Life can be challenging for teenagers as they juggle their sporting pursuits with their social life and the occasional concert.
For Napier Girls High School year 13 student Hana-tia Ross who competes in four sports, waka ama, kayaking, surf lifesaving and canoe polo, at national level it can be particularly tough. But last week she had the balance spot on ... in and out of her waka.
"I was heading to Raglan for the three-day Soundsplash Festival from Friday to Sunday when I thought I would call into to the national waka ama champs at Lake Karapiro to support Mum. Then I learnt my under-23 W1 500m event was on the Thursday before the concert ... with three wins from as many races, the heat, semifinal and final I won the title," the 17-year-old recalled.
"Considering I was among the younger paddlers in the 24-strong field, I finished eighth last year and waka ama would come in fourth if I had to rank my sports in order of priority I was pretty happy," Ross said.
The Haeata Ocean Sports Club member won her final by a boat length and Ross' time of 3m53s would have placed her fifth in the open women's final. With her mother and coach Kaye Ross in a composite masters W6 Masters crew which won golds in their 500 and 1000m events the Ross family returned home from the nationals which catered for 3000 paddlers with three gold medals.