New Zealand Deaf Games could include Tairawhiti paddlers

File photo of Vesna Radonich

WORLD champion Gisborne paddler Vesna Radonich will be at Lake Karapiro on Sunday to cheer on the first deaf waka ama team to compete at regional sprint championships.

Radonich, herself hearing impaired, travelled to Hamilton in March this year to introduce the sport to the Waikato deaf community, and has helped coach the team that grew out of her visit.

The team, Purerehua, will compete in the women’s masters W6 500-metre race at the Waikato Regional Waka Ama Sprint Championships.

Radonich instigated a successful bid to have waka ama added to the 2016 New Zealand Deaf Games in Hamilton in October, and the Purerehua team are building towards this event.

Radonich hopes a waka team can be assembled from Tairawhiti to compete in the Deaf Games. The idea of a deaf waka ama team came from members of the Waikato deaf community.

Deaf Aotearoa community development kaituitui Kayte Shaw asked Radonich to introduce waka ama to that community.

In March, Radonich — a world champion waka ama solo paddler in the premier division — travelled to Hamilton and spent a day sharing her stories and bringing waka ama to a group of deaf people, in collaboration with Nga Tai Whakarongo waka club and Deaf Aotearoa. Since then, Radonich has been back to run training sessions.

Because Radonich cannot be in Hamilton to give regular coaching, Nga Tai Whakarongo club captain Steve Morgan has taken on the day-to-day coaching duties and the team have become club members. Radonich has continued to provide coaching and mentoring from Gisborne.

The team name, Purerehua, is the Maori word for “butterfly” and was chosen because “butterflies do not hear, yet are playful, adventurous and full of life”, a Deaf Aotearoa statement says.

A Maori name was chosen because some of the paddlers expressed strong connections to their Maori culture through experiencing waka ama.