,” she said.

“I’m not ready to leave home just yet, but I’ll be playing for Rangataua in the Bay of Plenty sevens league, which starts next week.

“I hope to do well enough to make the Bay of Plenty sevens squad to play in the regional champs, then I hope to qualify for the nationals. Both competitions are before the end of the year.

“Depending on what happens with the job situation here, and if all goes well in the Bay of Plenty, I would think about moving over there next year.

“My next goal is to make the New Zealand sevens development squad, then one day the Black Ferns sevens.

“I think that goes for all the girls in the team. I know Kalyn also wants to play for the Black Ferns.”

Maaka and Takitimu-Cook discovered they were cousins — through Ngati Porou and Rangitukia roots — while talking at a national trial at the start of the year.

Their families are also related to New Zealand team manager Tangi Waikari.

“It was great having Kalyn in the team; we get on really well,” Azalleyah said.

“Actually the whole team got on well, which helped when we were behind in the final.

“The team spirit was what brought us through . . . that and the support of the coaches and management and, of course, our awesome supporters.”

Maaka said the 12-member playing squad initially found the heat and humidity made training harder than normal, “especially the first couple of days”.

“But we were there 14 days before our games started, so that gave us some time to get acclimatised. We also had to travel one and a half hours by bus to get to the venue.

“I was excited but nervous before the first game, against Tunisia, but once we won that the nerves settled.

“I enjoyed all the games, although my first reaction after the final was relief. Then it was excitement, and then came that awesome haka from our whanau.

“But the nerves kicked in again during the medal presentation a couple of hours after the game. Everything about it, from beginning to end, was emotional.”

The papa, father and uncle (Epi Poi, Tojo Maaka and Tripoli Poi) of Maaka are all former Ngati Porou East Coast players, while her mother, Ripeka Poi, is a former Nga Hau e Wha netball centre.

Takitimu-Cook is the daughter of Gisborne Boys’ High School old boy and former East Coast and Poverty Bay player John Cook, from Te Araroa, who is a major in the New Zealand Army, and Joni Takitimu-Cook, from Tolaga Bay.

While Maaka is unsure of her career path after school, Kalyn Takitimu-Cook is looking at following in her parents’ footsteps and pursuing a career in the Army.