Young Maraenui rugby player Khaleece Kiripatea has never been on a plane, has never been further from home than Auckland, and her mum has never been overseas.
But that changes in four weeks when they fly to England for Khaleece to run onto Twickenham on September 27, with the teams in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final, in front of 82,000 fans.
Hopefully, Khaleece‘s favourite player Portia Woodman will be there with defending champions the New Zealand Black Ferns, who are at relatively short odds to make the final.
If the team makes it, it’s expected Khaleece will run on with the Black Ferns’ captain – be it Ruahei Demant or squad co-captain Kennedy Tukuafu.
The youngster, who turned 11 on Thursday, reckons: “I’m more excited than I’ve ever been for anything”.
“This is huge for us,” said mum Kelly-Jo Kiripatea, who barely a month ago learned of Khaleece’s selection for the cup’s Defender Mascot programme.
It provides travel, accommodation and match tickets for 64 children and a parent/guardian from the nations taking part in the World Cup, including one other child/parent team from New Zealand.
It’s been a fast-moving exercise.
The Maraenui Rugby and Sports Association rugby and rugby league player was nominated in early July.
When the news was received, Kiripatea had to decide how and when to let Khaleece know.
For more than a week she kept the news to herself, husband Alby and Maraenui president Vicky Julian, who had told her of the programme.
“The option to have a crew come down and video her reaction was offered, so we had to think that one through,” Kiripatea said, conceding that when she first heard she “burst into tears”.
“We ended up deciding to just have a very close setting with her siblings, as we knew there would be some tears shed.
“She couldn’t believe it, and still sometimes she asks ‘are we actually going to England?’.”
“She thought it was in Auckland,” Kiripatea said.
“In her mind that that’s where the Black Ferns live, so that’s where the World Cup would be.
“I showed her video clips of England, and she recognised Buckingham Palace from something she had seen in school.”
Whether she gets to see Buckingham Palace is unknown, with the family awaiting an itinerary with little knowledge of the plans, other than they’ll depart Auckland on September 24 for an appointment at Twickers three days later.
It’s a big moment not only for Khaleece and her family, but also for the Maraenui Rugby and Sports Association, which has had her whānau involved throughout its 45 years.
A dinner with rugby union guests will be held at the clubrooms on September 5, supporting the whānau and recognising its “magnitude”, Julian said.
She said: “It’s amazing. Historically, I think, it’s the biggest thing that’s happened to our club. It’s very exciting.”
Julian said that when asked if anyone in the club fitted the Defender criteria, she thought immediately of Khaleece, and what she’d been through and how rugby had turned her around.
Khaleece is being raised by her whāngai mum and dad, Kelly-Jo and Alby Kiripatea.
She lost her birth mother last year. Off the field, she faces the challenges of dyslexia with the same determination she shows in every game.
Defender Mascot said: “Her story is one of resilience, humility and love for the sport, qualities that perfectly embody the spirit of the Women’s Rugby World Cup”.
The mascot programme is part of Landrover’s Defender Trailblazers campaign to tell the story of Emily Valentine, recognised as possibly the first female rugby player.
The second mascot is Isla Bolin from Rangiora, who heads to the Black Ferns versus Ireland game on September 8.
Doug Laing has been a reporter for 52 years, more than 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay at the Central Hawke’s Bay Press, the Napier Daily Telegraph and Hawke’s Bay Today. He has covered most aspects of general news and sport.