Te Kapua Murray - rising NRL Star

"There's no doubt as an athlete he's very special" Marcus Kain, West Tigers NRL conditioning coach

I poipoia tenei hau tipua ki waenga o te matatoru o Tainui waka, ara ki Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Manurewa, Te Kura o Rakaumangamanga, ki Te Kura Tama Tane o Kirikiriroa. Ko etahi o ona tatai whakapapa no roto I a Tuhoe, Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Raukawa, Ngai te Rangi ki Matakana. Heoi ano ko ona hononga ki roto I a Te Arawa I heke mai I tona kuia, ko Rongomaianiwaniwa Marion Milroy no Maketu o te Waiariki, no Ngati Whakaue, Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Kearoa ia. Ara atu ona hononga ki roto o Ngati Kahungungu.

Ko aua hononga katoa ka tu hai poutokomanawa mona I a ia e whai ana I te hiranga tonu o ana mahi takaro NRL.

Kapua has just finished a few weeks of intense pre-season training with the West Tigers NRL side, in a recent article on the West Tigers website; strength and conditioning coach Marcus Kain had some good things to say about Kapua.

"There's no doubt that as an athlete, he's very special," said Kain. "He's still very young
and there's lots of work to do, but coming from a speed-based background myself, there's lots to like about his speed and acceleration." "But the best thing about him," he continued, "is his discipline. He's a great listener and takes on board what we're teaching him; he does his own stretches after gym-without prompting - and things like that to make sure that he's getting the best out of himself.

Aside from his running, he's a kid who's really switched on, which is great to see." Which leads me to talk about Te Kapua's accomplishments off the field. In the short time that Kapua has been at school he has proved his academic ability by achieving a 4.0 grade point average whilst studying a marketing paper at Griffith University all whilst attending Keebra Park State High School. He is now attending University of Western Sydney studying business. He has had a few games at NSW state cup side and had played two games this season in the Under 20's Holden Cup side. Needless to say Kapua likes to do well in all his endeavours.

If you were to ask Kapua about his life and achievements he remains very humble and reluctant to speak about what he's done so far "I'm looking toward the future life is short and I'm trying to achieve all I can in the time I have."

He recently admitted to wanting to be the fastest man in the NRL and with his work ethic and determination who's to say it can't be done. Kapua practises what he calls daily mastery, which includes habits of visualisation, gratitude, thinking about the people he admires and daily task setting to help him achieve the bigger goal. When I asked who were some of the people he admired he smirked and admitted his koro Wharehuia Milroy and his kuia Marion Milroy were definitely on there (his list). A staunch advocate of Maori achievement and setting the example Kapua holds whakaaro rangatira as his guiding principal in his life. "Kaua ma te waewae tutuki engari ma te upoko pakaru" was a saying given to him by his grandfather and he applies that in everything. You can keep an eye on Kapua and his rise to NRL on the West Tigers website.